How Special are Humans ACTUALLY?
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- Опубликовано: 4 окт 2024
- Inspired by another twitter fight I had
The Mind Electric, ミラクルミュージカル
Point Pleasant, Brock Berrigan
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"It's really hard to move an elephant, even if you are an elephant" Sounds like such sage wisdom
"How do you eat an elephant?" "One bite at a time."
It sounds like something on Kurzgesagt on one of their size of life videos
Tbh, it sounds like something an elephant might say after bumping into you on the sidewalk and apologizing (because elephants also have _fantastic_ manners)
Definitely!! 😅😂❤
Well, like humans, some animals are just… jerks.
Stop that, Mr. Simpson.
Crows remember specific humans, hold grudges, and can tell other crows which humans not to trust.
Squirrels can remember where they buried a 1,000 acorns for the winter. Those little squirrely brains got game!
They also use tools. And there's some crows in Japan that have learned to place nuts in pedestrian crossings, wait for the cars to run them over, and then go collect the crushed nuts when the traffic lights turn red.
Corvids also make friends with humans they like, and have been known to leave gifts in exchange for food.
Like "never ever trust a human"?
@@franciscosustek7249 No specific humans.
I think humans are exceptionally good at finding themselves exceptional.
Whether it's there or not!
Narcissists certainly are.
We have exceptional egos!
I think your mom is exceptional.
Truly a lovely lady
@SimonSozzi - Nope! Cats most definitely think they're beyond exceptional...which, of course, they are! 🐈
“On the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much-the wheel, New York, wars and so on-whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man-for precisely the same reasons.” - Douglas Adams
It works for douglas adams, in a fictional universe where Dolphins are capable of interstellar travel, but in reality, evidence points to dolphins being unable to think on that level.
But what about mice?
@@JuniperWhiskeytart They're not from Earth, they don't count.
Dolphin just haven't built a ton of stuff yet because the poor critters have no good precise manipulation organ and the ocean enviromment really don't have that much raw material.
@@SrValeriolete meh. They can get their hermit crab slaves to do it for them.
There's a feral cat colony in my backyard (put the food bowl and they will come), and the way one of the cats joined was unique. He was being fed by another local cat lady, but occasionally came to my house too. He was skittish around my family and much friendlier with the other cat lady, but one day she visited my house. She came with my family into the backyard to see him. After he saw her with us, the cat became extremely friendly. Now he constantly tries to come inside our house, meows at us and follows us around for pets whenever we go outside and lets us pick him up happily. He'd be a perfect house cat if he knew how to use the litterbox!
This is so cute😭
@enobyway2090 - Perhaps that cat was not born feral, but was a pet that strayed or was abandoned and therefore socialized to people. I have 2 post-feral cats (moved in when they were already adults) that were never socialized as kittens. The one I've had for 18 years and she has become a superglue Velcro-kitty that wants to sit on me all the time, but will only allow being picked up if I can catch her. I've had the other cat for 5 years. Although she is affectionate about half the time, I cannot picture her ever allowing me to ever pick her up. We are talking tetanus shot territory here. (Love them both, though.) That's why I think your kitty was already socialized when he was disconnected from his family.
Also, cats acclimate to a litter box PDQ, even the ferals. They NEED to dig and go. When I gave her her the 1st litter box, my feral kitty glared at me like I was crazy all the while using it correctly.
I have a stray cat in my neighborhood that never let anyone touch him but me, even on the first time I tried. Nobody believed me when I told them I was petting and brushing it. Then one day the cat saw me with my mother and let her pet him. It's interesting how some cats just decide to trust you. Not sure at all how they know they are safe to get close apart from body language.
Learning that Asian elephants bury their deceased infants with their legs poking out of the ground, in what could pretty much be termed a ritual, may be one of the most awesome things I've learned recently! I already had an incredible appreciation for the probocedeans, but that's next level stuff right there. Whether they dig the trenches or not, the end result definitely appears to have deep meaning to them. Then you talk about the comparison between the African and Asian elephants, one visiting, one avoiding, and you can't help but realize that these are two different cultures, playing out on two different continents. It's nice to see these wonderful animals finally getting some credit for their emotional intelligence. Now, if we could manage to keep them around awhile longer, that'd really be something.
I mean I find it quite understandable that they would seek to do as little digging as possible. It's hard to imagine them as having an easy and comfortable time digging given how they're built.
Amen to that!
End the ivory trade NOW!😢❤
Want to hear something else equally as awesome? Ducks and geese also have funerary rituals. They can't dig holes, but they will often cover their dead relatives and loved ones with grass and reeds. Then they will start dipping their heads up and down usually off to the right, and rather slowly, with their eyes either closed, or partially closed. They will continue doing this even after they have left the dead bird, for days, weeks, or even months whenever they are not actively foraging. If you know what it looks like, it's quite poignant to see ducks and geese either singularly or as a flock doing it. You know that they have lost someone dear to them, and they are grieving that loss deeply.
We are nowhere near the only animals which have feelings, who are self aware, or who love and grieve. In fact, i think it's more the rule in the animal kingdom than the exception. We don't need to look to distant planets to find other sentient self aware beings. They are here all among us, and always have been. They did not come from somewhere lese. They evolved here just like we did. The only way that we are exceptional is in our ability to kill not only each other on a massive scale, but also other sentient beings who share this planet with us. I don't find that to be something to be proud of.
Well they have seen a few instances. I think in the hundreds of years of human elephant co-existence it might have been observed a bit more often.
Dogs bury bones and dig them up later, is that a ritual?
Cats bring dead mice and other items to their owners - it could almost be described as a tribute. Is that a ritual?
What specific behaviors or social structures in elephants we need study in order to deepen our understanding of their emotional intelligence?
This is all incredibly cool, but I cried a little thinking of the sad and confused elephant family trying to visit their baby's grave
agreed. that is inconsiderate.
@@MichaelSizerwell that's not unique to animals, imagine how many people can't go back to visit their loved ones because they can't access them or is that different because humans aren't that special?
@@GODCONVOYPRIME uh, I don't want anyone, human or other, to be prevented from visiting their loved ones.
@@MichaelSizer You're only human.
It may not really be that confusing to the elephants. While they do try to find a safe location to bury, they don’t necessarily always succeed. It may not be very unusual for carnivores/scavengers to find the burial and have their way with it. There’s a good chance the elephants understand that.
