...Modern humans (Homo sapiens or Homo sapiens sapiens) are the only extant members of the hominin clade, a branch of great apes characterized by erect posture and bipedal locomotion; manual dexterity and increased tool use; and a general trend toward larger, more complex brains and societies.[3][4] Early hominids, such as the australopithecines whose brains and anatomy in many ways more similar to non-human apes, are less often thought of or referred to as "human" than hominids of the genus Homo[5] some of whom used fire, occupied much of Eurasia, and gave rise to [6][7] anatomically modern Homo sapiens in Africa about 200,000 years ago where they began to exhibit evidence of behavioral modernity around 50,000 years ago and migrated out in successive waves to occupy[8] all but the smallest, driest, and coldest lands. In the last 100 years, this has extended to permanently manned bases in Antarctica, on offshore platforms, and orbiting the Earth. The spread of humans and their large and increasing population has had a destructive impact on large areas of the environment and millions of native species worldwide. Advantages that explain this evolutionary success include a relatively larger brain with a particularly well-developed neocortex, prefrontal cortex and temporal lobes, which enable high levels of abstract reasoning, language, problem solving, sociality, and culture through social learning. Humans use tools to a much higher degree than any other animal, are the only extant...
Words: 473 - Pages: 2
...Dogs’ senses are quite a bit different than humans- in an interesting way. Nevertheless, what most know is that dogs have a sense of smell that is far more superior to humans’, but not all know how much better. An average dachshund will have about 125 million scent receptors alone, far beyond a human’s 5 million (Coren 1). However, though canine noses are so impressive, canine mouths are not. Dogs, on average, have about 1,700 taste buds compared to those of a human, which is about 9,000 (Compton). Seeing that dogs don’t rely heavily on taste, some dog owners think dogs will eat any food they’re given- but is this true? However, though the taste may not matter as much, other factors such as smell and texture matter quite a bit. Although mainly the smell of the food matters most above all other factors. Dogs have a special nose, far more complex than a human’s. A fascinating part is the extra organ in their nose called the Vomeranasal Organ or Jacobsen’s (“Dog”). Jacobsen’s Organ works as a combination of smell and taste, effectively allowing dogs to, quite literally, taste the air. Jacobsen’s organ rests in the bottom of the nasal passage, picking up pheromones (Tyson). Pheromones are chemicals that animals advertise to signal mating readiness and other sex-related things...
Words: 866 - Pages: 4
...English 111.0016 8 September 2015 Dogs, human-like characteristics Dogs are cute, loving and playful just like little children. They seek attention and require lots of love and patience. They are like little time clocks, they know just when to wait by the door for their owner for a hug or to go potty. They are very territorial and sometimes over-protective. Dogs, like humans, exhibit emotions, often suffer from similar medical conditions or ailments and love unconditionally. One major characteristic of dogs’ human like behavior is that they exhibit emotions. For example, Barkley is a huge Bernese mountain dog. He weighs 140 pounds but is afraid of anything that walks. Although he loves the outdoors, he spends most of the summer indoors because of the heat and because he is terrified of thunderstorms. He literally cries and trembles during a storm. His owner has to reassure him that it is going to be okay. If they are watching television then Barkley is there by her foot only because he is too big for her to hold. He also sleeps in the same bedroom as his owner. Duncan is a very friendly Beagle who is also terrified of storms. His fear is so severe that his owner has to medicate him during a severe thunderstorm. Duncan is a mommy’s dog and always wants his way. He throws a fit if he is unable to ride in the front seat when they go on trips. Duncan throws tantrums often. Believe it or not, Maria Rosa is the smallest and the meanest of all the dogs. Maria Rosa is a cute but bad...
Words: 739 - Pages: 3
...Why Humans Should Not Feed Their Dogs Human Food American obesity is not only a problem for humans but also for dogs. Families have trouble denying table scraps to their best friend, especially when they are in the habit of doing it. Feeding a dog table scraps can not only quickly lead to obesity and behavioral issues, but it can also impair the dog's health depending on the types of food given to the pet. Even though there are a number of foods safe for dogs to consume, there are even more human foods that can negatively affect a hound's health. Most families do not do enough research on what foods are unsafe for a dog to eat. Americans love their canines and want to reward them with table scraps, but although it may seem...
