From the duh files: Slow lorises and aye-aye lemurs prefer alcohol over water

Biologists at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire discovered that when faced with the choice of various sugary substances laced with different alcohol concentrations, the loris and aye-ayes repeatedly chose the most alcoholic solution.

drunk.lemursIn fact the researchers report in the Royal Society Open Science, the aye-ayes loved the concoction so much they enthusiastically searched for more, while the slow loris displayed “a relative aversion to tap water”.

Interestingly, the alcohol did not seem to affect the creatures.

Samuel Gochman, a biology student at Dartmouth, said: “No signs of inebriation were observed,” reports The Guardian.

The aye-aye’s tolerance to alcohol may be explained by a genetic mutation, which speeds up the rate alcohol is broken down.

“The results indicate that the mutation might (have) a preference for alcohol,” Gochman said.