One of my clients is a thanatologist. It's not just a study of death. It includes the study of grief due to loss.
@jrojala it is. They also learn everything that happens to the body when it dies. The entire process.
Her company is called "On Grief and Death".
Thanatology? That the study of using magic macguffins to wipe out half the life of in the Universe? lol.
Im sure no one ever has made that joke!
#Thanoswasright
@jamesmaybrick2001 well, since most people haven't ever heard of it, no. Funny though.
@jamesmaybrick2001 no he wasn't, it's a bandaid solution that just pushes the problem into the future, without addressing any social economic, knowledge limits, and reproduction rate issues that will inevitably cause the overpopulation problem to return.
@@jamesmaybrick2001you clearly have never understood Greek mythology if you’re jumping to Thanos immediately, Thanatos is the God of Death.
A bonobo told one of the caretakers that he'd bite him, and then later on did so. That shows premeditation to violence, meaning we're not the only ones that do that.
Dolphins chew on pufferfish to get high, showing that humans aren't the only animals that like to do drugs.
And birds eating fruit dropped by trees which has fermented.
Catnip has no nutritional value for cats. They chew and roll in it for the psychoactive effects. My cat loves it.
When I worked summers at SDWAP, my boss's husband was a SD Zoological Society scientist/conservationist. At the end-of-the-season dinner held for my boss's employees, he told us many stories of the ways different animals get purposely stoned.
@@lisaanderson3549 elephants protect fermenting fruit from other animals to save it for the elephant party!
Chimpanzee straight up go to war, neither the good or bad of humans is unique to us
Garter snakes form friendships with other unrelated garter snakes. These relationships are not for hunting, mating, or other survival purposes, but if a garter snake's friend dies the remaining snake gets depressed
Wow. This is so cool. Elephants having actual funerals.
but is it a real funeral if it does not cost 20,000 money in local currency? ;)
There's an idea that ceremonies around burials directly led to religion. Imagine we discover that elephant's have a religion. That'll get some fundies tied in knots.
@@enlacostaizquierda it'll probably start when they realize their buried calf disappeared.
Elephant: my son came back from the dead!
They probably bury them to avoid predators. The pain is real, but I don't buy the ritual burial theory
can i recomend the book "when elephants cry"
That is so amazing. I keep telling people: The more we learn about other animals, the more we learn that they share a lot of the behaviour we previously considered exclusively human.
get back to me when another animal makes a nuclear reactor or develops multiple languages so complex that they can build modern civilization.
oh but nevermind, some elephants buried a dead elephant. or your dog gets happy and sad about things. i guess we truly are no different.
Neanderthals could have just as easily become like us had they not died off. They were just as smart and capable as humans that existed at the same time. But of course, people can't tolerate the idea that we aren't really special, just extremely lucky (so far). It's very scary to imagine a world where we're just another species of ape floating on a rock at the mercy of nature, with no purpose other than to procreate- just as all other life. And that one day we won't be here anymore. But keep on telling yourself fantasies to feed the ego
@@whatwhale5888 - Neanderthals did not die out; they _merged_ and we carry their genes within us
@@bonkmeabeab3563 You haven't done those things yourself, so...
@@bonkmeabeab3563
Termites that build air conditioning ducts.
Ants that cultivate and rear agricultural fungi and livestock.
And nobody knows what is going on on other planets.
Maybe there's only room for one hyperadvanced species.
Niche filled.
For now.
I took Comparative Psychology in college. We learned a lot about this type of animal behavior, and realizing humans weren't so special is pretty much the reason I accepted Evolution.
The fact that humans and domestic dogs can regularly and reliably comminicate and perceive each other's emotional state is also pretty incredible
although this isn't just a result of our intelligence, but also co-evolution, especially from the dogs' part. Even though wolves are generally more intelligent than dogs, dogs are far better at learning from humans and following orders, because they evolved to do so.
I'm in a cultural evolution class right now and we talk a lot about what makes humans special is not our "culture" or thought processes but cumulative culture, because as you said, none of us if we were dropped into the woods could make an iphone from scratch. We spent a week on animal culture, and learning how birds learned to open milk bottle caps and then spread it thru England, and how chimps have regional technologies like squishing bugs and examining them, and putting leaves down as a bed, it all really opened my mind to how wonderfully smart our planet is. When humans die out, there is nothing stopping another species, given the time and conditions, from reaching our level of technological innovation and beyond. How cool is that? Why would anyone not be interested in how corvids investigate their dead and remember faces, or like you explored in this video, how elephants bury their dead and hold funerals. Its all so cool
If I was dropped onto an island not only would I not be able to make an iPhone, but if you dropped me with an iPhone, I wouldn’t be able to use it
I have watched rabbits mourn their dead. I was working 3rd at a hotel and when I got to work one had been hit by a car and others were hanging around it. By the time I got a chance to move the body off the road, another had been hit and killed too. They didn't move more than about 3 feet away from me when I shoveled them to the side. The rabbits were putting themselves in danger to stay near their dead.
"Fire hawks," various species of raptor in Australia, take fire from one spot and light additional wildfires to drive their prey into the open
37:24 "So, it looks like Rakus, unfortunately, got his shit rocked."
💀 I WASN'T READY 🤣🤣🤣 Poor Rakus!
42:50 is my favorite
I can hear the discussion now:
"What're you doing with *flanges* boy?!?"
He zigged when he should have zagged.
I think my favorite.. weird lil example of 'this is a thing humans only do' that's wrong is people claiming that only humans build or change the environment to suit them. This one's clearly not a category difference, just a degree distance, people just forget that beavers literally build lakes and channels throughout woodlands until the environment suits them. actual aquascapers.
I'm also fascinated with the and/bee/wasp lineage of insects, especially their ability to farm and construct homes, and in some way collectively make decisions, all in such a tiny package.
I remember learning about ants, and the attention they pay to the regulation of the temperature and humidity of their burrows
Bird nests are an easy one too lol, you would have to put zero thought into it to say only humans build or change their environment
So, there's a story going around recently about sperm whales having a phonetic alphabet. It's long been known that dolphins have unique whistles for each individual, which functions as a name. Cetacean vocalizations also seem to have syntax, another hallmark of language. I'd be extremely surprised if at least orcas, bottlenose dolphins, and sperm whales don't have proper language.
