What Makes Mankind Unique

quality of being human; the peculiar nature of man, by which he is distinguished from other

Humans evolve from apelike ancestors approximately five million years ago. Most closely related to us are our non-human primates such as African great apes, chimpanzees and gorillas. Scientific studies reveal that more similar traits are being share by human and our non-human primates compared to other animals. As human evolve from our apelike ancestors, changes in our DNA differentiate ourselves from our non-human primate. Even though we evolve from our non-human ancestors and share similar anatomical structures and characteristics, we are unique in our own ways. We possess specific qualities and abilities that differ from other species. There is a substantial gap between non-human primate and fully developed human. Here we will discuss

What makes a primate a primate? A primate is defined by its many incredible features. A primate is a mammal that has certain characteristics such as: flexible fingers and toes, opposable thumbs, flatter face than other mammals, eyes that face forward and spaced close together, large and complex cerebrum, and social animals. What makes a primate a primate is its characteristics. Some of the physical features primates are identified by is their teeth, snouts, eyes, ears, arms, legs, fingers, and toes. Human evolution is a big part of humans being primates, and having similar features and characteristics make humans to be considered to be a primate, but both humans and non-humans have differences.

Another difference between humans and other animals is the sexual habits of humans. Humans are able to bond during sex through pleasure. Humans are able to have sex anytime and for any reason not just for mating. These bonds formed allow humans to have family which would consist of a father, mother, and children. Biologically a female human could have a child once a year from the onset of menstruation to menopause that is about thirty children. While compared to a female chimpanzee it takes about sixteen

We share almost 99 percent of our genetic material with chimpanzees. Yet we have several traits that are very different. Two legged walking, or bipedalism seems to be one of the earliest of the major hominine characteristics to have evolved. To

On modern earth there are five basic groupings of monkeys and primates that relate to physical attributes. These groups are called Prosimian, tarsier, new world monkeys/old world monkeys, apes and hominins. Humans are featured in the super family known as hominoideas, this family includes both apes and hominins. Apes are described as having large bony eye ridges and flattened noses. The term hominin refers to the more human apes that contain examples such as orang-utans, gorillas, chimpanzees and humans. Hominids generally have quite large bodies and bigger brains than most other primates, humans differ to all other hominins as they are bipedal and all other hominin are predominantly quadrupedal but all hominids possess bipedal shaped

What makes us human is a question that many people ask. What makes us different from other creatures that lived and live today? Anthropologist study primates to understand how we evolved to humans and why we do and act in certain ways. Primates are our closest relatives which makes them the perfect animals to study to gain some insight into our personal behavior. Because things such as culture can not be fossilized for us to study, we must look at primates to learn how we evolved and our behavior.

Human biological diversity encompasses much more than the characteristics seen by the naked eye. Our species walked new and unique paths to arrive at our present existence. Our journey resulted in the achievement of many innovative and unique physiognomies allowing us to survive and reproduce. What characteristics have our species evolved and which most greatly shaped our evolution by conferring additional advantages in survivorship? Although there are many remarkable characteristics that have evolved the most striking

What it Means to be Human Scientists believe that human beings are capable creatures, whose evolution was fault for distinguishing them from animals. Dwight Garner’s analysis of Richard Wrangham’s Catching Fire, reasons that cooking is why humans are distinctive from apes. However, some like Melissa Hogenboom, writer of “The Traits that Make Human beings Unique” is opposed to this theory. She believes that human beings and animals are practically the same, the only major difference being their highly developed brains.

Natural selection happens when an organism has a better adaptation to its environment and is able to pass on its offspring. We humans slowly evolved into bipedalism which means we walk on two legs. We slowly evolved into being a bipedalism because nature forced us to into it. So what’s so special about us that walk on two legs instead of other mammals that usually walk

Humans are very closely related to chimps and apes. Chapter 1 in The Earth and Its Peoples, talks about three traits that really separates humans from apes. First is bipedalism, which is the fancy word for being able to walk upright on both legs. Second, is that we have bigger brains. Our human brain allows us to function more sophisticatedly. The last trait is where or voice box is located. Ours is lower down in our necks. Much of evolution is also due to the Ice Age and changing temperatures (4).

Humans are different from other members of the animal kingdom, varying greatly from even the closest relative in the genus homo, the chimpanzee. Both physical and nonphysical differences are easily noticed: chimps don’t have opposable thumbs, humans have less body hair, walk erect, have an articulate language and developed emotional capacity, etc. The collection of these distinguishers comprises human nature, which is defined as “the psychological and social qualities that characterize humankind, especially in contrast with other living things,” (Dictionary.com). Phrased another way, it is a sort of essence that contains traits shared by all humans and only humans that separates us from all other species. Human nature is considered so sacred,

But is that all that defines us? In recent years, many traits once believed to be uniquely human, from morality to culture, have been found in the animal kingdom (see part one in this two-part series). So, what exactly makes us special? The list might be smaller than it once was, but there are some traits of ours that no other creature on Earth can

What makes us unique? What makes us human? These are complex questions to which humans have struggled to find an adequate answer, even after the course of hundreds of years. I personally believe there are many reasons and factors as to why humans today are in control of the planet, with the most defining feature of our species being collective learning, empowered by the creation of symbolic language.

The age old question of what it means to be human can be answered through many viewpoints. There are several specie specific qualities that differentiate humans from any other creature, but with that being said, humans are often compared and contrasted with animals and machines. Some of these specific qualities are the ability to interpret, free will, and the use of language, but what does it really mean to be human?