How much booze does it take to intoxicate an elephant?

The answer isn't as much as you might expect, because not all guts are created equal when it comes to metabolising alcohol.

This explains why an elephant might be considered a lightweight but your donkey got into a fight last weekend.

But alcohol isn't the only cause of misbehaviour — so what motivated the legless serial doorbell pranksters?

Featuring:

Dr Mareike Janiak, postdoctoral associate at the University of Calgary
Dr Christine Sutton, particle physicist and past editor of CERN Courier
Kate Connolly, Berlin correspondent for the Guardian Newspaper
Dr Imogen Cavadino, freelance malacologist

With news audio thanks to NPR

And extra sounds from bird enthusiasts:

Mike Dooher, XC355140. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/355140 (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0)
Lonnie Bregman, XC373738. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/373738 (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0)
Mike Dooher, XC402422. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/402422 (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0)
Frank Lambert, XC1031363. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/1031363 (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0)

Production:

Ann Jones, Presenter / Producer
Rebecca McLaren, Producer
Hamish Camilleri, Sound Engineer

This episode of What the Duck?! was produced on the land of the Wadawarrung and Taungurung people.

Find more episodes of the ABC podcast, What the Duck?! with the always curious Dr Ann Jones exploring the mysteries of nature on ABC Listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. You'll learn more about the weird and unusual aspects of our natural world in a quirky, fun way with easy to understand science.

Natures Most Wanted: Trunk and disorderly

What The Duck?!

Natures Most Wanted: Trunk and disorderly