Recent studies have discovered that bees enjoy play, can read signs made by humans, and do arithmetic based on what they see on the signs. They do this by looking at the color and number of squares on the signs - yellow on the first sign means add 1, blue means subtract 1, and then they can use a second sign to figure out which way to go for a tasty treat! The fact that they do this with such tiny insect brains is really quite remarkable!
Some elephants showing up to pay their respects to the kid they lost last year only to see an empty hole 😢
Elephant Jesus!
The Asian elephants referenced here avoid the grave sites, so at least they didn't have go through that sadness.
I love to think about how long humans didn’t have sofisitcated tools and we were still humans with probably similar intelligences
Well we still sticks and rocks at least..
a lot of them can't even spell sophisticated.
in fact did you know sophisticated really means "to taint with poison"?
I’ve seen the American political system. We’ve definitely not gotten any more intelligent than we were 200000+ yrs ago
@@HarryNicNicholas I thought it was more like "tampered with"?
It's a fascinating thought. Someone had to first build the sophisticated tools. Many people throughout human history would've had Einstein's level of intelligence, but they didn't have their Newton, or even the person who figured out how to plant better crops, or build sturdier houses. So they needed to be that person to apply their genius to the problems of their time. And although their names are lost in time and not associated with their particular contributions anymore, they still became part of the giant whose shoulders the future stands on.
It's a good reminder not to get too caught up in feeling "not good enough". We as a species once had little more than sticks and stones, the advancement we have today didn't come about because one particular person was particularly smart, but because many people tried to do the best they could with what they had during their time period.
orangutans got way more rizz than homosapiens. when a human drives a golf cart nobody bats an eye, but when an orangutan drives a golf cart its objectively more interesting.
Orangutans are epic.
I fucking love Orangutans.
@@GODCONVOYPRIMEall fine as long as you don't switch the order of "love" and "fucking"
Left turn, Clyde.
Some would say they look presidential.
I take care of several parrots (2 African Greys, 3 Umbrella Cockatoos, and 2 Green Wing Macaws) and I have seen them use tools. One Green Wing actually turned a tennis ball into a cup. He would dip it into his water bowl and drink from it. One of the Umbrellas wets a cloth in her water and then cleans her cage with it. If you call me a bird brain I will thank you for it.
And parrots isolated from companionship suffers greatly. Don't ever get a parrot if it has to spend any time alone.
I think that the denial of the animal nature of man leads to horrific mistreatment of people sometimes.
I like the lesser known aspects of, not exactly human exceptionalism, but human cool features. Examples: 1) any decent 12 year old on a baseball field can throw small object faster than any other animal on earth. 2) we have amazing hearing differentiation around the middle frequencies, 150 hz to 1000 hz (speaking range). 3) a trained human can imitate an amazing number of sounds, nearly any animal, and even other human vocal patterns. 4) a trained human can outrun almost any other animal on earth, given enough time (endurance hyper marathoning). 5) humans are extremely metabolically flexible, able to survive on a very wide diet, we are also very fat relative to our size (a ripped body builder is 10x fatter than a normal chimp), and we are also capable of entering ketosis (ketones are an alrmternative fuel source for our very expensive brains) without being nutritionally restricted. Only migrating birds are better at ketosis than humans.
Our ability to whip our arms around our rotator cuff while activating muscles groups along the arm like a trébuchet is such a cool adaptation. Whenever I saw my little cousins as kids who would just LOVE throwing sticks like spears and skipping stones or just hitting trees. It really makes me think of how weird we are built.
Most of those aren't unique to humans, but humans do a number of those better than other species. 1) is just true, yeeting is a uniquely human adaptation. 2) is just the range at which human hearing is maximal, other species hear far, far better than humans. 3) is not unique to humans again, birds and even chimps can do this to some degree, and humans are not very good imitators of other animal noises generally (I mean, you try copying an *actual* wolf howl or birdsong). 4) is not true, humans are not faster than other animals. We don't strictly speaking outrun them. We walk after them and throw things until they collapse. Persistence hunting is also engaged in by various canine species, and some therapods, possibly. 5) is also not unique to humans. Bears exist, and are better at metabolic flexibility, and being fat. Ketosis *does* require nutritional restriction in humans (I mean, the average person attempting to enter ketosis has to radically change their diet, and avoid foods that would be plentiful and nutritionally abundant for a hunter-gatherer), and it distinctly puts stress on the human metabolic system. It is not normal and not supposed to happen for long periods of time. Other species also enter ketosis all the time, specifically it often occurs in ruminants during pregnancy if they can't eat enough.
@therat1117 you misinterpret my points. Humans have uniquely discriminate hearing in that range (to our current knowlege). Other animals can't detect the nuances we can. They can hear noise better,sure. No other single animal can imitate the variety of sounds we can. Just search youtube, nearly every animal can be imitated, including growls and howls. Hardly a challenge. We totally do outrun most everything. If the other thing collapses, then we win. I never said faster, I said given enough time. Bear hibernation is interesting as well but not what I'm talking about. Much evidence suggests that our fairly unique ability to enter ketosis and survive at high performance from fat stores is a major advantage and adaptation that increased our survivability for a million years or more. Every breastfed human is in ketosis for significant periods after birth. Babies enter ketosis at the drop of a hat despite the relatively high sugar content of breast milk. It is likely humans spent a fair amount of time in that state, especially those living away from the equator. So definitely a cool trait to have.
@@msr305youre saying "currently" which doesnt necessarily matter in this context.
other species in the homo genus were working with fire before humans
@msr305 making fire will be tool use. Using fire we see birds possibly do. It's not completely studied but there seems to be birds in Australia that use fire. They see fire and they make it spread to cause a forrest fire that make a bunch of prey animals run. The birds (falcons and hawks) then feast on them. "Control" will be a degree of use.
I don’t know about most humans, but you’re pretty damn special Erika
Simp.
if you said this to a irl girl and not a content creator this would actually be really sweet lol
@@GODCONVOYPRIME I’m autistic. This was meant to come off as genuine admiration, but I guess it came off as simping. Lol I tried my best.
@@MildlyAutisticApeyou did not come off as simping idk what the other person is talking about
See, I thought you were trying to be mean, y'know - "special"
Ants farm aphids for their honeydew (sugary waste product). Some aphids have become domesticated and require milking in order to expel their waste.
Eugh, I know this is actually very cool but I wish they wouldn't do it all over my artichokes and broad beans!
