2 Min Read. 9. The researchers, led by Frank Wiens of Germany's University of Bayreuth, videotaped regular nocturnal feeding sessions and followed the movements of radio-tagged tree shrews. A study of the Tree-Shrew in Malaysia found that it spends several hours consuming the equivalent of 10 to 12 glasses of wine with an alcohol content of up to 3.8% every night drinking naturally fermented nectar … Breeding After a gestation period of approximately 50 days, a litter of 3 - 4 young are born. This level of alcohol … The only family of the order SCANDENTIA, variously included in the order Insectivora or in the order Primates, and often in the order Microscelidea, consisting of five generaThey are TUPAIA, Ananthana (Indian tree shrew), Dendrogale (small smooth-tailed tree shrew), Urogale (Mindanao tree shrew), and Ptilocercus (pen-tailed tree shrew). The Chinese tree shrew (Tupaia belangeri chinensis) possesses many features similar to those of humans and is frequently used as an experimental model in biomedical research. The Pen-tailed Treeshrew is one of the currently known seven wild mammals that actively and consistently (if not chronically) consumes mass quantities of alcohol. So if we can figure out why these animals are able to cope with it perhaps it could be used to develop medicines to help people deal with alcohol poisoning.". Pen-tailed tree shrew and the bertam palm. Not to be confused with shrews or elephant shrews, tree shrews are a distinct group of mammals, and the pen-tailed shrew is the smallest of the lot, averaging 13 centimeters in length. Army officer's secret journal could offer new clues about the UFO crash in Roswell in 1947, Child's bones buried 40,000 years ago solve long-standing Neanderthal mystery, 1,800-year-old altar to pagan god Pan hidden in a Byzantine church, Ancient Egyptian hoard of counterfeit 'dirty money' unearthed, Archaeologists find vast network of Amazon villages laid out like the cosmos, Gold coin stash from time of Henry VIII found in English garden. The pygmy shrew … It is found in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. The pen-tailed tree shrew is the sole member of its genus. All other treeshrews are in the family Tupaiidae. Pen-tailed treeshrews are the only known wild mammals that consume alcohol every night. That's pretty unique.". Since pen-tailed treeshrews are considered a primitive ancestor for all treeshrews and primates, the ability to ingest high amounts of alcohol is hypothesized to have been an evolutionary adaptation in the phylogenic tree. All other treeshrew species are grouped in the family Tupaiidae.It is considered the closest relative of extant primates. Scientist Frank Wiens of Germany was observing the Malaysian tree shrews when he caught a whiff of a familiar odor. "For bats and birds it would be just at the time that the plants are producing fruit. Pen-tailed tree shrew 130 millimeters long. In the case of the tree shrews, the animals could have developed the ability to handle high volumes of alcohol because the bertam palm was the best source of food available in their habitat. [ 1 ] The Pen-tailed Treeshrew is one of seven known wild mammals that chronically consume alcohol. The Pen-tailed Treeshrew (Ptilocercus lowii) is a species of treeshrew in the Ptilocercidae family. The nectar can reach up to 3.8 percent alcohol content, one of the highest alcohol concentrations ever recorded in a natural food. 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