I’m an animal, a chordate, a vertebrate, a tetrapod, an amniote, a mammal, a primate, and an ape, and I’m proud of 'em all!
Occasionally I think about whether our Labrador retriever is mystified and/or resentful that large monkey-like creatures control her life.
Then I figure - she’s just a dog, she’ll get over it.
What, like trees and tortoises?
*d&r
To actually answer the OP, no. I am amazed how far humans go to try to convince themselves they are not animals.
Like not peeing on each other.
Life of Brian riff?
If so, only by accident. I’ve never seen it.
Now that I think of it, my username says I’m a pig. But I can talk and write, so they made me an honorary ape.
No. If we weren’t animals, what the hell else would we be?
Begging your pardon squire, but you should probably see it.
Some people are vegetables, and some people are fruits.
It freaks me out a lot more that coral is an animal.
Yeah, it hits me every now and then. But it does make me feel better because it puts my pointless neuroticism and health problems in perspective (since our brains are just primate brains with a little more size). The concept that we are not fallen angels but instead are risen monkeys makes me more forgiving of myself and others. I have health problems and a messed up mind, but realizing we are animals helps with that.
I’ve spent about 18 years of my life getting a formal education (when you add K-12 and university). My biological survival is largely guaranteed and not something I need to exert much, if any real, energy on. I spend most of my mental energy on abstract things rather than things that have meaningful day to day value. So in that regard I don’t consider myself an animal.
Like I said, ‘risen monkeys’ is a pretty good description for us that I have heard before and that I agree with.
Pick a side - we’re at war!
The animal thing isn’t a big deal. What’s kind of freaky is the fact that your “self” is basically a story your brain tells itself as it tries to process all the input it is receiving from your senses and nervous system. This system perpetuates itself and affects your perception more than you’re typically aware of. That stuff can get freaky.
All right, I’ll admit it, I’ve seen some short porn sequences in passing, while flipping channels on the Internet. (Only average-sized humans are involved, and they always seem to participate willingly.)
Depending on the specific case, sometimes I’m really interested and enthusiastic, but sometimes I just get the feeling I’m watching large mammals screwing on Discovery. The latter feeling can appear suddenly and without warning, and can seriously curb my enthusiasm.
Forgive the off-topic but felinus domesticus is still a self-willed wild animal. Indeed most of the 39 cat species cannot be made into pets - only lions, cheetahs, and the domestic cat. What happened is when humans discovered agriculture about 8,000 BC cats discovered grain stores…and mice. Humans found this useful and a symbiosis developed.
Nevertheless compared with the average dog and even birds, cats can adapt very quickly to the wild or a new home. Much as I love them, loyalty aint their strong suit. Similarly African water-buffalo are not tame. Useful yes, but violent and not amenable to control.
I get freaked out by people who don’t consider humans to be animals.
I once knew an Irish Catholic guy married to a Greek Orthodox woman, and she was all like we’re special entities put on earth by God, and the point of earth is humanity - which you can’t really argue with - while he was all like it stands to reason that we’re not animals, are you stupid or what?
The conversation got quite heated, or at least my end of it did, to the point where my then-girlfriend started kicking me under the table.