A ratlike animal that spends his life drinking alcohol
Scientists have found an animal that spends his whole life drinking alcohol in the jungles of Southeast Asia. That animal is a pen-tailed tree shrew (Ptilocercus lowii) which resembles a small rat.
The pen-tailed tree shrew feeds on nectar of a plant called bertam palm, which is also the primary food source for many other animals. Yeast cells in the palm's flowers ferment its nectar. Alcohol content can be as much as 3.8%. Among living plants this has the highest concentration of alcohol.
What is interesting is that this little schrew can handle his alcohol surpassing the legal intoxication limit of 1.4 grams of alcohol per kg of body mass every 3 days. In human terms this is equivalent to an average woman drinking nine glasses of wine or beer in a 12 hour period.
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