But are they? You need only a half-keen eye to notice the similarities between humankind and the animal world. How different are the aforementioned baboons and the humans waging war as you read this? Isn’t it all a fight over land?
And the similarities don’t end there. Aren’t our most basic needs the same? Food, shelter, mates, the continuity of our species.
Speaking of mates and species continuation, don’t both animals and humans beautify themselves in attempt to attract mates? When you look at someone and think “good-looking”, you’re doing it; you’re behaving just as an animal would. We say animals behave without thinking, but don’t we do it as well? There is little conscious thought behind human attraction; there is only a drive that we cannot explain but nonetheless act upon. Humans may use trips to the gym and agreeable clothing and, say, peacocks may pull their feathers into full display, but it’s essentially the same.
Cannibalism is common in the animal world. It is also the case with humans, even if to a lesser degree. Two humans caged in a cell and starved will eat each other eventually, just as an animal denied food would not hesitate to eat one of its kind. What’s more, animals need to feel important and dominant. That is why a bird might destroy the nest of another, or a snake might kill another to gain dominance. Again, humans do the same. We gossip, ridicule others, form little social circles and ban others from joining; all, in essence, for a need to make others inferior. (One need only look at a high school to see the continuous struggle for popularity and social dominance in stark display!) The similarities are too many to mention.
Is it the long-smothered animal instinct fighting its way out? Or do both the gentle and merciless sides of humanity coexist within the fabric of our species? Which is the most dominant? Which is the one to rightfully cling to and nurture? Are we still animals or are we something wholly different? Am I, and you, no different than silverback gorillas and the zebras of the savanna?
Humanity is an interesting species, to say the least!
