Wine Drinking Monkeys

Filed in archive Wine News on May 23, 2006

We've long heard about the health benefits for wine, especially red wine. It's one of those "in moderation" tales that gives us one more reason to love wine.

But, it seems humans are not the only mammals to benefit from moderate wine drinking.

Primates at the Budapest Zoo are given small amounts of wine in their tea - though not enough to get them drunk - to help with blood cells.

From CNN: Monkeys and apes at the Budapest Zoo drink their way through 55 liters of red wine each year, albeit in small quantities each day, to help boost their red blood cells, the zoo said Monday.

Budapest Zoo spokesman Zoltan Hanga said it was the 11 anthropoid apes who drank most of the wine in 2005.

"Obviously, they do not have it all at once and get drunk, but they get it in small amounts mixed in their tea," Hanga said.

Image: Trip Advisor