Intoxicated elk and drunken jumbos

Are humans the only animals that like to go out and get drunk? Tales abound of animals seeking natural sources of alcohol, then indulging in drunken antics before passing out and sleeping it off. These stories are perennially popular fillers in news media, from where they sometimes make their way to Fortean Times. Variants involve elephants, moose, bears, pigs, monkeys and other animals, and they resound in the echo chambers of the Internet. Those repeating them rarely pause to consider how much truth there is to the tales.

French naturalist Adulphe Delegorgue gave one of the earliest modern