Science Tuesday

National Geographic reports the results of an important study:

A recent experiment found that chimps know other chimps by their rear ends.

Shown photos of their chimp acquaintances' rears, the chimps were able to match them with the right faces.

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The study appeared recently in the journal Advanced Science Letters.

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One primatologist says chimps can tell each other apart because their butts are uniquely shaped.

Such fundamental research may shake the Theory of Evolution to its bottom. If we are indeed descended from primate forebears (or even foremonkeys), one might expect human beings to exhibit this skill in a more highly developed form. But while your humble and obedient servant, for example, most definitely possesses this same ability, he finds he is able reliably to identify only approximately half of his fellow homo sapiens.