Humans Better Than Animals

Hierarchy of Animals THE RELATIVE HIERARCHY OF ANIMALS Are human beings worthy of being considered the highest form of animal life? Whether or not human beings can fairly be considered the highest form of animal life depends largely on how one chooses to define the objective hierarchical criteria.

If one proposes that relative hierarchical status is determined by the range of sensory modalities with which an organism perceives and interacts with the physical world, then mammalian species that have evolved ultrasonic communication or the cerebral capacity to generate and interpret sonar transmission, such as bats and dolphins, would outrank human beings (Berry, 1996). If one defines relative hierarchy by life span, then reptiles such as sea tortoises and numerous avian species such as parrots occupy the highest position on the scale of life on Earth.

If one defines hierarchical relationships based on duration of existence on Earth, then the highest forms of existing biological life are either amphibious reptiles such as alligators and crocodiles, and species of shark that have thrived since the age of the dinosaurs, or any of thousands of species of insects such as the cockroach.

In that respect, and if one considers extinct species as well, then the highest forms of animal life on Earth are certainly to be found amongst the dinosaurs, who thrived on Earth thousands of times as long as Homo sapiens, and hundreds of times as long as even the very earliest hominid precursors to Homo sapiens (Wenke, 1999).

Finally, depending on how one wishes to define animal, microscopic bacteria might qualify as the highest form of biological life in the history of life, since some types have existed tens of times as long as even the longest lived dinosaurs, and are more numerous, still today, than all of the other forms of animal life combined (Berry, 1996). Homo sapiens is clearly the highest form of animal life, to the degree one values intellectual achievement and cooperation.

No other animal has developed the technology of space travel or built the complex infrastructure of modern cities that populates the globe. Nevertheless, even in these respects, the hierarchical supremacy of human beings is potentially open to challenge by insects such as the honeybee, whose hives and social structure exhibit astonishing complexity as well.

Furthermore, evidence collected from work conducted with dolphins and elephants suggest the remote but distinct possibility that the complexity of their social structure and intellectual capabilities may be much closer to that of human intelligence than that of other animals (Moussaieff Masson, 1995). Humans likely qualify as the highest form of animal life from the perspective of intellectual development and technological achievement, but that raises another paradox, that along with the accolades of accomplishment come moral responsibilities.

One could argue that the ability to coexist peacefully with the rest of one's species is also a relevant factor in establishing a respective hierarchy of life forms. While warfare and gratuitous violence are not necessarily exclusive failings of human beings, man is likely the only animal who can be said to violate his own moral concepts, perhaps lowering his relative status among more.