Most of us enjoy a drink now and then while celebrating with friends or even unwinding after a long day at work, but did you know our feathered friends also like to indulge? If you’ve been to the beach you’ve probably witnessed a seagull steal away with snacks but watch your cooler because these airborne alcoholics are getting wasted on your booze too. Okay, so truth be told it’s more likely that these party parrots aren’t raiding coolers for Zima’s; it’s more likely that they are munching some fermented berries.
Birds are also notorious lightweights. Zebra finches start showing signs of a good buzz at just .05 percent- jest below America’s legal driving limit. Sobering up can also prove rather challenging as birds don’t metabolize ethanol very effectively. Adding to this avian alcohol epidemic is their own evolutionary design, many birds stretchy esophagus act as temporary storage units for food which act like mini fermentation stills, an internal fermentation chamber if you will.
These winged whiskey drunks have also learned which fruits are better when fermented. We all have that beer snob friend, well so too do sparrows. Some birds are even so adept at alcoholism that they use their wings to prop themselves up on walls when they’re too drunk to fly. So the next time you see a bird flying a little wonky remember, he’s probably loaded.
