14 DAY TRIAL // Not long ago, researchers with the Oregon Health and Science University decided to have some fun carrying out a rather bizarre experiment. Long story short, they served a bunch of birds booze just to see what they sounded like drunk.
Apparently, this study was meant to determine whether alcohol affects other creatures' ability to produce sounds in the same way that it does human speech. As it turns out, it very much does. At least when it comes to birds, that is.
Thus, the Oregon Health and Science University scientists say that, after drinking juice containing 6% alcohol, the zebra finches that they experimented on got a wee quieter. Besides, they detail that, when they did sing, they had trouble producing sounds.
The researchers are quite content with their work and say that, in the months to come, they will try to figure out whether alcohol consumption also messes up these birds' ability to learn new songs. I am no scientist, but I will assume it does.
What's interesting is that, contrary to their expectations, the scientists behind these experiments did not have to trick the zebra finches into drinking the cocktail that they made especially for them. On the contrary, the birds kind of jumped at the chance to get drunk.
“At first we were thinking that they wouldn't drink on their own because, you know, a lot of animals just won't touch the stuff. But they seem to tolerate it pretty well and be somewhat willing to consume it,” said specialist Christopher Olson, as cited by NPR.