We know people can be social creatures. Add some booze into the mix, and some folks just act a fool. But according to a new study, humans aren’t the only species that enjoys drinking with friends and acting a bit wild.
New research shows that crayfish, like humans, enjoy the occasional alcoholic beverage. It also turns out that crayfish that hang out with their friends are more likely to get drunk much quicker.
Researchers gathered a bunch of crayfish together and separated them into two different groups. The first group was kept together in a communal tank the entire time, while the second group was housed individually for a week, until the day of the experiment.
After swimming around in the alcohol-infused water, the crayfish took an upright posture, held up their abdomens for a few seconds, then stiffly extended their legs. Another sure sign of a sloshed crayfish is when they begin flipping their tails. But by far the drunkest stage is when they flop down, fall on their backs and have trouble getting back up. The more the crayfish walk around upright, the more they flip their tails, hence falling over.
The circuit that’s responsible for the tail flipping is pretty well understood, so researchers wanted to see how alcohol impacted that. The neurons fired more easily in the social crayfish, but not so much for the loners.
There is no indication as to what this means for humans, but it sounds like a study we’d like to take part in.
(h/t The Verge)