Are humans just another animal?

The debate over humans/animals has been going on probably before Darwin and I recall one of my classes in Intellectual History the question was posed to the class to list the differences between man and beast. Many of the more progressive thinkers maintained that there was little difference, going so far as to cite some obscure studies that bolstered the point that we (Man) are just another animal. I recall my teacher after the discussion stating how worried and pessimistic he felt after hearing so many voices maintaining the equivocation.

So in reading the news (when all my rants usually come to me) I see that this debate is still raging (or as many scientists apparently believe - the debate has been settled, the debate is more over where in the development chain Man really is?) and saw that as late as last year, there were still talks with titles such as “Is man just another animal?” Which promised to explore the "the similarities and differences between human DNA and that of our relatives and will examine Gilbert and Sullivan’s claim that “Darwinian man, though well behaved, at best is only a monkey shaved”."

This topic has always frosted me as I recall hearing how great the dolphins were compared to Man and all that (War is a human construct for example) and it sickens me that we as a people are so ashamed to actually beleive we are better than the chimp or the gorilla or the cockroach for that matter. Well Yahoo News comes to the rescue again. In today's Top Stories I see this little gem - "Fake flipper sought for sea turtle". Yes that is right, here is a national story discussing some big hearted tourists who found a bloody sea turtle and brought it to an endangered species hospital and there is a current move to make a prosthetic flipper. From the story:

"The wounds have healed very nicely. The problem is she doesn't swim very well,"said Jeff George, curator at the nonprofit Sea Turtle Inc., a 31-year-old turtle conservation facility that treats and returns injured sea turtles to the wild.

Now, her caregivers hope to make her what's believed to be the first sea turtle fitted with a prosthetic flipper.

Three-flipper turtles can return to the sea and two-flipper turtles can survive in captivity. But those left with only one after predator attacks or run-ins with boat propellers are usually killed.

So until I hear about monkeys finding a cure for AIDS or dolphins giving us a cure for Cancer or the gorilla setting up a hospital for humans, I will maintain that we humans are a breed apart, something a little different and very special and an overall good force on this planet. In your face Darwin!!

OS