TAU’s Booze-Proof Hornets Could Help Research Into Alcoholism

Researchers at Tel Aviv University have found that the Oriental hornet is the only known animal in nature capable of consuming alcohol chronically and in high concentrations with almost no negative effects on their health or lifespan. 

The researchers hope that the discovery could help future studies into alcoholism and how alcohol metabolizes in our bodies. 

The research was conducted under the leadership of postdoctoral fellow Dr. Sofia Bouchebti from the laboratory of Prof. Eran Levin at Tel Aviv University’s School of Zoology and the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History. 

The team tested the Oriental hornet’s ability to consume and break down alcohol, and were surprised by the rapid rate at which the insects metabolized it. 

They also found that even high concentrations of alcohol had no noticeable effect on the hornets’ behavior and that there was no difference in lifespan for hornets that only consumed alcohol for their entire three-month lives and those that consumed sugar water.

“This is a remarkable animal that shows no signs of intoxication or illness even after ingesting huge amounts of alcohol,” said the research team. 

“While alcohol-related research is highly advanced, with 5.3 percent of deaths in the world linked to alcohol consumption, we believe that, following our research, Oriental hornets could potentially be used to develop new models for studying alcoholism and the metabolism of alcohol,” said Prof. Levin. 

The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS).