Humans Case

Are human beings truly unique from the rest of Earth's creatures? We may value ourselves above all other species on the planet however, we are not the superior species. Humans have long considered themselves truly "unique," as well as "most advanced." Humans are unusual animals by any stretch of imagination, ones that have changed the face of the world around us. So what makes us so special when compared to the rest of the animal kingdom? I'd say it's a combination of factors. First, it's our extensive socialisation and sophisticated communication methods or language. A highly-developed larynx or voice box and a tongue as well as lips have provided us with a communication method that is amazingly subtle and complex from any other animal. Humans are unique among the primates in how walking fully upright is our chief mode of locomotion which in turn frees our hands up for using tools. Contrary to popular misconceptions, humans are not the only animals to possess opposable thumbs, most primates do as well. What makes humans unique is how we can bring our thumbs all the way across the hand to our ring and little fingers. We can also flex the ring and little fingers toward the base of our thumb. This gives humans a powerful grip and exceptional dexterity to hold and manipulate tools with.

The human ability to control fire would have brought a semblance of day to night, helping our ancestors to see in an otherwise dark world and keep nocturnal predators at bay. The warmth of the flames also helped people stay warm in cold weather, enabling us to live in cooler areas. And of course it gave us cooking, whereby cooked foods made it easier to chew and digest, perhaps contributing to human reductions in tooth and gut size. Without a doubt, the human trait that sets us apart the most from the animal kingdom is our extraordinary brain. The human brain has a frontal lobe more developed than any other living beings. The peculiarity of the frontal lobe is that it allows human beings to have free will, understand their environment, to go beyond their instincts, calculate, create, philosophize and make hypotheses.

In my opinion, as with the idea of superiority, it is a subjective one and as such, there is no such thing as a superior species. I do agree that there are indeed some things truly "unique" about humans and it's their morphological difference in thinking ability or "corticalization."