Gut Bacteria

At http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2010/11/16/gut-bacteria-recap-th… … is an interesting post forwarded by member Brian Sherwood Jones  in response to a post a few days ago. The evolution of microbes in the bodies of humans, and their relatives such as the apes, is the subject of the study. Gut bacteria is passed down from parents to their children and it is no surprise that gorilla gut bacteria differs from that of humans. The evolutionary relationship between the bacteria groups is odd – it is determined by diet (or this was what was thought to be the case). The new study contradicts this view to a degree, in what appears to be a fascinating subject as it involved in collecting lots of faeces from zoos, and elsewhere, and picking them to pieces to get at the bacteria. Everyone to his fancy I suppose – see also www.rationalskepticism.org/evolution/evolution-of-hominids-mirrored-by-g…