Bizarre Animal Behavior: Alcoholic Vervets, Shark Eating Baboons, Mushroom Tripping Reindeer And More! (VIDEO)

Animals have evolved some truly bizarre behaviors. Watch our video slideshow to find out about the spotted skunk that handstands for defense, the pistol shrimp that kills by sonic powered shockwave, mushroom tripping reindeer and much more. Don't forget to vote on your favorite!

Alcoholic Vervet Monkeys

In St. Kitts, vervet monkeys have developed a penchant for alcohol by eating fermented sugarcane for the past three hundred years. Recently, the monkeys have started to scavenge local resorts and sip from tourists' glasses to get their fix.

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Comments

[PigsOnSoma]

08:47 AM on 09/08/2009

This is still my favorite animals drinking video from "Animals are Beautiful People". The elephants intentionally knock the fruit from the tree, and then they all wait for it to ferment:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypXJaLQXKQk

[Khirad]

08:21 PM on 09/07/2009

Towards the end there quite a few party fouls committed.

[hippie4ever]

12:54 PM on 09/07/2009

Amazing. Near where I live the problem is rats. They love to eat cannabis and have become quite the problem because they will consume (and destroy) the entire plant. Of course they also tend to be less aggressive than their peers, but who wants stoned rats in their local forest?

[story1]

10:23 PM on 09/06/2009

While we look for stories about cute animals, the mustangs roaming free on our lands are being round up and put up for sale to await an uncertain fate. Emmy award filmmaker Ginger Kathrens has documented Cloud and his herd for PBS for many years, but as the new season is scheduled to air, the herd is round up by helicopters. The ROAM act which was approved by the House of Representatives forbids round ups because they are too dangerous for the horses, leading to injuries or deaths. But the Bureau of Land Management is not waiting for Senate to legalize the bill and going ahead anyway. 8 million head of cattle, less than 38,000 wild horses. Who is destroying our ecosystem?
Entire herds are being captured right now, foals just a few days old chased by helicopters. Horses are then put up for sale and often end up sold for meat abroad. This is the tragedy of our beautiful icon, and it's unfolding right now. Please go to: http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/ more info: http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/faqs.html SAVE the American Wild horse!

[AuntiepoppyCock]

08:25 PM on 09/06/2009

I posted the vervet drinking story months ago.

[KarateKid]

03:06 PM on 09/06/2009

I was in a hotel in Nairobi and made the mistake of feeding some monkeys from the veranda of my room. In the middle of that night, something woke me up and it was the monkeys going through my suitcase and eating some granola I had in there; scared the daylights out of me. They sneaked in through the window that I thought was closed. They're smarter than many of the rightwingnuts that come here.

[buzzard123]

01:01 PM on 09/06/2009

Stealing your drinks is not all these little guys will do. I have been swimming in St. Kitts, looked back at the beach and watched them unzip my pack, grab what they can and are gone like lighting the minute you are on the sand. And yes, there are some of them who just can't sit through an AA meeting.

[richard5]

01:16 PM on 09/06/2009

I'm sorry St.Kitts. I don't think I can vacation on your island and enjoy a day on your beaches with these animals running around drunk, stealing drinks and other things, putting their dirty mouths on any open beverage, breaking glasses left and right, and just making a monkey out of the entire experience. I am certain they are spreading disease with their drunking behavior.

This does not look like fun. It's seems they do a lot of property damage there as well. I wonder who pays for this constant nightmare? All the broke furniture and glassware? The government should round up these animals and put them in a sanctuary or zoo somewhere. Just looking at that video is enough for me to grab my suitcase and catch the next flight out. Bunch of drunks who just don't know when to quit and are just intent on ruining the party for all just because they got an alcohol fixation. Unnerving really.

[MagicalPossibilities]

08:41 PM on 09/06/2009

Just like college kids on spring break anywhere... LOL

[DossyDomo]

12:43 PM on 09/06/2009

Wow, that is pretty scary stuff dude!

RT
http://www.privacy-resources.tk

[Ohioan730]

05:56 AM on 09/06/2009

This is a hilarious story with a tragic backstory, unfortunately. Humans encroaching on their habitats force them into town to look for food. They climb into people's windows and steal food constantly. I think a lot of people tolerate it but it doesn't seem right.

Although, it is fun to watch how they coordinate the food heists together.

[Erik Kartmann]

12:09 AM on 09/06/2009

Fermented fruit in the wild or Maitai's at the resort...
Primates are obviously smarter than some originally thought.

[prider]

05:49 PM on 09/05/2009

How would anyone define such nonhuman animal-demeaning material to be "green'?

This just insults nonhuman animals.

[Norak]

06:02 PM on 09/05/2009

I agree. Looks more like abuse than funny to me. We'll probably never know the state of the livers of these "tourist attractions." And from the human angle I wouldn't like a vervet with fleas anywhere near my drink.

[OkieIntellectual]

10:55 PM on 09/05/2009

Hey, those monkeys choose to drink. Its nobody's fault but their own that they are too drunk all the time to hold down a job or keep up with their mortgage payments. :)

[talkingdog]

03:48 PM on 09/05/2009

..........they've bee seen high-five-ing,.......
......smoking cigars............
........playing with cards.............
.............chasing tail,......................

Hurry,......get them married and into church!!!

[stylenease]

12:56 PM on 09/06/2009

Trust me, being married and in church only increases this behavior..lol

[SpinDown08]

03:30 PM on 09/05/2009

Well I'll be a drunk monkey's uncle!!! Lol!

[CynAnne]

04:10 AM on 09/06/2009

I'd be lying if I didn't admit to thinking the inebriated, lolling 'monkehs' were just too darn cute, SpinDown (and I probably wasn't going to finish that drink, anyways)..! ;) ...

[b1986]

03:20 PM on 09/05/2009

Didn't Huffpost run a story about this months ago. I remember hearing about it last fall.

[Erik Kartmann]

12:11 AM on 09/06/2009

Yes, this was in the news last year.

[marco01]

03:20 PM on 09/05/2009

Bunch of drunk monkeys! LOL