After a 25-year career as a curiousity--the first 18 in showbiz and freak shows, the last seven in a research lab--the chimpanzee known as Oliver has finally found a well-deserved rest at a retirement home, Primarily Primates, near Boerne, Texas.

Oliver represented a mystery for primatologists from the day he arrived in the U.S., one of four chimps in a shipment from the then Belgian Congo acquired by animal trainers Frank and Janet Burger. Oliver walked on two feet and had a smaller head than his compatriots, giving him an uncanny human aspect. And when puberty kicked in, he displayed a distinct preference for human females over chimpanzee ones.

The chimp danced with Gene Kelly and appeared at Radio City Music Hall as well as on the Ed Sullivan Show. Head shaved to emphasize his human appearance, Oliver went on the circus circuit as "Baby Bigfoot," his most famous stage name. He enjoyed television and could mix his own nightcap, consisting of a shot of scotch and Seven-Up.

Neither quite chimp nor human, Oliver had a series of handlers before being passed along to the Buckshire Corp., a Pennsylvania research center. Speculations about his genetic make-up have ranged from that of a merely mutant chimp to a primate-human hybrid. Earlier unconfirmed press accounts claimed that Oliver had 47 chromosomes, one less than a chimpanzee, one more than a human. (Humans and chimps share 99 percent of their bio-chemical heritage.) The speculation is expected to end later this year when scientists at the University of Chicago finally receive a blood sample for analysis.

Anti-Matter wants to know: If Oliver turns out to be half-human, will he be elgible for Social Security?