BOOZY BIRDS

AS A rule, birds don’t drink, but when they do they can more than hold their own. A group of scientists have concluded that birds actually slur when drinking alcohol, but can handle their liquor better than humans. Researchers from Oregon Health & Science University published a study that found zebra finches will have trouble singing after drinking juice spiked with alcohol. Just like many humans after knocking back a few too many, the research team concluded the birds sing much quieter and less organized after consuming the alcohol – effectively causing them to slur. The study’s focus is to determine alcohol’s effect on the way humans talk. “Speech impairment is one of the most intriguing and least understood effects of alcohol on cognitive function, largely due to the lack of data on alcohol effects on vocalizations in the context of an appropriate experimental model organism,” the study states. When given the opportunity, the birds had no reservations about drinking alcohol and did not want to stop ingesting it. They drank juice spiked with alcohol and, though they did slur their songs, they showed no other effects of being drunk. But the elixir did affect their ability to sing properly, especially for certain notes and for a sustained amount of time. But, as in the case with some humans, the alcohol does not affect their desire to sing – even when they do it badly. Despite the slurring, these tiny animals are no lightweights. In fact, the study shows the alcohol did not affect other aspects of their behavior, even when consuming a level of alcohol that would be considered risky for humans.