Don't mess with the macaques. Seriously. From MSNBC comes the story: Monkey cops keep the peace among groups. For those that have very short attention spans and don't want to read the full article, here's the scoop:

• Monkeys kick ass.
• They do so by policing their own, forming gangs and levels of dominance.
• Monkeys pick their peacekeepers on the basis of who can kick the most ass. Wimpy monkeys basically vote the tough monkeys into policing roles. (Is it me, or will we see this sort of thing adapted into a reality show soon?)
• Remove the monkey cops and chaos ensues. Cats end up sleeping with dogs. Dogs cry wolf. And the monkeys go apeshit.
• Monkeys are like humans, only generally smarter.

Macaque is an unfortunate name for a monkey. Worse still, its scientific name is Macaca nemestrina (which sounds like something my son might do as soon as I take his diaper off, or something he's bound to catch at daycare). Still, I'm not going to tell the macaque monkeys about their name, they'll throw me in monkey jail and toss away the banana. (Technorati Tags: monkeys, science, monkey cops)