Words: 1721 - Pages: 7
...Humans Need Animals A life without animals would be hard. Having animals in our lives can change people internally by bringing companionship to us everyday. Every new experience can make a person change; sometimes the change is positive, and others times it is negative. Either way, there is no avoiding change. Animals are caring, helpful, and can be humanlike. The autobiography, Dogs Make Us Human, by Temple Grandin, is a story about an incredible dog, “named Max who had trained himself to monitor his mistress’s blood sugar levels even while she was asleep (Grandin, pg 154, pp 2).” The lady who owned him was a severe diabetic. When her blood sugar levels dropped too low during the night Max would bug her husband until he got up and took care of her. He changed her life by keeping her alive. Max helped her a lot with her diabetic issues. In the biography, Hampshire School for Wayward Wizards, by Temple Grandin, the horses helped an autistic girl. She could see things about animals that others could not. Having autism made her school and social life hard. “Horses, like autistic people, are very...
Words: 463 - Pages: 2
...Domestic dogs inherited complex behaviors from their wolf ancestors, which would have been pack hunters with complex body language. These sophisticated forms of social cognition and communication may account for their trainability, playfulness, and ability to fit into human households and social situations, and these attributes have given dogs a relationship with humans that has enabled them to become one of the most successful species on the planet today.[22]:pages95-136 The dogs' value to early human hunter-gatherers led to them quickly becoming ubiquitous across world cultures. Dogs perform many roles for people, such as hunting, herding, pulling loads, protection, assisting police and military, companionship, and, more recently, aiding handicapped individuals. This impact on human society has given them the nickname "man's best friend" in the Western world. In some cultures, however, dogs are also a source of meat.[23][24] Early roles Wolves, and their dog descendants, would have derived significant benefits from living in human camps—more safety, more reliable food, lesser caloric needs, and more chance to breed.[25] They would have benefited from humans' upright gait that gives them larger range over which to see potential predators and prey, as well as color vision that, at least by day, gives humans better visual discrimination.[25] Camp dogs would also have benefitted from human tool use, as in bringing down larger prey and controlling fire for a range of purposes...
Words: 1607 - Pages: 7
...Animal Behavior and Human Behavior Mary A. Warren Rene Christopher Bio-365 Grand Canyon University Abstract Over time there has been much curiosity concerning animal behavior and the search to indentify the connection with our animal friends and the human-being. Fifty years ago, a young Englishwoman walking through a rainforest reserve came across a dark figure hunched over a termite nest. She stops to observe a big male chimpanzee actually making a tool to retrieve his food from the termite nest, just as we humans use a spoon or fork. This chimpanzee picks up a twig and strips the leaves from it and bends it to fit inside the little hole (Jane Goodall, 2010). Jane Goodall had witnessed one of the most important scientific observations ever in this chimpanzee. From a child she had always been told that humans and only humans used and made tools. She was amazed with what she had just witnessed with her own eyes, therefore doubting some information she had been told as a child. (Jane Goodall, 2010). This was the beginning of research on the human-chimpanzee relationship. There has also been a lot of research done concerning the elephant. Forty years of research has revealed the elephant also exhibit human like behavior. They communicate within their herds displaying many of the humanistic traits, expressing emotions such as flirting, anger and even some of the same parenting skills displayed in humans (Choi, 2011). The observation of the elephants from a distance, showed...
