A very different avenue of investigation involves animal studies. These studies cannot be directly generalized to humans. However, work with chimps, baboons, or rats can shed light on the promising areas for human investigation and provide clues.

Some of the more curious studies involve rats. Different strains of rats were given a choice of water or water spiked with alcohol of differing concentrations. Inevitably, they sampled each and usually opted for plain water. If the only liquid available had alcohol added, they would drink it. Several strains of rats were important exceptions. They preferred alcohol and water solutions of around 5%. These "drinking rats" could be inbred and produce offspring that preferred even higher alcohol concentrations. The tentative conclusion is that biochemically they are different from their water-drinking counterparts. Interestingly, even "drinking rats" very rarely choose to drink to intoxication. Although a taste for alcohol may exist, they do not go on to become alcoholic. Dogs are apparently different, in that they will drink to intoxication more frequently. They will even indulge in several days of "heavy" drinking, but they stop spontaneously. Despite the fact that the dogs seem to experience what the experimenters interpret as a hangover or mild withdrawal, the animals abstain. Unless the dogs were binge drinkers, it would appear that alcoholism is a human problem.

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