Creature Contacts A) Shipman, Pat. \"Creature Contacts.\"

¶ … Creature Contacts

a) Shipman, Pat. "Creature Contacts." New Scientist 210.2814 (2011). 32-36. Web. 11 Nov. 11.

b) As author Pat Shipman points out, the sight of humans and animals together is so commonplace that it is seldom given much thought. The bond between humans and animals is an ancient one and crosses over all lines of geography, cultures and ethnicity. A number of animals have been domesticated over the millennia -- dogs and horses being two examples -- but many more have not. Still, humans have a connection to animals of all kinds and Shipman argues that we are genetically predisposed to do so. Humans are the only species on the planet that adopt creatures from another species. In the wild, animals care for their own offspring to ensure that there will be subsequent generations. It does not make sense, from an evolutionary standpoint, to feed, shelter and protect another species when all energies and resources can be used for one's own kind. Thus the very notion of ancient man bringing a wolf into his den as a potential companion is a counterintuitive one. Shipman, a palaeoanthropologist, was fascinated by this paradox and explored the origins of the human-animal link. It is a link, Shipman argues, that can be traced back millions of years. It is a component of a trio of important developments in human evolution: tool-making, language and domestication.

c) The article was written in a conversational rather than scientific style, which made the information easily understandable by the average reader who does not possess a strong science background. Shipman summarizes the chronology of events and cites evidence supporting the claim that man's link with animals advanced human evolution.

d) There was nothing that I did not like about the article, other than that it was too short. I am interested in learning more on this fascinating topic after reading Shipman's article.

e) Man's interaction with animals was shown to be essential to human development. Shipman points out that human's learned predatory skills from observing animals. It is one explanation for the survival of the human race when early carnivores such as sabretooth cats, who were faster and heavier than man, became extinct when humans did not. Early cave art shows that man learned from animals and shared information about them with other humans, through drawings. Secondly, humans followed animals with respect to migratory patterns. Plant-eating humans could remain in one place; predatory humans had to expand their territory as they sought new hunting grounds. As humans domesticated animals, they also required more space so animals could graze.