Are humans the only creature that has a sense of humor, imagination and hatred?

Question

If so what are some other characteristics do humans have that no other creature does?

And secondly, if you answer yes or no, how could you possibly know?

BTW: I wasn't sure where to post this question so just forgive me.

Answer 1

If you have ever had a pet, you would know that both cruelty and imagination are most certainly embodied in animals.  

Have you ever seen a cat wrestle and stalk a bit of paper?  She doesn't really believe it is a mouse, but she imagines so that she may amuse herself.  

My cat is an indoor cat in a neighborhood of many outdoor cats.  The outdoor cats like to sit outside the window and watch her beat at it or yowl.  Sometimes they walk from window to window to see her dash frantically from one to another.  Sometimes they do a little fake out so that she will dash to the next one when they are still at the first.  Certainly, these cats could find something more productive to do: hanging out with their owners, hunting, etc.  But they chose to torment a cat they know cannot retaliate.  I don't see any purpose in this that serves nature, so I believe they are indulging in some emotion, like cruelty or humor.

Answer 2

maybe what separates us is counsiousness of self and killing our own kind for no reason. No other animal does that.

Answer 3

No. Studies have shown that chimps share these characteristics.

Answer 4

Yes they are, and they are also the only creature who asks stupid idiotic questions of stupid idiotic people like we who answer you.

Answer 5

We have speech, opposable thumbs.  

I personally believe that animals have an imagination and sense of humour.  I know my dog hates Mexicans and men.  Who knows? Until we figure out a way to communicate with them effectively, we cannot be sure.

Answer 6

We're not sure... is the answer.

We personalify animals. Frequently. We see or interprete human behavoir or motivation in them. An example was a very intelligent man in his time who reported spiders "enjoyed" music because they could be seen to dance.... later it was found they sense thr world through vibrations... Tool using animals do use tools, but often claims are exaggerated. They don't apply these tools to novel situations. Often (not always), tool use is more a case of operant conditioning (trial and error learning) and imitation than abstract reasoning.

Animals may not have episodic memory - meaning memory for life events (as opposed to memory for semantic facts etc). And they have much less connections between areas in the brain than we do... we are not sure how different this makes them

(We rely on very controlled observational experiments, and sometimes brain scanning to tell us these things, btw)

Answer 7

I've heard the Apes and Chimps  and dolphins have a sense of humor. Ithink reasoning is a characteristic that is human alone.

Answer 8

Don't worry, this or psychology are the correct sections for this kind of thing.

Try watching some of the footage from the Gombe chimps. Believe me, these critters have feuds, allies, stare in awe at waterfalls, take herbs for medicine.. Not much that humans do is unique. These chimps really know how to carry a grudge, they even have mini wars.

Probably higher abstract thought is about all that seperates us from aother animals. Even parrots have shown they can understand abstract concepts like numbers and colours. Some chimps have smeared paint on paper and signed 'tree' with their hands, so I'd say they probably have an imagination too.

Any one who's had their pet dog jump on them from hiding, then hop around barking/lauching realises that slapstick humour is pretty universal.

Answer 9

You are forgiven.  Humans have attempted to define what separates them from other animals for a very long time.  It was once thought that humans were the only animals to make tools, until it was found that other animals make and use tools.  People were also thought to be the only animals, who have a language.  That is now questioned, and what was thought to be just animal noises seems to have meaning for them.  We do know that many animals understand human language, but are not physically equipped to speak.  Some have been taught sign language.  Have you watched Chimp Eden?  One of the Chimpanzees on the show, was raised by a woman, who was evidently cruel to him, and he now hates women.  As for a sense of humor and imagination, you might read about Koko, the Gorilla, and captive dolphins, who teach their trainers new tricks.  I know because I pay attention.

Answer 10

Humans are uniquely created in God's image, and have many qualities not shared by any other animals.

For example love, ability to create and appreciation of art and music, the ability to reason, to write and read, etc.

Other animals can certainly show emotions, but not sure if even chimps have a sense of humour. Perhaps they can be amused/entertained by certain things - but they don't tell each other jokes!

I would say that imagination is something only humans have.

Also hatred. Animals can show anger, but hatred implies premeditated rational thought.

Answer 11

It's very human when seeing behaviour we recognise to attribute it to an emotion we would experience.  We do it with animals and we do it with each other.  Well, I've spent 10 years being victimised by people who've said I've lied, I couldn't possibly experience this, that or the other, if I did I couldn't cope with it, or she did it to get attention, or she is jealous.  Well, I didn't lie, I did experience whatever, I did cope with it, I wasn't looking for attention and jealousy was not an issue.  It's not unusual for people to get things wrong about other people.  How can we possibly know what an animal is feeling or capable of feeling.  It's behaviour may have a totally different motivation than that of a humans.  Even looking at brain function is problematic since we are still trying to figure out how the limbic system  of the brain experiences emotions.