Scientists Just Discovered Hamsters Can Drink the Equivalent of 21 Bottles of Wine a Day

Hamsters are one of the most popular small pets in the world, but their owners usually do not understand that they can beat them in a drinking contest. Most creatures on this planet that can drink any type of alcohol usually do so conservatively, even humans.

However, a team of researchers just found out that hamsters will voluntarily drink up to 18 g of ethanol per kilogram of body weight per day. This is an amount equivalent to a human drinking 21 bottles of wine in one single day. But the most fascinating fact is that even after drinking that much alcohol, they will not show any signs of intoxication.

Hamsters Prefer Alcohol and Drink It by Choice

In a study done at the University of Alaska, scientists found out that given a choice between water and strong ethanol solutions, hamsters will choose the alcohol every single time. However, they infer that this is not a form of self-destruction, but rather an evolutionary adaptation to survive.

The research also found out that they will do this every day, choosing alcohol even if they are fully dehydrated over water. It is important to note that most other rodent species will need the ethanol to be sweetened for them to choose it. But hamsters don’t need them to be sweetened or to have any type of flavor; they just prefer it no matter what.

Read more: University of Alaska

Extreme Tolerance: The Wobbling Scale Shows Little Impact

The Truth About Hamsters Is Surprisingly Dark

Scientists use a unique way to measure the intoxication of an animal. It is called the “Wobble and Splay Scale”, which scores animals based on how steady (Zero) they are to condition, where they can’t stand or balance anymore (four). Hamsters have not scored higher than 0.5, even at doses of alcohol that are remarkably high for their small stature.

Scientists say this is because of their livers’ ability to chemically break down ethanol before it can reach their bloodstream, and affect the rest of their body. Furthermore, the researchers tried to bypass this metabolism by directly injecting the alcohol into them, in which case, they began to show visible drunkenness.

Evolutionary Adaptation to Hoarding Behavior

Earlier, we mentioned that scientists think this feature is because of evolutionary adaptations. The reason is hamsters’ tendency to collect and hoard their food, such as seeds and fruits, which ferments over time, especially during wintertime.

The hoarded resources could sometimes reach an ethanol level that would knock down other animals, but hamsters most likely evolved to be able to survive it.

The environment has also played a role in natural selection to occur to favor hamsters that could hoard effectively, because they are a good, reliable energy source when fresh food is scarce.

Read more: The Atlantic

Human Scale Comparison: 21 Bottles of Wine, No Hangover

When we say 21 bottles of wine, it does not mean that amount literally. But instead, it is equivalent to the ethanol solutions per day that the study found hamsters could drink when compared to humans.

In other words, relative to the hamsters’ body weight, the study found that they drank a human equivalent of 21 bottles of wine daily. An amount that would have caused severe intoxication or organ failure for normal people, but as discussed, the metabolism of hamsters evolved to be able to deal with it.

As a result, the alcohol gets broken down chemically, faster than it could reach the brain and other parts of their body, and show signs of drunkenness. They also rarely suffer from hangovers.

Why hamsters can drink more alcohol than any other animal

Author's Final Thoughts

These findings reveal that evolution could enable smaller creatures to withstand feats that bigger animals would have never been capable of. Also, most, if not all, the cute little hamster pets in the world could outdrink their owners.

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