Where is the line between human and animal?

Question

At what point in our evolutionary journey did we stop being animals, if we ever did?

Answer 1

I am currently reading a book called "Jennie" by Preston (forgot first name) and it is really fascinating.  Jennie was the first chimp that was taught sign language.  She was not able to talk but in other ways she was so very human.  This morning I read where they discussed when she first saw herself in the mirror.  She very quickly figured out that it was herself.  Since humans are actually animals the distinction becomes very blurred.  My cat is so smart, I think he has a sense of himself.  He certainly doesn't think his reflection is another cat.  In my opinion, the distinction between humans and other animals is far more blurred than most would ever admit or believe.  By the way, Jennie laughed all the time.

Answer 2

*our creativity factor-we have the ability to create new and exciting things strictly for pleasure (music is a prime example; arbitrary sounds and noises put together at some set tempo....i think whales and dolphins do the same though).

*the ability to communicate our abstract thoughts and ideas (especially through writing)

*hospitals

*burying the dead of course (stems off the belief in an afterlife)

*trading something of value for someone else's thing of value

there may be more but i cant think of any

Answer 3

Man=animal Woman=human

Answer 4

Humans laugh

Answer 5

The gracile Australopithecines were thought to lead to the first true hominins, but there is still much conjecture about this. More fossils covering the intervening times would be a big help. So go to Africa and look, you young and fit, energetic and adventurous types!

Answer 6

The ability to reflect on our thoughts and actions. To plan ahead for environmental change. Animals have strict behavioral  tendencies that are quite predictable. One can usually tell how a chimp is going to act or react to any given situation. Not so with humans. Makes one wonder what the difference is, since our genes or DNA are 98% identical?

Answer 7

we smoke weed, and animals eat it.  we shave and animals dont.

Answer 8

if language (or culture, or whatever) is the line between humans and animals, then beaks (or whatever) are the line between birds and animals.

Why do we want to draw a line between one specific animal and the rest of all the animals?

WE ARE ALL ANIMALS!

Answer 9

i dont quite understand your question.  ..    

we are still animals

Answer 10

language.

Answer 11

I always heard the line between human and animal was that humans have no tail...........

Answer 12

Since this a question in anthropology it should be answered in a scientific way.Gorillas and chimpanzees are very closely related to humans so it would be assumed that we are animals also.What separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom is our ability to think in abstract ways.We use articulate language and writing and as far as I know can plan ahead and contemplate our mortality.This comes from the part of our brain called the prefrontal lobes.This allows us solve problems,plan ahead and allows us to see the relationship between cause and effect.It also allows us to inhibit irrational impulses.Another factor which separates us from other animals is that we are bipedal and are very good at modifying to suit our own needs.Apes chimpanzees and humans diverged from each other about 7 million years ago according to the latest information I know of

Answer 13

when humans developed the ability of logic and reason

Answer 14

If you belive evolution as the theory of our beginnings you have hit upon a really thorny question.  yes, indeed, where does the dividing line come?

I believe in Creation by a loving God.  He set the difference by making man in His image.

But putting that aside, I believe that the soul is the differentiating quality.  Animals do not have a soul.

Answer 15

Mankind supposedly at the top of the food chain and that insinuates that we are actually a part of that food chain  Studies in comparative biology definitely. show similarities to other animals. Maybe you think that self awareness is what sets us apart, recent research has shown that elephants are self aware, so maybe elephants are not animals. How about culture, different animals have cultures of there own, chimps, so now we have humans, elephants and chimps that are not animals. It is more reasonable to say that man is an animal but may have more sophisticated cultural, social, technological development than do the other animals at this stage. Some other animals do have these same aspects just not as advanced. The line that you are looking for does not exist except in the minds of those that cannot see.