If I recall there are also varieties of termite which cultivate mushrooms as their primary, or perhaps even, exclusive food source. And have for so long the two species are irrevocably entwined. While not done with intention, it would still represent a species that persisted exclusively on farmed crops
@@silvertail7131 pretty sure those are leafcutter ants
I really love your channel for the animal oneness you put out there. But I do have an experience with crows that was very poignant. While walking my Weimer Einer, we came across a dead crow on the side of the road. For whatever reason I never worked out, Finnegan was the most empathetic creature ever, and he and I both stopped and mourned the idea that an animal lost it's life just to out technology. I shook my head, Finnegan plopped his but down, raised his head and howled like this was his grandmother. So both of us were really mourning this dead crow. Above us in the trees were about a hundred crows doing the same thing silently, and watching us mourn their friend. It literally finally ended when my dog stopped howling and we walked on. After that, every crow in the neighborhood stopped by my balcony and brought gifts of food, shiny things, pieces of flowers, and I started feeding the crows. I got a name. They made this wolf whistle sounding imitation of Finnegans howl, then the crow would do this walk with the heel and toe walk I was doing. He only did it when he landed on the balcony. She, I guess, she was large. This lasted for years after the funeral. When Finnegan died at home from cancer, and the vet carried him out, with me crying behind them, some crow was watching, because that evening the tree and the balcony were full of silent crows, mourning with me. It was pretty special.
Wow, that's amazing. Sorry for your loss.
@@orchdork775 Thank you, it was beautiful. I ruined it though, because I got a little Jack Russel/whippet mix, who is loving to me, but he used to chase the crows. I finally got him to stop, but now they literally shun me. Like they make a point to stand in a tree and caw until I come out to see, and they turn their back and fly off. Like, "We had a great thing going, and then you get THAT dog." I'd feel terrible about it, but it illustrates that they have a sense of loyalty and values that is important to them.
Wow! Thanks for sharing
my way of living would catagorically differ from all other intelligent species if you plopped me on an island because i would literally just die
Human exceptionalism! While normal animals would "forage" and "hunt" and "keep living", humans are categorically different- if they are dropped onto an uninhibited island, they "die"
I'd use my satellite phone to call for help.
At the very least I think the average person could make a lean-to structure and make something to catch rain in for fresh water, if it rained regularly on the island.
These aren't very advanced skills though getting it right might take a bit of trial and error if you've never done it before.
We could also probably find some rocks and sticks for basic self defense.
Fire would be a lot more challenging to make for the average person but perhaps eventually there might be a wildfire or a piece of glass wash up that could be used to start an initial fire.
So would a cetacean or a cephalopod.
@@brennanherring9059 See they would suffocate in the air, because they're fish. I wouldn't suffocate, because I am not a fish.
Personally I subscribe to the idea that humans are pretty neat but its mostly due to the fact we got lucky. Its not smarts alone, our species has some crucial adaptations that no other species has in the same combination. No one trait of ours is outstanding but the combination is, we are smart, can grab things, are social, are large and mobile, we like to explore, we have the ability to throw good, and I am sure there are many other things.
Humans are not nearly as outclassed physically as people think, while we arent the strongest or fastest that hardly stops other species from being successful. We are a rather large mammal so that alone reduces the amount of predators we have and since we are tall, loud, and live in large groups we are also intimidating targets for predators. We also have remarkable adaptations for long distance travel, our species is efficient at walking and can run for a very long time which allows us to efficiently cover a lot of ground in order to feed our massive brains.
I mean I am not even convinced humans are the smartest animal, some cetaceans seem to have a case for being the true smartest animals. I mean really think about it, no one human can really do much of anything because its our collective effort that makes things happen. A lot of animals like whales kinda lack hands and the ability to make tools, would you say an armless person who cant speak is dumber then a person with arms and the ability to talk?
Orcas could be smarter then all us but they cant write and dont have hands, what are they going to do?
....I felt a disturbance in The Force.... billions of Creationist voices screamed out in terror and then suddenly silenced......
I really hope there aren’t billions of creationists left.
If creationists found out that Neanderthals buried their dead and that Homo erectus cared for their wounded, would they say: "Well that just means they are part of the "human kind."" ?
And nothing of value was lost!!!
As if.
Creationists neither understand how to shut up nor how to correct mistaken statements.
@@marksordahl8872Yes, like elephants. Hey, some of us even have a shriveled trunk as well.
Considering that we have graves from 6500 years ago that are but piled rocks on top of corpses... Elephants are there.
I am an embalmer and funeral director. The section on the elephants blew my mind. I had to dig in deeper. Wow! That’s amazing! Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us.
I really love the idea that we've only gotten this far because of Dogs. By bonding with another species so closely, we realized we could do it to many different species, and through artificial selection we became the dominant species. I don't know how credible that theory is in anthropology though
you don't judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree.
Humans are probably going to be a relatively short lived species compared to Iguanodontids or Lystrosaurus. Our success is really our undoing.
A little more evidence against human exceptionalism from my field (psychology) is that animals' behavior are controlled by contingencies (i.e., classical and operant conditioning). While some argue that humans are different because we can have very complicated contingencies, this is again a difference in degree, and that humans have written language so we can pass on contingent information and continue to build on it to make it more and more complex (e.g., when this flower is placed on a cut, the cut gets better and I do not die, which can continue to get built upon until medication).
do other animals ask questions? the very fact that i can ask that and you understand what im saying proves that humans are exceptional. animals dont have theory of mind, at best they can mimic behaviors that would somewhat suggest it (like squirrels making fake burial sites for food when they think theyre being watched), but no animal (other than humans) have been shown to demonstrate theory of mind and the ability to ask questions.
since you study psychology, im curious to your answer on this if you think human supremacy is an invalid way of viewing things. our ability to ask questions as well as theory of mind shows that we are actually unique and special out of the entire animal kingdom.
@@bonkmeabeab3563
1. What is, in your opinion, a fundamental difference between a "real theory of mind" and those "fake" theory of mind behaviours? Like, actual objective and well-defined differences.
2. Do you have data that supports the assertion that animals can't ask questions? Because absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. For one, non-human animals don't speak human languages. So if they are asking questions, they obviously wouldn't be doing it in English.
For now we don't know IF animals are asking questions, and the overwhelming consensus (which you're welcome to refute) is that some animals DO have a theory of mind.
@@bonkmeabeab3563 Yes, other animals ask plenty of questions. For example, dogs ask questions using a head tilt, eye contact, and gestures, and various mammals ask questions preceding interspecific conflict to the effect "Are you sure you want to do this? You could still back down instead."
