Gene found for big, firm sheep rumps

Scientists have found the gene that gives some sheep unusually big, muscular bottoms.

GENE EFFECT. A gene called callipyge can give a sheep a bigger and more muscular rump (left) than usual (right). Duke University Medical Center

Sheep bearing one gene variant, dubbed callipyge (from the Greek for shapely buttocks), convert food into muscle 30 percent more efficiently than usual, report scientists at the Agricultural Research Service in Clay Center, Neb.,