Why Humans Are Not Animals

Few of you may remember it, but in 1994, an animal rights lawyer, Steven Wise, decided to promote the idea that some animals should be declared humans with all the full rights of any person. Soon came the proclamation that dolphins and whales should be deemed full persons as well. Of course, many have long considered primates to be our cousins and even assured us that we share 98% of their chromosomes. This kind of thinking very much follows from the belief in evolutionism and origins science, not operational science that can be observed and repeated. 

Very few of the public realize that the old assumption that humans and chimps are closely related genetically has now been proven false by several teams of researchers. A new report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that the common value of >98% similarity of DNA between chimp and humans is incorrect. The >98.5% similarity has been misleading because it depends on what is being compared. There are a number of significant differences that are difficult to quantify. A review by Gagneux and Varki described a list of genetic differences between humans and the great apes. The differences include ‘cytogenetic differences, differences in the type and number of repetitive genomic DNA and transposable elements, abundance and distribution of endogenous retroviruses, the presence and extent of allelic polymorphisms, specific gene inactivation events, gene sequence differences, gene duplications, single nucleotide polymorphisms, gene expression differences, and messenger RNA splicing variations.’ (Gagneux, P. and Varki, A. 2001. ‘Genetic differences between humans and great apes.’ Mol Phylogenet Evol 18:2-13.) A number of studies have demonstrated a remarkable similarity in the nuclear DNA and mtDNA among modern humans. In fact, the DNA sequences for all people are so similar that scientists generally conclude that there is a ‘recent single origin for modern humans, with general replacement of archaic populations.’ (10.Knight, A., Batzer, M.A., Stoneking, M., Tiwari, H.K., Scheer, W.D., Herrera, R.J., and Deninger, P.L. 1996. ‘DNA sequences of Alu elements indicate a recent replacement of the human autosomal genetic complement.’ Proc. Natl Acad Sci USA 93:4360-4364) Careful re-tallying of the numbers in the original paper describing the initial elucidation of the chimpanzee DNA sequence suggests that the two species are only ~89% identical. This has now rendered any similarities between chimp and human DNA somewhat meaningless as mice apparently share 92% of the same chromosomes humans do! 

The essence of our humanity is found with our minds. Animals have brains and not minds by this classification. In other words, animals can partially fulfill the lowest three orders of Bloom's Taxonomy but humans can flourish and dazzle all of us up to the sixth and highest level of the hierarchy.  All agree that animals can (1) remember, (2) understand, and (3) apply. But humans can go beyond this in spades. We can independently and without hard wiring, (4) analyze, (5) evaluate (thinking critically), and (6) create. 

The truth is, we really do not know what animals are thnking or even what their true motivation is in their behavior. What you might think is heroism on the part of an animal may well be conditioning that drives it to act as it does for the sake of a reward of some sort. It also seems that animals have a sixth sense that many humans do not have. It doesn't make them smarter but it gives them additional advantages we do not have. But then this has always been the case between animals and humans. Many animals have superior hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching capabilities totally lacking in humans but still never exceeding humans in mental abilities granting them a mind and not just a brain.

Our classification systems have always been a bit awkward and a bit embarrassing. It was Carl Linnaeus who gave started classifying animals and some strange results were produced indeed. We stopped calling whales fish and deemed mammals like us even though a beached whale doesn't fare half as well as a beached human!  We seem to consider birds what they are even though some cannot fly and some can. Snakes are all considered reptiles even though some bear their young as eggs and others bear them alive like mammals! And then there is the Duck-Billed Platypus of Australia that is considered a mammal even though it is equally a reptile and a bird and swims under water as frequently as it dwells on land. There is one species of a wren in the American Carolinas that is deemed another species strictly on the basis of it singing a different song! (Are the French and the English a different race after all? And are the Gaelic-speaking Irish a different species than the English-speaking Irish?)

My contribution to clear up this terrible confusion is to declare outright that humans, when all is said and done, are not animals after all. And we are mammals only because someone has grouped us together with the rest of that class of creatures. Here are ten points that make us strictly human and four sub-points that separate our human minds from the brains of our fellow animals. Below is the combination of two articles combined from Live Science regarding our uniqueness as human beings. Hats off to Charles Q. Choi and Natalie Wolchover and their masterful articles on the subject. 

Humans are unusual by any stretch of the imagination. Our special abilities, from big brains to opposable thumbs, have allowed us change our world dramatically and even leave the planet. There are also odd things about us that are, well, just special in relation to the animal kingdom. So what exactly makes us so special? 

(1) Speech 

The larynx, or voice box, sits lower in the throat in humans than in chimps, one of several features that enable human speech. Human ancestors evolved a descended larynx roughly 350,000 years ago. We also possess a descended hyoid bone — this horseshoe-shaped bone below the tongue, unique in that it is not attached to any other bones in the body and allows us to articulate words when speaking.