Moreover, as a human in human society, I would suggest based on my anecdotal experience that humans are exceptionally bad at recognizing that others have minds - be they squirrels or other humans - and when they do they almost always underestimate the sophistication of those minds, especially in comparison to their own. In fact for many centuries in certain cultures people thought women were generally intellectually incompetent despite overwhelming and immediate evidence to the contrary, suggesting real incompetence in mind modeling. This seems to contrast with many intelligent non-human animals which in their fear of, affection for, or efforts to get food from humans often demonstrate a fairly nuanced understanding of human psychology.
@@pretty7545 Great comment, thank you! I might add that many pet button dogs and cats now also ask plenty of questions using human words in the recorded voices of their human companions. There are a number of very clear cases of creative questioning, i.e. I'm not talking about only mimicking questions uttered by the humans here.
A Bear with a Toilet. During his rounds, a large black bear occasionally slept under a huge fallen branch in the corner of my field. When he was not there I looked around. About 20 feet from the branch, between another large tree and a stone wall - out of sight and smell - was his toilet, a great pile from many visits. Bears do.
pigs and alpacas and llamas also find a spot and only poop in that spot too. that's why you can train pigs to go to the bathroom in a litter box.
Bears do, or bear doo?
It's pretty basal to not poop where you eat or sleep. Most animalia can do that.
@@cursedGalataea - I would like to think that the toileting behaviors described are _derived._
Wombats also have latrines! Anecdotally, leopard geckos seem to have "toilet" spots as well.
You had me crying with the elephants. I was instantly thinking of elephants in general when you brought up burials, but the description of the Asian elephants burial practices genuinely got me crying, I was so happy to hear that. Such wonderful and cute animals.
Some ants do horticulture and seem to domesticate aphids
The use of the word "horticulture" and "domesticate" is anthropomorphism.
@darkpatches you mean... "ant"-thropomorphism :D ?
@@katyungodly Judges? I will accept that answer. Five points on the board for Katy.
@@katyungodlyNice.
it's fascinating, isn't it? google "aphid boy gamer syrup" to learn more
Now I'm thinking about the Canaanites who buried their infants in a different fashion from adults for theological reasons. They believed that those who died in infancy had not been given a proper chance at life, so instead of burying them in a way oriented toward the afterlife, they buried them in a special way to effectively put them back in the queue of souls waiting to be incarnated so they could get another chance at life.
it was summer in the main station of my town, unbearingly hot, thousands of people everywhere, everyone half-running towards their destination, carrying luggage. and i was asking myself: how are not dozens of people dropping dead from heat stroke left and right?
answer: because we are actually made for this kind of activity.
For a heat stroke to happen it needs to be specially hot AND a lot of other factors. Otherwise it's an uncomfortable sensation, but that's about it.
@@aedes947 that is true! for a human. but if that train station had been full of elephants, that would have been a lot of dead elephants.
Yeah but that doesn't mean anything cause humans aren't special.
@@klausgartenstiel4586 and that doesn't make humans all that special.
@@klausgartenstiel4586 I think even other nhp would have the same fate. Heavily urbanized places can heat up pretty fast and a lot, to a point where people with weaker health are at a great risk (or if you get trapped inside a car with closed windows). We don't think much about it because modern life is all about convenience (and speed), so we trade (relatively) brief moments of inconvenience to get things done as fast as possible. I wonder how life would be different if we weren't so adapted to endure heat.
You are AWESOME!!!!!! I'm hooked on your fun and extremely informative posts. I'm 63, and when I was young I had undiagnosed ADHD. I always dreamed of having a job in nature, but I couldn't retain knowledge from reading. Now, as an adult, I'm treating it and can now read with no issues (when meds are active), but I don't have the energy needed to go back to school full time. I am taking a course every semester, however. I just wanted to tell you that I am happy you were able to achieve your passion, as I was stuck in a tech job (computer programming) for my entire career, of which I have now retired. It was lucrative, but not necessarily satisfying. I did my best to do "good" in the world by working mostly for Universities. :) I love learning. Thank you for helping me learn.
The elephant paper was super cool. Wishing the best to everyone working to help the Asian elephants survive.
Also I've always been of the opinion that if anything like a "divine spark" was too exist it would not be unique to humans but would be present in all living things.
The elephant thing is cool, but them burying them legs up makes me think thatsbjust because thats the easiest way of dragging/carrying them, theyre not making a stretcher and then positioning the calves feet up, theyre just picking them up, the physics is physicsing and then they put it down legs up because they were carrying it legs up
That's what I kinda thought too...but they would tip if not held in position during burial I would think.
YAY NEW GUTSICK GIBBON VIDEO I love ur channel it got me interested in apes and human evolution
1:53 I'm pretty sure there's a few species out there that could join us with just a few changes that would snowball into greater things like it did with us. It seems to me that we just hit on a few things that fit together to exponentially build on each other, specifically things like language and the ability to record information, getting information beyond the generation gap.
I'm not sure what changes you're referring to or what species, but apes and dolphins have had plenty of opportunity to learn how we use language as you say, and they've gone nowhere.
@darkpatches yeah, I don't think there's any species currently that could join us but if given a few million years...? Assuming we don't fuck up the Earth enough that they die out. But even if there is a mass extinction, intelligence on our level could well evolve again given enough time.
@@darkpatchesdolphins can communicate with each other as well as they need to to function in groups. And since they're under water and handless, fire and more complex tools are never gonna be accessible to them.
if pigs had wings, they could fly
I’ve experimented with object awareness when it is not in sight with my horses. I’ll place treats or something they really want in a series of buckets, which they will have to move or lift or kick to move over and around to then obtain the reward in the bottom. I’ve also placed treats in their hair or on their body, and when shown reflection in the mirror, they understand it is them (after a few times) and then realize they have a carrot on their back and attempt to reach it or knock it off. Awareness is everywhere, humans aren’t so special.
I saw something in the early 90s where elephants in captivity were acting up until they were allowed to have the skull of one of their kin who died. They had a ceremony with the skull and then went back to their normal behavior.
i don't like most human exceptionalist talking points most of the time but I would agree with them that it is morally worse to kill a human than other animals, but that's not because humans are special, it's because, you know, we live in human society and morality caters to human emotions
So it's only worse to you, because that human may be part of your in-group.
@@SleepyMatt-zzz exactly, yeah
So it isn't moral superiority, it's just preferring your in group over others.
