“A male, his affections spurned by a female that he’s attracted to, is driven to excessive alcohol consumption. The story may be familiar, but in this case, the lead characters aren’t humans — they’re fruit flies.”
In a study conducted by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), it appears that “that like their Homo sapiens counterparts, male members of the species Drosophila melanogaster tend to, for lack of a better term, “get drunk” after being rejected by females, reports RedOrbit. “Fruit flies apparently self-medicate just like humans do, drowning their sorrows or frustrations for some of the same reasons,” Carey wrote on Thursday.
“Male fruit flies that were rejected “preferred food spiked with alcohol far more than male flies that were able to mate” and drank “significantly more alcohol” than those who successfully mated, leading researchers to believe that “alcohol stimulates the flies’ brains as a ‘reward’ in a similar way to sexual conquest,” he added. Continue reading “Lacking love, bugs choose booze”