For Chuck:

Hamsters are mostly liver.

In nature they forage (hence cheek pouches) and dig tunnels to store their food.

It turns turns out that while they are out in the wilds their food stores ferment. When they go to get diner out of storage they get drunk.

They are used for alcoholism research because they have actually evolved to prefer alcohol over water. If you offer them a drinking bottles filled with plain water and spiked water they will naturally go for the spiked one.


That may hold true in the lab, but I have offered my critters hamster sized pints before and they were not interested.

Anyhow, I'm a bit sauced myself but I wanted to tell you about how hamsters were nature's alkys.