@@Pingwn what exactly is the difference?
Even objectively, it is worse to kill a human than any other animal, because if you kill a human, then a bunch of other humans can suddenly come looking for your neck.
Same reason why wiping out a colony of ants is okay to the layman, but killing an elephant isn't. You don't want another elephant stomping you out, then storming your funeral.
Of course, these aren't at all the _only_ reasons to avoid killing things, but animals with better memory that are more social are seemingly given a lot more respect when it comes to the matter.
True. Humans are also just animals with sweaters.
Animals with Gorillaz t-shirts😜
"Just monkeys with shoes." I heard that a long time ago , I forget who said it, but it's always made me chuckle
I realized that long ago. Most peoples conscience just revolves around food and sex and everything they do is to achieve those two things. Money and career is so that you can buy food and have access to more partners for sex. Friends are so that you can meet a partner through them with whom you are going to have sex. Working out at the gym or doing makeup is to attract a partner for sex. Even politics and issues like migration, ie why most people don't like migration is because it increases the competition for acquiring food and sex.
Most humans are just thinking with their reptilian brain most of the time...
@@rennu2905most?
@@rennu2905 Despite the fact that "reptilian brain" is an older debunked hypothesis you're still broadly true and it upset a Creationist to boot. So bonus points awarded and a cookie.
One of my cats is very good at understanding how to use human technology. She can press the space bar on my keyboard to pause RUclips videos and get my attention, and she'll even point to the doorknob specifically if she wants me to let her out, she once jumped up to the doorknob to try to get it to work but couldn't because she has no thumbs.
😅 Dogs don't have thumbs either, but one of ours figured out that pawing at the doorknob vigorously, would eventually cause the door to pop open so she could come inside the house. This was fine as long as at least one human remained at home, that she could appeal to when she needed to go out. It backfired on her the day she let herself in after the family left for several hours. She stayed true to her housebroken training, but it was a very near thing, and thereafter she checked that our car was parked in the garage before letting herself in!
thumbs do be nice
@@joycebrewer4150 that's like two steps of meaning there, right? First the doorknob opening the door, then the car meaning you're home. That's really impressive.
@@senoreljoynes6442 My mom was certain she was the smartest dog we ever had.
I really appreciate you actually going through the scientific literature and straight up highlighting with your cursor and all. I don’t have a science background but I love being able to digest the information directly from the journals and active research. Fully comprehending these research papers is really tough without a lot of prior study so thank you for guiding viewers through it!
I mean… only slightly at best
Humans = Good
SuperHumans = meh, we all people
Humans = Bad.
Any other species which caused even a quarter of the destruction that we do would instantly be slated by us for extermination.
Guinea pigs can get depressed from being alone to the point where they stop eating and die.
Donkeys too. I was looking into getting one as a pet first thing I was told is that they need company.
@@pansepot1490 Donkeys get as attached as dogs do, too. Seeing a donkey excitedly run up to greet its human friend is so adorable.
So do some humans.
that doesnt prove that "actually theyre kinda on the same level as humans too!"
when one invents a smartphone and develops a rocket to the moon, get back to me on that.
@@bonkmeabeab3563 You haven’t done any of that, either
I remember when I was at the zoo and saw a squirrel monkey select a stick, then use it to fish for a piece of food outside it's cage, my jaw literally dropped. I had never even considered that such an animal might use tools.
Ten thumbs up -- thank you for sharing your knowledge and for digging up these awesome papers!
And also a big thank you for dumbing down the material to make it palatable for non-english-speakers like me. Awesome work!!!
Our brains make us special, but it comes at an immense caloric cost, our brains consume 1/3 of all of our caloric intake, 1/3. Imagine that. That's why we are so frail, our hair is so thin, we are so weak...
This is still only a difference in degree and not quality.
Meh, that's not really WHY our bodies aren't as muscular as other apes. If we (evolutionarily) wanted those, we could just offset that by eating more. It's not like we have a strict limited caloric budget, and the more we invest in big brains, the more we are forced to invest away from strong limbs and full hair.
On another gutsick video she said that the fineness of our body hair assists in thermal regulation, along with the fact that we have about 3 times as many sweat glands, which points to the persistent hunter hypothesis.
We have very low caloric needs in general, and although we aren't out there wrestling lions, we're really very physically capable pound for pound: greatest distance runners ever; champions of throwing objects with precision at great speed; scary tall; etc. On the whole, we aren't exactly a budget production. Just consider the elaborate features we have that seem like weird luxuries: white and colored eyes; huge luscious manes; massive pendulant... male sexual characteristics; giant, cumbersome, permanently enlarged... female secondary sexual characteristics. If the brain cost a lot, god was rich af.
Yeah I just do some math when I need to lose weight
It'd be more realistic to say that humans have a spark of the diabolitical.
A great example of human exceptionalism is the study of language. Modern definitions have it as a systematic form of HUMAN communication. This is how intellectuals ‘create’ a definition to reflect their biases, and win the debate over other species of animals having language. It seems completely disingenuous to me.
I’ve always thought that but never seen it said anywhere. I watched a documentary once that claimed dogs cannot learn language, despite clearly distinguishing between different command words, not by tone of voice but phonetics, because “they are only linking the spoken word to the behavior reinforced by the trainer in relation to that word” and I was just like “is that? not? what all language is? to some degree?” like I don’t understand how they felt that didn’t constitute dogs understanding human language. Not to mention any pet parent that’s actually close with their pet, we can definitely communicate verbally and nonverbally with the vast majority of life forms. That just becomes clear if you spend long periods being open with any individual, human or nonhuman. We really need to take a step back in fields like linguistics, and try to reframe them in a less egotistical way so we can more accurately understand the world around us. We learned already that we are not the center of the universe, now we need to learn we are not the center of the planet either. we simply live here and got lucky in the adaptation department, and now we’re using that luck to ruin everything that wasn’t as lucky. It’s a shame so few can see the havoc we have wrought on this otherwise pretty well balanced planet.
I've always said human beings surviving the ice age with only wood, bones, and stone is far more impressive than the space shuttle or the cell phone
I knew you were a based planet of the apes enjoyer. I would low key love a video about those movies.
i’ve been seeing you tweet abt this topic on the bird app and i’m so excited to watch this
I am reminded of an old black & white Tarzan movie I saw as a kid, where the whole expedition was about looking for "an elephant graveyard" (to harvest ivory 😿)... I wonder how much these burials of baby elephants by herd members inspired that old "elephant graveyard" concept.
