酒精的耐受性可能使人類的祖先免于滅絕

酒精的耐受性可能使人類的祖先免于滅絕

Our ancestors’ ability to metabolize alcohol may have saved them from extinction, scientists claim.

科學家聲稱，我們祖先代謝酒精的能力可能使他們免于滅絕。

Evolving to better handle booze could have given our prehistoric ape forebears the edge over rival species in ancient times, bringing them “back from the brink.”

進化到能更好地喝酒，這可能會讓我們的史前類人猿祖先在遠古時代比其他物種更具優(yōu)勢，讓他們“從懸崖邊上回來”。

In a new book, titled “Alcohol And Humans: A Long And Social Affair,” professors Dr. Kim Hockings and Dr. Robin Dunbar write that early African apes, who lived around 10 million years ago, evolved to carry a protein which allowed them to eat fallen fruits on the forest floor — many of which had begun to ferment and become alcoholic.

在一本名為《酒精與人類：一場漫長的社交活動》的新書中，金霍金斯博士和羅賓鄧巴博士寫道，生活在大約1000萬年前的早期非洲猿進化成攜帶一種蛋白質，這種蛋白質能讓它們吃到森林地面上掉落的水果——其中許多已經(jīng)開始發(fā)酵并變成酒精。

It was a skill which gave them a major advantage in the survival against rival monkey species, who could only eat unripe fruits. At the time, ape populations were believed to have been dwindling, partly thanks to this fierce competition for food.

這是一項技能，使它們在與只能吃未熟水果的競爭猴子物種的生存上具有主要優(yōu)勢。當時，猿類的數(shù)量據(jù)信一直在減少，部分原因是這種對食物的激烈競爭。

Monkeys couldn’t — and still can’t — tolerate the ethanol in overripe fruits, which the authors say “might have brought apes back from the brink” of extinction.

猴子不能——而且仍然不能——忍受過熟水果中的乙醇，作者說，乙醇“可能把猿類從滅絕的邊緣帶回來”。

“Even today we see great apes eating fermented fruit and even drinking palm wine produced by humans,” said Dr. Hockings, from the University of Exeter.

?？巳卮髮W的霍金斯博士說：“即使在今天，我們也看到類人猿吃發(fā)酵的水果，甚至喝人類生產(chǎn)的棕櫚酒。”。

“It’s hard to be certain of why they do this and this reflects the complex history of our own relationship with alcohol.”

“很難確定他們?yōu)槭裁催@樣做，這反映了我們與酒精之間復雜的歷史關系。

“One interesting point is that the alcohol level in fallen fruit is usually about 1-4 percent — something like weak beer.”

“有意思的一點是，水果中的酒精含量通常在1-4%左右，有點像淡啤酒。”

“Yet much of the alcohol consumed by humans today is far stronger than this.”

“然而，今天人類消耗的大部分酒精遠遠強于此。”

“As with other substances like salt and sugar, the problem may not be the substance itself but the concentrations we now have access to.”

“就像鹽和糖等其他物質一樣，問題可能不是物質本身，而是我們現(xiàn)在能接觸到的濃度。”

Hockings co-authored the book with Dr. Dunbar, Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Oxford.

霍克斯與牛津大學進化心理學教授鄧巴博士共同撰寫了這本書。

The pair hope to test the ethanol levels in wild fruits to learn more about how species process alcohol.

這兩位科學家希望測試野生水果中的乙醇含量，以了解更多物種是如何處理酒精的。