Asia's binge drinking shrews: 31-07-2008
Those heading off to South-East Asia may be expecting to escape from the binge drinking culture of Britain behind, but those destined for Malaysia could encounter a binge drinker of a different species entirely.
The pen-tailed shrew is a tiny mammal and is the first non-human species of mammal to show alcoholic tendancies.
The shrews drink naturally fermented "beer" from the flowers of the bertam palm, which has an alcohol content of around 3.8 per cent.
University of Bayreuth biologist Frank Wiens believes the animals may have had their thirst for over 55 million years and that it may prove humans had a similar taste for alcohol prior to the advent of brewing techniques.
"The circumstances in which these tree shrews consume alcohol could be similar to past scenarios of human evolution in pre-primate or early primate stages [and] could somehow be a link to human alcohol consumption," he is reported as saying in National Geographic.
After generations of boozing, the shrews have adapted to the alcohol and no longer get drunk, mainly down to their more efficient metabolism.
Travellers in Malaysia will soon be able to join in the Hari Merdeka (Independence Day) celebrations on August 31st. The holiday is the most celebrated of all Malaysian holidays and this year will mark 45 years of independence.