I never had a hamster growing up, but I did have a guinea pig. I fed it the pellets I bought from the pet store and it always had fresh water, but something I never thought to give it was booze. Bring in the Syrian golden hamster. These little guys like alcohol, and it’s even a part of their normal diet.

In the wild, these hamsters stash food for the winter, including berries which ferment over the summer. Fermented fruit, of course, produces alcohol, which in turn animals eat and get all loopy. These hamsters, over time, have developed the body to handle this alcohol, and their livers have grown to about five times the size of a normal hamster liver.

Therefore, the critters don’t usually get drunk from it.

Now that they’re being studied, scientists are finding that the Syrian golden hamster would rather have alcohol than water. We could call it evolution, but I prefer to call it hamsters who are ready to party like it’s 1999.

Of course, these hamsters aren’t the only creatures in the wild who are getting drunk. Recently a moose had to helped when it got stuck in a tree after eating fermented apples, and the squirrel in the video below got into some fermented pumpkins. Bring on the booze!

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