Words: 1709 - Pages: 7
...Natural Vs Artificial Selection in dogs that has been altered to suit a person’s need Introduction Dogs exist in both wild and domestic set-up whereby they vary in shape and size. This means that there are different breeds of dogs resulting from artificial and natural selection. Each existing species was created separately but they can be modified by the environment. However, these changes are limited hence cannot produce a new species. Artificial selection is whereby a species of a particular plant or animal is modifies by breeders into a distinct breed with unique physical attributes. The offspring obtained from each breeding process may exhibit minimal differences that only a breeder can identify. The aim of this breeding process is to breed an offspring with desired physical attributes, which is then allowed to breed further. An offspring with undesired physical attributes is not allowed to breed. The breeding process is repeated until the small differences observed increase gradually. This represents the process of artificial selection (Venemma). Natural selection represents a similar process that occurs in nature. In a natural setup, organisms normally vary hence reproduce at a specific geometric rate. Survival of these organisms depends on adaptation to the natural environment (Pollan 23). This creates a division whereby organisms that are environmentally suited will reproduce and those not suited will die. This is a resemblance of artificial selection, but this natural...
Words: 2176 - Pages: 9
...Health Alliance, 2013). Dogs are the most common household pets in Australia, which has approximately 4.2 million pet dogs (Animal Health Alliance, 2013). However, dog aggression is the most common pet dogs’ behavior problem and it causes a major public health problem in Australia (Voelker, 1997; Schalamon, 2006). According to the Annual Urban Animal Management Conference (2013), average 14,000 Australians are injured due to dog attack each year and about 1,400 of those injuries required medical treatment or hospitalization. Over sixty percent of dog attacks occurred at home, which means an owner or household-members have a higher possibility to be victimized in a dog attack. Over the last three decades, numerous of researches have been indicated that owner attachment levels and dog characteristics are the major factors leading to aggressive responses in pet dogs (Borchelt, 1983; Landsberg, 1991; Hunthausen, 1997; Hsu and Sun, 2010). Although these findings provide evidence for the link between owner-dog interaction and the aggressive behavior problem in pet dogs, surprisingly little research has examined the link between pet dogs-directed aggression in human and the controlling behavior in a relationship. To redress this imbalance, it is important to explore the connection between pet dogs aggressive behavior and domestic violence. Aims and Objectives The aims of this present study are to explore the connection between human directed aggression by pet dogs and controlling behavior...
Words: 4564 - Pages: 19
...Cats and dogs are viewed as to separate and different creatures. A popular question one might ask another is “Are you a cat or dog person?” The answer will give the asker an idea of the type of person he or she is. However, as many differences the two have, they also have a lot in common. Their physical make is obviously different, but upon taking a closer look they have certain attributes such as; whiskers and tails that help them each in the same ways. While they have well known different personalities they express themselves similarly. There are many differences in behavior when it comes to dogs and cats. The biggest difference between the two is their social patterns and interactions with humans and others in their species. Dogs are pack animals. They usually will seek out one of them in a pack to take the role as leader. They view their pack as family and are loyal to keeping each other safe and thriving. If there is not a leader in the pack, they tend to experience behavioral problems. This leadership role can also be taken on by the dog’s owner. As a dog owner, you may want to instill this into your puppy early on ensuring that as he grows into a dog he will view you as the leader. Cats on the other hand are not pack animals. They also will not look to a human as their master. It is said that dogs are social and cats are solitary. While it is true that dogs prefer the company of other dogs or humans, cats will become attached to an owner and in some situations...
Words: 1549 - Pages: 7
...How you ever seen a person being guided by a dog and thought, "wow, that isn't that amazing?" Well, there are certain organizations, known as guide-dog training facilities, that specialize on dog and human companionship. These warehouses are specifically made for training guide dogs, who their main purpose is to be a loyal companion and help people who do not see, or have a certain disability. If you happen to come face to face with one of these facilities, everywhere you look, there are a variety of dogs being played with, and working hard to improve their skills, and impress their trainers. Guide-dog training facilities are something that have a great impact on people's lives. Many people are intrigued while watching how a guide-dog takes...
