Tiny Tree Shrews Live on Alcohol, but Never Get Drunk

Researchers have discovered that tiny mammals called the pen-tailed tree shrews spend hours each night sipping fermented palm nectar, but show no sign of intoxication--in other words, they don't fall down after a nighttime binge. The creatures live deep in the Malaysian rainforest, and have one favorite food source: the bertam palm, whose flowers have a very strong and distinctive smell. "They smell like a brewery," [researcher Frank]