In experiments recently described in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from Tel Aviv University in Israel plied these insects with enormous amounts of alcohol and watched as...nothing happened. They fed worker hornets solutions containing up to 80% ethanol for a week straight - a lengthy time for insects whose lifespan lasts only three months. The alcoholic hornets survived just as long as their abstaining counterparts and showed no signs of intoxication.
Unlike their hornet cousins, bees became overtly inebriated, and many died the same day. This stark contrast underscores the unique capability of Oriental hornets to metabolize alcohol without adverse effects.
An explanation for Oriental hornets' alcohol-tolerating superpower can be found in their genes. These insects have multiple copies of the alcohol dehydrogenase gene, which produces the enzyme that breaks down alcohol.
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