Why do humans love puppies and kittens? Why don’t humans love baby fish and insects as much? The answer lies in how humans value life. Life is a complicated idea containing layers of meaning ranging from a philosophical to a biological side. Humans associate animals like a puppy as a friend yet for many, a fish as a meal. While both animals are alive in the biological sense (living, breathing, eating, etc.) humans think of and treat them in a completely different manner. The value of the life of an animal or robot is directly related to its similarity with human life, thus the closer something is to resembling human life, the more humans value it as shown in the outcry over the death of Harambe, and our emotional attachment towards robots. …show more content…
Harambe’s death caused an outrage with people ranging from President Donald Trump to Primatologist Jane Goodall reacting to this death. Yet, when a squirrel is hit by a car or a fish dies they are largely ignored. So why did Harambe’s death elicit such a response? The reason why Harambe’s death matters is because Harambe and other primates resemble humans. Author, Frans de Waal, compares the tickling of Apes to that of humans, “The ape has the same sensitive spots: under the armpits, on the side, in the belly. He opens his mouth wide, lips relaxed, panting audibly in the same ‘huh-huh-huh’ rhythm of inhalation and exhalation as human laughter… The ape shows the same ambivalence as a child” (Waal, 2016). These similarities give humans something in common with Harambe and other primates. Humans laugh, gorillas laugh, therefore gorillas are like humans. Even the way Harambe’s actions are described sound extremely similar to human’s actions. “Harambe stood over the boy, as if to shield him from the hubbub, and then, grabbing one of his ankles, dragged him through the water like a doll across a playroom floor” (Heller, 2016). Like Harambe, humans will shield people from danger and play with dolls. When an animal that can engage in human-like activities such as laugh, and play with dolls die, humans are able to empathize and …show more content…
After all, fish have been shown to be smarter than anticipated. According to John Balcombe, the Director of Animal Sentience for the Humane Society, “Evidence indicates a range of emotions in at least some fishes, including fear, stress, playfulness, joy, and curiosity” (Balcombe, 2016). Humans share all these emotions so why are fish not valued in the same way Harambe is? The answer lies in how humans see and relate to fish. According to Balcombe humans are prejudice towards animal’s they can empathize with. An animal like a puppy or a kitten is similar to human babies for several reasons. According to How It Works Magazine, animals such as puppies share similar features with babies such as big foreheads, soft texture and large eyes. As Balcombe says, “We can empathize with a hamster, which blinks and holds food in its little paws, but the fingerless, unblinking fish seems too ‘other’” (Balcombe). Fish share very little to no similar physical traits to humans. Therefore, humans are more likely to relate to and put a higher value on the life of an animal that reminds humans of humans than a scaly, slimy animal who shares no physical resemblance to