Scientists have found that hummingbirds drink alcohol

Scientists from the University of California, Berkeley (USA) conducted a study to find out how hummingbirds react to the presence of alcohol in their main food source, flower nectar. Hummingbirds are small birds that have a fast metabolism, so they need constant nutrition.

The researchers filled hummingbird feeders with different sugar solutions containing different percentages of alcohol. It turned out that the birds willingly drink sugar solutions with up to one percent alcohol, which is roughly the same as the alcohol content of kvass or light beer.

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However, when the alcohol content in the solution reached two percent, hummingbirds began to drink less, consuming half the normal amount. Given that flower nectar usually contains up to 0.05 percent alcohol, it turned out that the alcohol in the nectar did not attract hummingbirds to the point where they got drunk.

The study also showed that due to their fast metabolism, hummingbird bodies quickly break down sugar and ethanol, which has no effect on their brains. According to the research, hummingbirds never drink too much alcohol because their bodies quickly break it down and prevent it from affecting their behavior.

In the future, the researchers plan to conduct similar studies on wild flowers, as well as to study the reaction of other animal species to the alcohol content in their food.

Earlier, American biologists decided to resurrect the legendary dodo bird, which people made extinct at the end of the 17th century.

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