There are quite a few traits and behaviors that are unique to humans - writing comes to mind. It seems to me that this is different from human language, which is arguably (or not!) different from other animal acoustic communication only in degree of complexity. The same could be said for human tool use - different in extent only.
Anyway, that’s just background. What I’m interested in are traits, or structures, or behaviors, that are found in only a single multicellular species, without analogs elsewhere, even among other species in the same family. As a negative example, I thought that koalas were the only mammals to eat eucalyptus leaves, but a quick Google showed that ringtail possums and ‘greater gliders’ do as well. I suppose it would be easiest to start looking at species that are the only surviving member of their family. Be that as it may, is there anything that springs to mind?
Honeybees do a fairly complex dance to indicate to others where the latest patch of nectar is to be found. I’m not aware that any other insects do the same thing, although it can be argued that some humans use dancing to bring others to their honeypot.
The trouble with this is there are several species of honey bees. I think about 8. And AFAIK all of them “dance”. I think it’s going to be very hard to find something that one species does and no others do except almost only mate with that species – but that’s essentially the definition of a species.
Human intelligence is often cited as our greatest evolutionary advantage. Tool use is an outgrowth of that trait. It’s true that this isn’t unique to our species, it’s more a matter of degree. Physically, we’re also fantastic endurance athletes, especially when it comes to running. Again though, while we’re notable for that, we’re certainly not unique. An oft-forgotten physical trait however is our fast precision throwing ability. While there’s definitely species that can throw things, can any of them actually hit a target with reasonable speed, accuracy, and repeatability?
“If an eel climbs a ramp to take squid from a clamp, that’s a moray.”
This sounds like a joke, but isn’t. It was the lede on an article in the Science Times a couple months ago about how a moray eel had climbed out of the water, wriggled up a ramp somehow to grab a squid that had been clamped to the top of the ramp. That behavior had never been observed before.
Looking for examples, I googled fireflies and bower birds and discovered that both of them covered entire families, so they’re not examples of single species.
The panda’s thumb is not homologous to the primate thumb, and is found only in pandas. Oddly, though, it’s found in both giant pandas (a kind of bear) and in red pandas (akin to raccoons). The most recent common ancestor of both wouldn’t have had the trait, and is also an ancestor of all other bears and raccoons.
Isn’t the problem with African Killer Bees essentially that they are mating with local (European?) honeybees an so migrating north? Isn’t that sort of questioning what makes the distinction between one species and another?
Yup. All categories in the real world are fuzzy. Neatly-defined distinct categories are a feature of how the human mind works, not a feature of reality.
Vampire bats drink blood, are very small, and starve if they don’t eat at least every three days. It is not easy to bite a big animal and lick their blood undetected, that is a risky way to feed. They live in small colonies, often in hollow trees. They regurgitate some of the blood they have in their stomachs to feed other bats that have not been lucky in the last day or two, allowing them to survive another day and, perhaps, reprocicate. And they remember: when some bat was altruistic with them, they share more willingly than they do with strangers or with non-coöperators. They seem to form something akin to friendship bonds. Or not, if the other bat has been a jerk in the past.
Throwing with good aim was a good example, jjakucyk! But some chimpanzees are learning and try hard to hit us. We deserve it, probably:
I would have thought that the platypus would be a good candidate to have unique traits, but the only thing that I can find that is truly unique (per Wikipedia) are three of the proteins in their venom.
Seems likely that we’re the only animal that creates and appreciates art. There’s a kind of bird that builds an intricate egg-shaped nest. I think it hangs from a tree or is built on the ground rather than resting on a branch. It looks like art, but IMO is too closely related to survival to qualify.
I used to think playing was exclusive to humans, and then I saw that video of a crow that repeatedly slides down an icy ramp, apparently just for fun. Yeah, I know it proves nothing. I’ve played with dogs and cats and maybe other animals, but that crow is what convinced me, probably because I can’t imagine a bird smiling.
Nine-banded armadillos nearly always give birth to identical quadruplets. I’m not aware of another species that does this. (I used to care for armadillos in a research facility.)
Hey, thanks for posting that. I wasn’t thinking of weavers, but some of those bowerbird nests look like what I saw on some TV documentary. The egg-shaped feature I misremembered isn’t the nest but the hole running through the bower, as seen in the last image in your link. Okay, there are several kinds of bowerbirds, so not a single species and therefore not relevant to the OP.
Like I said, I don’t consider that art. Mating opportunities are often a driving force of artistic creation but are not at its essence, IMO. A job can be done with tremendous flair and panache, but it’s still just doing a job.
