These hornets can survive weeks of binging on sugared liquid that’s 80 percent ethanol, researchers report October 21 in Proceedings¹ of the National Academy of Sciences.

Groups of hornets were routinely fed — and in one case, hand-fed — ethanol concentrations up to eight times higher that which fells the shrews.

One might assume the booze would send them to an early grave, but their life spans were effectively the same as teetotaler hornets. The binge-drinkers still made tidy and precise nests, and they didn’t get unnaturally² aggressive when researchers mimicked³ intrusions.



Lab physiology⁴ tests show the hornets are actually metabolizing the ethanol extra fast. That fast detoxification ability could have arisen thanks to the abundant fermenting⁵ yeasts⁷ that are especially drawn⁸ to colonize⁹ hornet guts¹¹ — a particularly good place for yeast⁶ sex.



So there’s a certian zest¹² to the idea that yeasts helped hornets excel at detox. Hornets spreading their gut¹⁰ yeasts to grapes they sample may be important in creating the mysterious terroir that gives wines of particular locations their special something .