I have seen reports of elephants revisiting adult skeletons of deceased herd members, particularly touching and stroking the tusks.
iirc, they also showed an elephant graveyard in The Lion King? There's some merit to it, elephants revisit the skeletons of dead adult elephants.
We have two botanists in our family, and we offered our (late) pet house rabbits a good range of wild herbs gathered for them. Each rabbit had clear and different preferences, and when given multiple different plants at the same time, would begin with their preferred one. I can’t say if they ever self/medicated with their choices, but they are very discerning animals… I’m sure they would self-medicate given the need and opportunity (as cats do for example, when they choose to eat grasses).
It used to be though that some cows in a dairy herd give better tasting (to humans) milk, but research discovered that cows have individual feed preferences. The differences in milk are caused by the grass they prefer 😸
This is heartbreaking and heartwarming hearing about elephant calf burials. Every species goes through loss and there are obvious parallels within diverse families. “My octopus teacher”, though not directly related to burials ,shows such an incredible emotional capability of our planets inhabitants. Peace be with all of us who will know and experience loss for the ones we love 💜
The elephant burial stuff is mind-blowing. Thank you ❤
Personally, if I were in that area (elephant burials) and had the tools, I would try to communicate and convey to the elephants that I _understand._ I would try to create burial sites for them. If possible, I'd try to create the site (machinery) when I see them searching (dragging the calf). Can you imagine? You created holes of the correct size and left the dirt piled next to it and the local herd brings their calves to be buried there. I dunno. I just appreciate seeing relationships being formed between humans and non-human animals.
Could be the start of something new and beautiful
Feel free to move there and do that. I'm sure someone will support you on patreon.
@@Cheepchipsable LOL! Done! (Kidding of course)
“Chimpanzees, more than any other living creature, have helped us to understand that there is no sharp line between humans and the rest of the animal kingdom."
-Jane Goodall
they fling their shit and make sharp rocks, we build probes that exit the solar system. theres your sharp line between us and them.
Jane was a professional ape-chick. what did you expect her to say?
My dog does my taxes. He's an exceptional canine.
But is he an exceptional accountant?
Important question.
my cat evades taxes. He's completely unexceptional as far as felines go.
@@setojurai You must hate your cat, give it to me I'll love it as if it were my own flesh, blood and fur.
@@quinn0517 Not really. I got the IRS up my ass. But he sure looks handsome doing the work
Reject human exceptionalism, accept Earthling Superiority
We shall choke the stars with life
Humans are exceptional..ly sweaty
Brain is too small to bury your dead?
Anyone who had ant farms growing up (at least all the different kind of ants I had) knows ants take every single ant that dies to the same location, drops the dead in and tosses some grains on top of them.
You can argue about the reasoning and that they are just keeping it clean, but that is burying the dead, and all in the same spot with a tiny brain.
or when a Fungi takes over an ants brain - it makes the ant climb a tree to "bury itself" in the fungi.
Difference is in terms of degree but hitting a potentially unique/specific threshold(like how a lot of natural systems have some threshold where some process then starts or changes or feedback loops or whatever). So our tool use and speech things are only slightly different or 'more developed' than some other animals but it pushes us just over the bar to really have a much bigger impact/outcome than the difference/input should seem. (And obvi no moral/directional claim)
crows and raves understand water displacement, so it can be argued that they understand some physics. Wolves have a wide communication range, and morn their dead, wolves also care for the injured, maybe not with medication but they care for them during and after if they never heal right. None of human behavior are unique, as Erika said, we just take it way past the normal.
Can a crow build a boat? Being able to utilize displacement is different from being able to understand why the water gets displaced. As far as I'm aware, humans are the only species capable of combining two or more unique tools for gaining a third unrelated or impoved purpose. Such as combining a stick, string, and hook for a fishing pole instead of just stabbing the water, or combining leaves and a stick to make a splint.
@@scopeguyif a crow didn't understand why the water gets displaced then why would it drop things in to displace the water? I mean I don't get your example, anyone can build a boat without understanding displacement.
@@scopeguyants have the ability to built raft using other ants to cross body of waters, so yeah, moot point
A coworker recently said flatly to my face that there was no evidence that humans evolved from apes. I mostly knew this channel from cameos on other channels, but I knew this was the place I wanted to start shoring up my familiarity with the relevant facts. It was jarring to have someone say “well there is no evidence humans evolved” like it was an obvious and not controversial fact. Thanks for sharing your knowledge in an interesting and approachable way!
I loved this. After years of being annoyed by people who start their talk, or lecture or book by talking about how humans are fundamentally different from all our relatives, it was great to hear someone make the case that we are not,
I've never seen any other animal causing the next mass extinction, knowing it's causing it, fully capable of preventing it, but still doing it anyway.
There's no way we aren't SOME sort of special creature in this planets history
Its not easy to stop climate change becaise we are animals that want what we want. Stopping climate change could drastically alter our societies and cause wars/famines/genocides as people lose structure and securtiy in the way of saving the planet.
I *am not* say we cant be making more efforts, we can and should be. But it wont be fast and wont be as dramatic. There are not only risks of starving your own people, but of stronger nations taking advantage of a poasible weaker system of energy formation in the others country. Because humans be humans...cant not kill each other...
We are leaving a geologic marker in the form of lead and nuclear bomb tests, I have to beleive we are leaving a mark on the planet that few other species if any have done. I would have wished we were leaving a more positive mark on our planet but this is what we all were born into.
@@kj_H65f And don't forget microplastics.
What do you mean by special ?
I mean, if we eliminate the “knowing it’s causing it” part, then Cyanobacteria causing the Great Dying might count.
We may not be that special but we've done things on a scale that no other animal has come even close to accomplishing not even close.
And what have they really achieved? Just mass pollution most of the time, all just to make our lives just a little bit more comfortable.
Yep, those thumbs had consequences
@@rennu2905 Yes, the great cell phone is a marvel indeed but with a great cost to our social norms, our planet etc. Sad but we only have trade offs in life.
Like destroying the planet.
"On the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much-the wheel, New York, wars and so on-whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man-for precisely the same reasons.”
I am the greatest species ever. For no reason other than I said so .
works for me. All hail you!!!
I’ve never been a believer in human exceptionalism, and it was fascinating to hear about these examples of animal behavior that I had not been aware of. Thank you so much for sharing this.
