The Ape That Denied Its Nature

Here is a reprint of my first article from my new blog, "Animal in the Mirror." In it, I muse on perhaps the most bizarre behavior exhibited by the human animal, our denial of being animals tied to the biosphere.

Humankind may have displayed godly feats, but knowledge of our evolutionary origins dispels the notion that we are angelic beings bearing no relation to the ‘less advanced’ animal kingdom. Unfortunately, the modern human-animal relationship continues to operate largely under the latter premise. (TOP ILLUSTRATION IS BY ALAN KENNEDY, BOTTOM RIGHT IS NASA IMAGE OF BUZZ ALDRIN)

Many people put an unconscious distinction between the world as experienced by our daily lives and society’s activities, and the landscapes that we perceive as the ‘natural world’ or domain of the animals. At the basis of this dichotomy, there is ‘Nature’ and then there is humanity, with a clear divide being drawn due to humankind’s alleged special traits that have largely been demonstrated to be of trivial novelty by modern animal cognition research. With the natural environment being outside of our immediate concerns and instead acting as the backdrop to our species’ progress, countless short term concerns take precedence over the imperative of fostering a healthy biosphere. Nonhuman animals are often placed in the distant categories of pests to drive out of our properties, food to consume on our plates, or curiosities to gawk at in the local zoo. When it comes to our nonhuman kin and the environment, humankind certainly acts in a peculiar and often contradictory fashion. We launch exhaustive searches for extraterrestrial intelligence in the far reaches of our galaxy while ignoring the complex minds of the nonhuman species with whom we share our planet (de Waal 2016). Stretches of forest just like those that our hominid ancestors inhabited are cleared for lumber or farming, despite their vital role in providing the very oxygen that we breath. Yet we decorate our cities with green spaces, paint animals on the walls of our newborn children’s rooms, and share a considerable amount of resources with the small carnivores that we welcome into our homes as pets. In a beautiful testament to humankind’s moral reach, ecotourism agencies characterizing wildlife as natural heritage worthy of living space and protection are beginning to outpace industries capitalizing on the death and commoditization of such species. Human compassion is gaining in its inclusion of our planet’s nonhuman life with recognition of both their intrinsic value and our reliance on the ecosystem services they provide, but there is still plenty to consider about the past, present, and future of our coexistence.

Thought-provoking painting by Banksy titled “Cave Painting,” depicting a street worker power washing various Paleolithic-style artworks

Read more at https://animalinthemirror.wordpress.com

The Human Animal: Denial and Reconciliation with Our Nature

I have come a long way since I began writing at the blog, and my perspectives and interests have undergone substantial change. As such, I have embarked on yet another intellectual journey, resulting in my third and hopefully final blog relocation. I have started “Animal in the Mirror," the result of a year’s worth of formal education in Animal Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation at Canisius College that has challenged and altered how I view our relationship with nonhuman animals, as well as the best manner in which to seek to understand them. Carrying on this blog's legacy of examining peculiar aspects of the animal kingdom, this blog’s topics will center around arguably one of the most bizarre behaviors exhibited by the human animal: our attempts at anthropocentric dominion often coupled with a denial of animal self. The focus on this topic will seek to evoke readers’ reconsideration of their attitudes towards the human-animal relationship, as well as foster hope amidst the impending Anthropocene. It is my hope that this blog will serve as a channel for my musings as a rising scientist, and actively inspire readers to live consciously in accord with the conservation and well-being of our nonhuman animal kin. I will be reposting some articles here given that this page receives substantially more viewer traffic. Thank you for sticking with me!

My new site can be found at the link here, please check it out: https://animalinthemirror.wordpress.com

Rhinoceros Giants: A Fresh Look at the Largest Land Mammal Ever

The cover of Rhinoceros Giants, with brilliant artwork by Carl Buell. (Source)

The ungulates are an exceptionally diverse group of mammals, with members having conquered a wide range of niches and even returning to the sea. One of the most interesting representatives of this clade was the impressive fossil perissodactyl Paraceratherium, the focus of a book recently published by Dr. Donald Prothero. Paraceratherium holds the title of the largest terrestrial mammal ever, having stood twenty-two feet tall at the shoulder and outweighing the largest modern elephant by twice its bulk. This animal possessed a skull which could grow to six feet in length and exhibited a pair of conical tusks. Prothero details an intriguing new interpretation of the skull's anatomical features which suggest that this rhinocerotoid would have possessed a form of trunk or proboscis and relatively large ears: striking morphology illustrated in the vibrant cover of this book. Rhinoceros Giants provides an exciting narrative on both the discovery and evolutionary history of Paraceratherium, shedding much light on the diverse past of the rhinoceros. I feel that a book of the nature as this one has been well-warranted for quite some time now. Prothero helps to clear up controversy over the proper name for these behemoths, and provides a better understanding of the ecology and potential life behavior of the indricotheres in detail not matched by the documentaries which helped Paraceratherium gain its fame. Rhinoceros Giants gives the unprecedented textual attention that this remarkable fossil mammal deserves.