Teenagers going ape

Coming home after a day’s graft to strange smells, randomly strewn clothes and an empty fridge is the lot of those obliged to share their living quarters with teenagers. The sensation that one’s abode has been invaded by a troop of apes is not a rare experience. Research is beginning to suggest that the comparison may be more than just a turn of phrase. Scientists have long known that apes go through their own adolescence. Now, psychologists at the University of Michigan, working with wild-born chimpanzees in Congo, have found that simian teens are less risk-averse and more prone to tantrums than their adult counterparts. There may indeed be an evolutionary explanation for teenage angst. This is bad news for parents. Do moody adolescents really need another excuse for their antics?