The other day I had another one of those conversations that leads to a blog post. It’s not the first time I’ve heard this sentiment, but it always grates at my nerves and I’m forced to counter with a few examples that prove the contrary of everything the person is saying. This is partly because I’m a bit of a nerd who believes that information is important, but also because I’m also a bit of a prick who enjoys showing people when they’re wrong about stupid things. But I do it really charmingly, so the people don’t want to punch me in the face.

I don’t really recall how the topic came up, but at one point she made the comment that we’re such a unique species. And honestly, I disagree. There are certainly things about us that are unique, but most if not all of the examples people have used in these conversations with me are incorrect, and serve largely to further some personal agenda of the individual. So I thought today I would take about a few of those oh-so-unique qualities of humanity and see if we can’t pop a few holes in them. Sounds like fun right?

Oh, and while you’re reading this, please understand that the links I provide to things like youtube are not things I have directly seen with my own two eyes, and as such should always be taken with a grain of salt.

Murder For Fun

Probably the first and foremost example of how we as a species are just jerks is the notion that we’re the only things that will kill for the sake of killing, rather than to fulfill some direct biological need. And it’s wrong. The animal kingdom has many examples of animals killing without any needs-based motivator, such as this video of wild bottlenose dolphins killing a harbor dolphin in an act that can only be described as infanticide. And if memory serves, didn’t the dulcet tones of Morgan Freeman in March Of The Penguins tell me that juvenile penguins will often kill other penguins through overly mean-spirited fun? For that matter, don’t these people have cats? In that video, the cat may well have chosen to eat the mouse, but how unheard of is it for a cat to kill a mouse and then lose interest? Granted, in those examples on could argue that play is a biological function, but what’s not up for grabs is the fact that animals of a variety of species sometimes kill one another just because it’s fun to do.

Oh, man, that dolphin video is an example of what I’m talking about. You talk to hippies and they always lay it on thick about the dolphins. “Oh, dolphins are super smart and super nice and they always play real nice with people and they save people’s lives and they’re cute and never do anything bad.” Silly hippie. Bottlenose dolphins exhibit some of the worst aspects of human society, from cruelty to rape.

Insanity

I was agog when someone once told me that only humans go crazy. This is just inherently wrong. Ever heard of a little puppy named Cujo? While not based on a true story, it’s not like rabies isn’t real. And this cute little baby skunk was thought to have rabies, but the tests came back negative with a suspicion of neurological impairment.

I suppose one of the troubles in this area is in determining what qualifies as insanity. Is rabies to be considered mental illness? It is a virus, and we don’t traditionally think of insanity as viral. You don’t get schizophrenia from sharing needles. But does that rule them out as insanity? What about prion diseases like Mad Cow? Or neuroses like OCD that have been seen (though I do not know how closely studied and verified) in animals like  Gus the Neurotic Polar Bear from the Central Park Zoo in New York?

I don’t believe we’ve had a single instance of a dog complaining to psychiatrists of hearing the voice of God commanding him to kill, but does that rule out the idea that a dog could become mentally ill? We don’t know what causes schizophrenia in humans, so how can we directly rule it out in animals?

In the quick research I have done for this article, I have found lots of articles claiming any number of conditions in family pets, but I am loathe to include them given that I don’t know which sources in this area I can trust. However, it seems to me that there is no reason to assume that insanity cannot possibly be a strictly human condition.

Cannibalism

This was one of the examples used in the conversation that triggered this blog post. She stated that only people eat other people. First off, I don’t think that’s an entirely common practice. I’ve never eaten a person, and the odds are pretty good that you haven’t either. But certainly there are plenty of documented examples of cannibalistic practice ranging from the Carib people to Armin Meiwes, the creepy German guy who was convicted in 2004 of eating Bernd Jürgen Brandes, who had volunteered for the job.

Well, it’s not just us. One of the most well-known examples of this in the animal kingdom comes from the BBC series Planet Earth, and shows a group of chimpanzees raiding another group’s territory, attacking them, and killing and eating a young chimp. However, that’s hardly the only example. What about the black widow spider or the praying mantis, two example species that turn backwards the human adage that I bought you dinner so you better put out? Or fetal tiger sharks that consume one another in the womb? And polar bear males are known to eat non-related cubs as well. For more details on animal cannibalism, enjoy this article from the PBS website.

Homosexuality

I am sad to know that there are still people out there who cling to the notion that we’re the only animal who engages in homosexuality. Research has shown conclusively that plenty of animal species know the love that dare not speak it’s name. Whether it’s lesbian seagulls, bonobos, or just the damned dog laying into the neighbor’s chihuahua, it happens. So let’s put that one to bed, shall we?

EDIT!

Immediately after posting this, I found a very cute video by Charlieissocoollike and figured I had to include it.

Conclusion

We’re just not as special as we thought we were, now, are we? I think this idea comes from the arrogance that many people hold to this day that assumes either that we’re not really animals or that we’re in some way a higher form than every other animal out there. We’re the top of the food chain, but that hardly means we have dominion over all the flora and fauna. We’re good at keeping ourselves safe through numbers, and even that isn’t a human innovation. It’s high time we admitted it, we’re just another animal on a planet full of them.

Jim