Is it possible? Could we be seeing a complete reversal of Darwin’s theory of evolution? Could chimps really be the Anti-Trumps that will save the world from its own stupidity?

Don’t laugh. Science may be on the verge of something truly revolutionary.

Meet Val, a chimp living in a sanctuary in Africa, who has become part of a study involving a rather unusual behavioral trend: some of the chimps have begun dangling blades of grass or sticks from their ear holes and their . . . well, their rear holes. [Jack Guy, CNN, July 10, 2025.]

The phenomenon was first observed in 2010 at the Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage Trust in Zambia. That was where researchers noticed a female chimp beginning to dangle objects from her ear, and other members of the group — apparently thinking they’d hit on a new fashion trend — copying her actions.

More interestingly, chimps in a different group at the sanctuary — located some nine miles away — began demonstrating the same behavior more than ten years later, with some also inserting objects into their rectums.

As the two groups had never interacted, there was no way the second group could have picked up cues from the first. So the staff at the sanctuary began looking at themselves, and discovered that one of their members — who had worked with both groups of chimps — had a habit of cleaning their ears with matchsticks or twigs. (The article doesn’t mention whether they’ve determined what, or who, might have inspired the rear-end action. Maybe those chimps were just itchy.)

There have been other documented cases of chimps mimicking behavioral patterns, such as the group at a zoo in the Netherlands where one female began walking as though she were carrying a baby, even though she wasn’t. Before long, all of the other females had adopted the same walking posture; and new females introduced into the group were not fully accepted until they also learned to do “the walk.” [Id.]

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Now, there is a point to this story, beyond the obvious cuteness factor, which is that these hairy little primates — as we have always known — are devilishly clever . . . and perhaps far more so than we realize. Not only do they “ape” our patterns of behavior (pun intended); they also have a sense of logic, an ability to reason, and a range of emotions including the all-important empathy . . . not to mention, an acute fashion sense.

All of which takes me back in time to Planet of the Apes. Science fiction aside, I now find myself fantasizing about a world in which we look to so-called “lesser” animals — say, chimpanzees — who have no inborn or learned animosities or prejudices, no selfishness or jealousy, no greed or hatred — so that we might learn from them how to live in peace and harmony with each other and with our planet . . .

. . . and how to choose leaders who truly have the best interests of the pack at heart.

And then I wake up, and I’m back in the real world.

“Dammit!”

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
7/20/25