Stop bragging! Can you drink more than a hamster?

Review expert: Chen Yu, paleontological restoration artist

The fluffy, chubby, and chubby hamsters have always been a favorite of children. When raising hamsters, we often like to carefully prepare a small water tank in the cage for them to drink water. But what you don’t know is that the hamsters with soft faces and good looks are actually little alcoholics who can drink a thousand cups. Compared with plain water, wine is their preference.

"Massive" hamsters

In 1962, a scientist conducted an experiment in which two cups of liquid were placed in the cage of a hamster. One cup was 10% alcohol and the other was pure water. As a result, ethanol solution accounted for 88% of the total amount of liquid consumed by the hamster during the experiment. It was a complete alcoholic.

Source: pixabay

Hamsters are not just fond of alcohol, they can drink a lot. In the experiment, scientists developed a set of swaying degree scoring standards from 0 to 4, using the degree of gait instability to assess the degree of drunkenness. The higher the score, the greater the impact of alcohol on motor function.

In short, 0 points means that the body will basically not sway, 1 point means that the body will sway but will not fall when standing or moving, and 4 points means that the body will fall to one side involuntarily and it is difficult to return to a normal position on its own. Based on this scoring standard, scientists gave some Campbell hamsters (Phodopus campbelli) oral ethanol solutions of different concentrations and were surprised to find that hamsters that drank a dose of up to 7.5 grams per kilogram of body weight in a short period of time were still safe and sound, with a swaying degree of no more than 0.5. After consuming 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight of ethanol, ordinary adults' limbs can no longer keep up with the instructions issued by the brain and begin to be unable to walk upright.

In other words, when it comes to drinking, even the most alcoholic humans are far inferior to a cute little hamster. It is also worth noting that different types of hamsters have very different drinking abilities.

Source: giphy

The secret of “not getting drunk after drinking a thousand cups”

So, what secret is hidden in the hamster's tiny body that allows it to drink a thousand cups without getting drunk?

Scientists were puzzled at first and adopted the attitude of "bold hypothesis and careful verification". Since oral administration was not enough to make hamsters drunk, they tried injection.

In an accidental experiment, scientists injected alcohol into the abdomen of hamsters and found that they quickly became staggering and unconscious. It turned out that all this was due to their large and efficient livers. The hamster's liver can filter alcohol and reduce the amount of it circulating in the blood.

The reason why alcohol can make people confused is because there is an enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase in our body. It can convert the ethanol (alcohol) that is drunk into acetaldehyde. The chemical properties of acetaldehyde are very active. It likes to form adducts with hemoglobin, albumin and other proteins in our body. It can also react with nucleic acids, lipids, carbohydrates and other substances, which makes people have red faces and thick necks, faster heartbeats, and nausea and vomiting after drinking. After that, another acetaldehyde dehydrogenase starts to work, further converting the acetaldehyde in the body into acetic acid. Both of these oxidation processes are mainly completed in the liver in the body. Subsequently, the generated acetic acid will leave the liver and be converted into acetyl coenzyme A in various tissues. This substance is particularly important for the metabolism of the three major nutrients.

Therefore, the ability to sober up is determined by these two major enzymes in the body, alcohol dehydrogenase and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase. Afterwards, scientists compared the total acetaldehyde oxidation capacity of Syrian hamsters, rats and human liver tissues and found that the hamster's value was far ahead. The total acetaldehyde oxidation capacity of hamsters per gram of liver tissue was 3.5 micromoles/minute, while this value was only 0.64 in rats and only 0.45 in humans.

If unfortunately, your hamster has started to drink too much, there are ways to stop it from drinking too much. In fact, this "superpower" in hamsters is also a manifestation of natural selection, and is closely related to their habit of "hoarding". Therefore, if you want them to stop drinking, you have to let them have high-energy food to replace alcohol. They don't just love alcohol. Studies have shown that sweet chocolate milkshakes, puddings, and red bean cakes are all their favorites. Sure enough, sweets can cure all unhappiness!

Friendly reminder: Don't let your hamsters drink too much. Source: pixabay

Studies have shown that long-term drinking can also disrupt the circadian rhythm of hamsters. If you don't want your hamster to squeak in the dead of night, don't let it develop a bad habit of drinking. In addition, alcohol can easily make hamsters fat. Over a period of 14 weeks, if a hamster drinks a 30% alcohol solution every day, it will take in 25% more calories in its diet, weigh about a quarter more than other hamsters, and grow more abdominal fat. If you don't want your hamster to enter middle age early (grow a beer belly), don't let it drink too much. After all, a little drink can make you happy, but drinking too much can hurt your body.

Perhaps, in the future, when describing a person who is drunk, we can jokingly call him a "wobbly little hamster."