(2) Upright Posture

Humans are unique among the primates in how walking fully upright is our chief mode of locomotion. This frees our hands up for using tools. Unfortunately, the changes made in our pelvis for moving on two legs, in combination with babies with large brains, makes human childbirth unusually dangerous compared with the rest of the animal kingdom. A century ago, childbirth was a leading cause of death for women. The lumbar curve in the lower back, which helps us maintain our balance as we stand and walk, also leaves us vulnerable to lower back pain and strain.

(3) Nakedness

We look naked compared to our other hairy animals. Surprisingly, however, a square inch of human skin on average possesses as much hair-producing follicles as other primates, or more — humans often just have thinner, shorter, lighter hairs. Fun fact about hair: Even though we don't seem to have much, it apparently helps us detect parasites, according to one study.

(4) Clothing

Humans may be called "naked apes," but most of us wear clothing, a fact that makes us unique in the animal kingdom, save for the clothing we make for other animals. The development of clothing has even influenced other species — the body louse, unlike all other kinds, clings to clothing, not hair.

(5) Extraordinary Brains

Without a doubt, the human trait that sets us apart the most from the animal kingdom is our extraordinary brain. Humans don't have the largest brains in the world — those belong to sperm whales. We don't even have the largest brains relative to body size — many birds have brains that make up more than 8 percent of their body weight, compared to only 2.5 percent for humans. Yet the human brain, weighing only about 3 pounds when fully grown, give us the ability to reason and think on our feet beyond the capabilities of the rest of the animal kingdom, and provided the works of Mozart, Einstein and many other geniuses. 

There's no consensus on the question of what makes us special, or whether we even are. The biggest point of contention is whether our cognitive abilities differ from those of other animals "in kind," or merely in degree. Are we in a class by ourselves or just the smartest ones in our class?

Charles Darwin supported the latter hypothesis. He believed we are similar to animals, and merely incrementally more intelligent as a result of our higher evolution. But according to Marc Hauser, director of the cognitive evolution lab at Harvard University, in a recent article in Scientific American, "mounting evidence indicates that, in contrast to Darwin's theory of a continuity of mind between humans and other species, a profound gap separates our intellect from the animal kind."

What makes our brains unique is their...

(a) Generative computation
Humans can generate a practically limitless variety of words and concepts. We do so through two modes of operation recursive and combinatorial. The recursive operation allows us to apply a learned rule to create new expressions. In combinatorial operations, we mix different learned elements to create a new concept.

(b) Promiscuous combination of ideas
"Promiscuous combination of ideas allows the mingling of different domains of knowledge such as art, sex, space, causality and friendship thereby generating new laws, social relationships and technologies." (Hauser)

(c) Mental symbols

Mental symbols are our way of encoding sensory experiences. They form the basis of our complex systems of language and communication. We may choose to keep our mental symbols to ourselves, or represent them to others using words or pictures.

(d) Abstract thought

Abstract thought is the contemplation of things beyond what we can sense. "Researchers have found some of the building blocks of human cognition in other species. But these building blocks make up only the cement foot print of the skyscraper that is the human mind," (Hauser)

What other unique features are human only? 

(6) Hands

Contrary to popular misconceptions, humans are not the only animals to possess opposable thumbs — most primates do. (Unlike the rest of the great apes, we don't have opposable big toes on our feet.) What makes humans unique is how we can bring our thumbs all the way across the hand to our ring and little fingers. We can also flex the ring and little fingers toward the base of our thumb. This gives humans a powerful grip and exceptional dexterity to hold and manipulate tools with. This is getting off the topic, but what if we all had six fingers?

(7) Fire

The human ability to control fire would have brought a semblance of day to night, helping our ancestors to see in an otherwise dark world and keep nocturnal predators at bay. The warmth of the flames also helped people stay warm in cold weather, enabling us to live in cooler areas. And of course it gave us cooking: Cooked foods are easier to chew and digest.

(8) Blushing

Humans are the only species known to blush, a behavior Darwin called "the most peculiar and the most human of all expressions." It remains uncertain why people blush, involuntarily revealing our innermost emotions (we do know how it works). The most common idea is that blushing helps keep people honest, benefiting the group as a whole.

(9) Long Childhoods

Humans must remain in the care of their parents for much longer than other living primates. It could be because our minds require more time to grow and develop than animal brains.

(10) Life after Children


Most animals reproduce until they die, but in humans, females can survive long after ceasing reproduction. This might be due to the social bonds seen in humans — in extended families, grandparents can help ensure the success of their families long after they themselves can have children.

Let's face it. By any stretch of the imagination we are fearfully and wonderfully made and utterly unique from the rest of creation. Stop others from stealing your special human existence. You are unique on the planet and you are unique in the universe!