Words: 1804 - Pages: 8
...differences lead us to anthropomorphize dogs. This anthropomorphization can have many negative effects on our canine friends. Anthropomorphism is when you treat animals as if they were our fellow humans, although this is a big problem because animals are completely different than humans mentally and emotionally. Dogs don’t see as many colors and don't see as clear, but they are able to see well in the dark. Dogs see different than we as humans because of their alternate eye construct. This is supposedly due to the fact that “dogs have no fovea (or area with 100% cones), it is estimated their eye for detail is 6 times poorer...
Words: 1340 - Pages: 6
...The domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris)[2][3] is a subspecies of the gray wolf (Canis lupus), a member of the Canidae family of the mammalian order Carnivora. The term "domestic dog" is generally used for both domesticated and feral varieties. The dog was the first domesticated animal[4] and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and pet animal in human history. The word "dog" can also refer to the male of a canine species,[5] as opposed to the word "bitch" which refers to the female of the species. MtDNA evidence shows an evolutionary split between the modern dog's lineage and the modern wolf's lineage around 100,000 years ago but, as of 2013, the oldest fossil specimens genetically linked to the modern dog's lineage date to approximately 33,000–36,000 years ago.[4][6] Dogs' value to early human hunter-gatherers led to them quickly becoming ubiquitous across world cultures. Dogs perform many roles for people, such as hunting, herding, pulling loads, protection, assisting police and military, companionship, and, more recently, aiding handicapped individuals. This impact on human society has given them the nickname "man's best friend" in the Western world. In some cultures, however, dogs are also a source of meat.[7][8] In 2001, there were estimated to be 400 million dogs in the world.[9] Most breeds of dogs are at most a few hundred years old, having been artificially selected for particular morphologies and behaviors by people for specific functional roles. Through...
Words: 15783 - Pages: 64
...The results of the study scaled the dogs on five dimensions of behavior temperament: playfulness, curiosity/fearfulness, chase-proneness, sociability, and aggressiveness (De Palma et al., 2005). Dogs living in rescue shelters were assessed as demonstrating a low degree of playfulness, showing distraction by the environment when being enticed to play. The sheltered dogs also scored low on curiosity but, high on fearful behavior. The cortisol levels for the sheltered dogs were significantly higher than the cortisol levels of canines living in households, indicative of stress and anxiety associated with shelter lifestyle. Shelter dogs showed a low proportion of chase-proneness supported by demonstrations of low physical activity and excitability. Shelter dogs were assessed as exhibiting low levels of sociability toward conspecies but, a high sociability when concerning humans (De Palma et al., 2005). This trend was also demonstrated when observing levels of aggressiveness; the dogs seemed more antagonistic toward conspecies than humans. It should be noted that shelter dogs displayed rare bouts of hostile behavior and results were supported by little data. It is interesting to find a set of shared characteristics existing in canines living in rescue shelters. Such findings lead one to speculate if the shelter environment may be partly responsible for inducing behavior characteristics? After all, dogs living in shelters are subjected to a variety of stressors including isolation...
Words: 1161 - Pages: 5
...PERSONALITY PROFILES FOR DOGS Dog owners know that dogs’ variances are numerous. There are hundreds of different breeds and types of dogs, each breed with its own distinct personality traits and behaviors. These distinctive behaviors can be broken down into six separate categories based on the dog’s breed and instinctive qualities. These six categories are aggressive, confident, outgoing, adaptable, insecure and independent. These categories can be broken down individually, listing main characteristics for each division that will separate and individualize each category and can lend valuable information to potential dog owners when choosing a pet. The first division is the aggressive dog. This dog has an extremely dominant personality. He or she can be easily provoked to bite. The dominant nature of this dog can make him or her extremely resistant to human leadership or dominance. This type of dog will need persistent and rigorous training. This dog type will need a human to provide precise guidance and instruction. This type of dog does best with a one owner household or dominant alpha figure. They make excellent guard dogs or police dogs. Such examples of this being the German Shepard, Chow Chow and Doberman Pincher to name a few of the top nine most aggressive dog breeds. The next division would be the confident dog. This dog can be dominant and self-assured. This category can also be provoked to bite, but perhaps not as easily as the aggressive division...
Words: 1024 - Pages: 5
