What human attribute separates us from animals? Your answer doesnt have to be serious.
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A Soul and the ability to rationalize and make excuses
The ability to think about and plan for the future.
I think its humour…..what other animal laughs and contrives situations to make each other laugh but serve no other purpose? laughter and the undertaking of pointless acts
Language. Telephones, bicycles, newspapers and marbles.
Beyond that, not much.
Oh and ice cream!
The fact that we are human and are bias towards ourself.
Other than that intelligence mostly, biologically humans are nothing special.
Animals do what they feel naturally. A human thinks “what will other people think?, what if I look stupid?.. etc” An animal brain doesn’t think like that. Just one example.
@TheCreative
Other animals take other animals feelings into account.
Monkeys often do things differently because of how it thinks other monkeys will react.
They don’t fret over whether to kill us to eat.
@allansmithee Yes. You can still care about other’s feelings without that kind of human mentality that I just described.
Wiping instead of licking.
A few random accidental genetic mutations.
@allansmithee Just saw your edit. Fine, fine. The majority of animals. But even monkeys don’t think like that as much as humans.
@TheCreative
A human baby doesn’t take into account what others think, is it not human?
@allansmithee I think you misunderstood what I was trying to say. For example an animal will take care of it’s baby because it cares about it and it’s feelings but will it get embarrassed when it eats it’s own poop in front of others? No.
@TheCreative
What I’m trying to say is not all humans are like that so for the humans without these emotions are they no different from animals? Such as babies.
@allansmithee I’m just pointing out the majority of human and animal behavior. You may be right. A human can act any way he wants but this is not how most think. Humans tend to judge and label. So many people are afraid to express their opinion because the though “what will the others think?” usually pops in to their head. An animal is usually not afraid to do what he/she feels or wants. For example, if you eat with your hands someone will tell you “How can you eat like that? Like an animal!” I don’t think an animal would really care what is being thought about him/her.
A few biological and physiological differences.
I myself believe humans to be animals but can understand and appreciate the reasons for which the question was worded in such a way.
Before WE reproduce, we put on a Barry White cd.
Humans are not separate from animals. We are animals.
@Quagmire – Dear god if I could got a frick’n dollar every time those damn rabbits that live in our hedge put on that fuckng Barry White cd each time they sheboink-a-doink I would be rich. But all I get is a hedge full of smaller rabbits and smelly little “jelly beans”.
My answer is war. No animals ever went to war.
@Bri_L, I HATE when that happens!
@Bri_L Actually ants have been observed to actively pursue organised warfare.
Animals fight all the time.
The problem is, they never sign declarations of war. Most likely due to a lack of thumbs, they just can’t grip the pen properly.
We are animals, but we seem to be the only ones that worry about categorizing all the other animals.
Dogs and dolphins both have senses of humor.
We shave our armpits, legs and other parts of our bodies.
Emotions and the ability to act on them!
Animals have emotions and act on them!
Animals do get embarassed. They just have a different opinion of poop than we do.
Our ability to ponder this very question.
The only thing that separates us from the animals are mindless superstition and pointless ritual.
~Latka Gravas
So just why do dogs circle three times before lying down?
@Darwin Or sometimes, in Molly’s case, it is 8 to 10 times. I want to know, too.
I figured it was some form of “mindless superstition and pointless ritual”.
All other species have souls.
@Marina: Some of us are more limber than others.
If we consider the unique attributes and gifts of all the non-human animals, humans, as a species, are not special at all.
We have music. Find me an animal that can play “Kung Foo Fighting” on the piano!
@Quagmire Show me a woman who can make chirping sounds by rubbing her legs together.
okay, bad example
Humans are animals.
Other animals have thumbs.
Other animals have comparable (or better) work ethics.
Other animals can rationalize.
Other animals plan for the future.
Other animals laugh.
Other animals have language.
Other animals think without acting instinctively.
Other animals have emotions (and act on them).
Other animals reason.
Animals don’t have human DNA. Only humans do, and that’s the only difference that really counts. It makes all other differences possible.
monkeys have thumbs, but they don’t hitch-hike. That’s the difference between humans and animals.
Only humans can create entirely new languages to suit a specific purpose, like secret code, binary, pig-latin, and smoke signals.
I have no reason to believe that animals can author or comprehend the concepts of fiction or poetry.
Animals cannot accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior.
@Darwin I’ve read that dogs do that circling thing to mash down the grass in order to make a bed in the grasslands. Of course, it’s a holdover form wolf days, but when you watch a chihuahua do it, and imagine that it’s a wolf, you just have to chuckle.
But humans can accept Ceasar Romano as their personal trainer.
@RealEyesRealizeRealLies Thank Evelyn for that! I’d have a real problem with animals knocking on my door and spewing some religious rhetoric at me about Meow-Jesus-meow.
We are the only animal having walked on the moon.
@evelyns_pet_zebra – Actually I know why dogs are supposed to do it, but it just seemed somehow appropriate to attribute it to “mindless superstition and pointless ritual”.
we usually admire the guy who shot the animal hunting, but if an alligator happens to even wander near a city, we usually kill it…
The concepts of service and professionalism.
the ability to destroy our planet.
Soul, spirit, language, intellect, music. We are made in the image of God.
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