Hominidae

Is pessimism simply brutal honesty? Readers of the novel The Cloud Corporation, by Timothy Donnelly, are given a string of poems that seem to insinuate a bleak future for society. The author repeatedly points out the ignorance and backwardness of the human race. What is reality and how has the human race come to shape this reality? Donnelly conveys the impression that humans are their own worst enemy; they are the problem and the solution. The world is turning over a new leaf. This new side of…

Human evolution is the long process of change in which humankind originated from apes. Before Charles Darwin, Carolus Linnaeus, chose the word,”homo,” which is Latin for human, in his classification system. During this time, along with Linnaeus, other scientists considered apes to be close relatives to humans due to their anatomical similarities. In the 1960s and 70s, African researchers found fossils of australopithecines, an extinct creature related to humankind in Africa. Later more fossils…

Response Paper One: What Makes Us Human? There are many traits that make us who we are, we are all individuals separated by our looks, personalities and unique characteristics. However, beyond that, there are several traits that make us human. According to NOVA Science NOW, there are four characteristics that make us human, completely distinct from every species on earth: the connection we maintain with Neanderthals, our ease for language and advanced tool making, our ability to laugh and our…

Animal Testing and Cruelty In discussion of animal rights, one controversial issue has been if animal testing should be banned. On the one hand, many agree that animal testing contributes to many advances in science since it helps advance treatments and find new ways to prevent diseases. While on the other hand, others argue that animal testing is cruel and unnecessary because in most cases results aren 't always accurate. Others even maintain that animals and humans are completely different…

I find the study of Chimpanzee and Human behaviour to be a very fascinating subject. Primatology is a field of study that helps us understand many different aspects of how primate’s function and how we are able to compare it to how human’s behaviour and social skills adapt and develop much differently in society. The article I read focuses on this specific topic and shows us how humans and apes develop different social skills from a young age. Even though chimpanzees are our closest living…

Animals and humans seem to be a completely different species. Growing up, children are taught that animals are entirely unlike humans, and that they are an inferior species even though humans evolved from apes and chimpanzees. However, we are not very different. Humans need nutrients to survive; animals need food as well. Water is a necessity for animals and humans alike. Both have an intrinsic need to procreate in order to keep the species going. Nonetheless, there is one essential difference.…

Bright, fluorescent lights shine down, irritating his eyes as a man in a long, white coat pokes needles into his arms. The air is stale and the smell of disinfectant is almost suffocating. His thick arms are restrained and his mouth can form no words, which is just how the man in the long, white coat wants it. Before long, he becomes vocal, screeching to make the pain come to a stop, and it does when he loses consciousness. As he comes to, his need of thirst becomes apparent and he bangs on…

Language is an essential part of everyday life. What Darwin called ‘the sweet music of our species’ has in fact had a vital role in the establishment of the human as ‘the dominant species’; language creates a strong connection within all members of the same social group and allows to convey a virtually infinite quantity of information, involving both concrete and abstract concepts, as well as past, present and upcoming events. Biologically speaking, this is has been and still is a huge advantage…

Introduction Singer is right to claim that human suffering and animal suffering should be given equal consideration. (16) Exposition In his writing, Animal Liberation, Peter Singer maintains that we ought to give equal consideration to the lives of non-human animals as we do to the lives of humans. He is saying that all animals, either human or non-human are all equal. One of the arguments that Singer says is asking why equality is a moral idea and not a declaration of fact. He does this by…

Presently, animals are mistreated at alarming rates. Humans view animals as a lower caste and sometimes claim their superior cognition and understanding of the world. This leads to the abuse of animals. For instance: animals can be used for testing, killed for sport, or be placed on display for the world to watch. These actions would distress any human and make them extremely uncomfortable, so, why is it acceptable treatment for animals? The rationale for this treatment is found in the human’s…