Humans have been consuming alcohol for thousands of years, but we're not the only ones with a taste for it! The pen-tailed treeshrew's diet consists almost entirely of naturally fermented nectar, which can have an alcohol content as high as 3.8%. Given their small size, that's the human equivalent of consuming 10-12 glasses of wine. However, this species is able to fully metabolize the alcohol and avoid the intoxicating side-effects.
(Image: A pen-tailed treeshrew (Ptilocercus lowii) by Annette Zitzmann)
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The treeshrews (or banxrings) are small euarchontoglire mammals native to the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. They make up the families Tupaiidae, the treeshrews, and Ptilocercidae, the pen-tailed treeshrew, and the entire order Scandentia. The 20 species are placed in five genera. Though called 'treeshrews', and despite having previously been classified in Insectivora, they are not true shrews, and not all species live in trees. Among orders of mammals, treeshrews are closely related to primates.
Treeshrews are slender animals with long tails and soft, greyish to reddish-brown fur. The terrestrial species tend to be larger than the arboreal forms, and to have larger claws, which they use for digging up insect prey. They are omnivorous, feeding on insects, small vertebrates, fruit, and seeds. They have poorly developed canine teeth and unspecialised molars. Treeshrews have good vision, which is binocular in the case of the more arboreal species. Most are diurnal, although the pen-tailed treeshrew is nocturnal.
These animals live in small family groups, which defend their territory from intruders. They mark their territories using various scent glands or urine, depending on the particular species. Female treeshrews have a gestation period of 45 to 50 days and give birth to up to three young in nests lined with dry leaves inside tree hollows. The young are born blind and hairless, but are able to leave the nest after about a month. During this period, the mother provides relatively little maternal care, visiting her young only for a few minutes every other day to suckle them. Treeshrews reach sexual maturity after around four months, and breed for much of the year, with no clear breeding season in most species.
Treeshrews have also been observed intentionally eating foods high in capsaicin, a behavior unique among mammals other than humans. A single TRPV1 mutation reduces their pain response to capsaicinoids, which scientists believe is an evolutionary adaptation to be able to consume spicy foods in their natural habitats. The pen-tailed treeshrew in Malaysia is able to consume large amounts of naturally fermented nectar (with up to 3.8% alcohol content) the entire year without it having any effects on behaviour.