Absolutely awesome video , I'm just coming to the realization that I'm no more special than my dog or any other animal. All life is special it completely changes the way I look at the world.
A sober and rational acknowledgement of the achievements or tendencies of humans is one thing. Exceptionalism is a childish expression of tribalism.
Choose arbitrary category you belong to, call it the best. Search around for reasons why.
It’s not even a respectable form of arrogance, like toting an achievement to obnoxious levels that nevertheless is something you did. It’s affixing yourself to a group so that you can parasitise the groups achievements.
Well, yeah we’re pretty awesome according to a lot of people I know/have asked. They said we created architecture and science and literature and math an-…. Oh wait, that stuff doesn’t matter to anything but us, right? Yeah, no, then we’re not really that special at all then, and I’m fine with that. A lot of people seem to believe there’s a “universal worthiness” and that we must be better than everything else because we’re just so smart. So smart, but yet we’re quite literally destroying our world
In addition to that, all those things are just higher degrees of skill or cognition than non human animals. It doesn't really justify a categorical separation between humans and animals in my opinion.
Sure, humans are in a class of our own when it comes to accumulating knowledge through generations, but what does that really matter?
We're all still animals. We can't evolve out of a clade.
@@CutYourBangs9 Actually yeah it does matter.
Yep, I'm really feeling the anthropogenic dread. I'd be lying if I said that the thought hasn't kept me up at night.
I hate thinking like this because it makes me sound like a religious apocalypsist, but we are seriously not prepared for the future. The recent heat waves are only a prelude to what is coming.
Oh we are special alright
Specially arrogant and self centered that is
So you think we should go extinct?
@@GODCONVOYPRIMEWhat a bizarre leap
@@mikey-wl2jt not really you didn't answer the question lol thanks for proving me right.
@@GODCONVOYPRIME"You didn't answer my absurd question therefore you gave me the answer I want" is... not strong logic.
@@OakenTomeyou're still not answering my question, or are you assuming it's obvious?
The moment you said "control their environment" I had to think about the Cambrian priapulids who manipulated their environment to the point where their own food source couldn't survive.
Pretty much what we're heading for right now...
Omg the punk human exceptionalism crossover killed me, thanks
The categorical diferrence is that humans can make videos arguing that they're not special.
TRUE !!!!!
no other animal has such a complex language to even be able to think about such large philosophical concepts such as "being special within the universe"
Our brains are more complex. This is not a categorical difference. It's like arguing a computer from 1970 and 2024 are unrelated because one has RUclips videos and Steam and Discord and the other doesn't. They're clearly related, they work the same way, they have similar parts, just one is more complex and evolved than the other.
Humans can also make videos of them stealing someone's dog and thinking it's funny.
One step forward 3 steps back....
Sorry, but they don't have fortnite. Therefore, we are categorically better
Checkmate.
Don't you have to be 13 to leave comments on RUclips videos?
@bsnow304 don't tell RUclips, but im actually 3
I have only the vaguest knowledge of the idea of human exceptionalism but it seems like if you are going to say humans aren't categorically superior to other animals you'd need to define what defines your categories. You could say other species besides animals use tools, but that only works if you have an extremely broad definition of what a tool is. You might say a tool is any object not part of the physical makeup of the animal that is used to perform a task, and in that case yes, many animal species use tools. But you could create a category that defines complex tools as something that is made up of combining at least two different types of material to make an object to perform a task. In that case it wouldn't matter if you used two different rocks, you would need to combine a rock with a stick. What animals have that capability besides humans? You can say writing is just another type of communication and other animals communicate so again, keeping your category that broad sure, humans aren't different, but writing seems pretty categorically different than speaking or other vocalizations, so what other animals have writing systems? Also, if you wanted to make the argument that humans were exceptional compared to other animals, why would they need to be categorically different? Surely if one species is sufficiently superior across many different categories compared to other species, that species would be exceptional in comparison.
Barely even started the video and it's super cool already. Thanks for making these videos, GG!
So true, I’ve been saying this for ages. Everything a human does you can find in a certain degree with other animals. We aren’t special, period.
Thanks!
In the early 90's I remember Carl Sagan telling a talk show host that there were no sharp distinctions between us and other animals. He said you can't use use our technology to define us because there were humans 10,000 years ago and they had no technology like ours.
My intro to this topic started in a veterinary science class in high school where I was given a chose your own topic assignment for a brief presentation. I found a National Geographic in my home collection that touched on the topic of animal intelligence and it lead me to write a passionate argument against human exceptionalism. This topic be living in multiple condos in my head ever since.
The elephant story was blowing my mind. So incredible, and also sad. I wish they didn't have to exhume the bodies.
Congrats, very well laid out.
Interesting video. Thanks for sharing it.
I note some significant flaws in the argument:
1. There is no clear definition of degree vs. category. This is important because when we look at various naturally-occurring phenomena, we (humans) often change our definition of degree vs. category to suit our argument… which is clearly done in this video.
2. All the examples are of specific species exhibiting a small collection of capabilities shared by humans without recognition that the argument needs to be bi-directional to disprove human “specialness” (I’m using a different word because I don’t want to have a moral overtone - that’s a separate topic.) Humans demonstrate a panoply of capabilities which, in and of itself, may be the foundation of that specialness.
3. Correlation is not causation, wrt the idea that other species demonstrate capabilities which humans also demonstrate. Imitation by other animals of human behaviour cannot be ruled out as a potential cause of the interesting capabilities shown (in some cases), particularly when we know that humans are so effective at training animals to do things they don’t normally do and knowing how pervasive human touch is throughout the world.
4. The point that a human planted in an isolated, primitive environment would likely die can also be used as an argument for human exceptionalism: we require society at a categorically different level than other species (again, we need to properly define the difference between degree and category).
5. There are a number of thinking activities which, to be fair, are hard to test for in animals, but which -may- be unique: the drive to -explain- cause and effect relationships, the drive to learn, the drive to self-actualize/transcend, the drive to experience variety, the drive to create larger and larger circles of unity (which, indeed, this video is an example of), and pretty much every aspect of metacognition. These are the ones that come to mind at the moment.
6. A materialist perspective is insufficient as an explanation for observed phenomena, which is a huge problem in fundamental physics and rational philosophy. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Nagel for a starting point.
However, I strongly agree that we have to be extremely careful about any moral judgements about our relationship to the natural world.