“What makes the human superior to animals?”

Animals and Humans are alike? “What makes the human superior to field animals?”

So mused King Solomon, the wisest man of his times (10th century BCE), in Proverbs.
Since then this question has occupied the best minds of the human race, from Plato in the 5th century BCE to the molecular biologists, neurobiologists, neuropsychologists, and philosophers of the 21st century and “Me” from the 20th century.

Charles Darwin believed we are similar to animals, and merely incrementally more intelligent as a result of our higher evolution.

• Charles Darwin was just 28 years old when, in 1837, he scribbled in a notebook "one species does change into another", publishing years later in 1859 it's scientific work On the Origin of Species.
  

In short, by the Darwinism movement it can be assumed that the theory of evolution is irrefutable and we are becoming aware that all these “human” traits started evolving millions of years ago, way before the first human descended from the trees to take his first steps in the African savannah. Saying that, it can be conclude that We were animals in the early stage of our evolution as well. Apparently, Darwin knew that is theory had a gap. In his letter to Joseph Dalton Hooker, Darwin described the story of flowers as "an abominable mystery."

The problem in his theory was flowers: So many kinds, flourishing in every corner of the earth, ranging from breathtakingly beautiful to simply weird, expanding their reach so rapidly that they seemed to mock natural selection, the cornerstone of his work.

Evolution, he knew, was a very slow process, so slow that it had taken nearly four billion years for life on earth to evolve from microorganisms to towering trees and intelligent life. Yet the fossil record of the mid 19th century told a story that seemed impossible.

The first flowering plants appeared around 130-140 million years ago. Yet it took only about 45 million years -- an incredibly short period of time, geologically speaking -- for flowering plants to dominate the planet, with possibly as many as 400,000 species, far eclipsing the pines and non-flowering trees and bushes that blanketed the landscape during the time of the dinosaurs.

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Marc Hauser, director of the cognitive evolution lab at Harvard University, in an article in Scientific American, "mounting evidence indicates that, in contrast to Darwin's theory of a continuity of mind between humans and other species, a profound gap separates our intellect from the animal kind."

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Usually is said that what distinguishes the humans from an animals is the criterion of intelligence or thinking individual, however there is no consensus on this subject.

What makes us special or different from animals?
The biggest point of contention is whether our cognitive abilities differ from those of other animals "in kind," or merely in degree. For a long while, we thought that intelligence set us apart. We now know better; whales, dolphins, crows, parrots, and apes, to name a few, have been shown to possess a high level of intelligence.

• Humans have long believed that we are somehow special. But many traits once considered uniquely human are shared with animals that I am sure you have noticed.
  
• Humans and animals both eat, sleep, think and communicate not to mention that simple math, understand and even use a tablet a monkey can do it.
  
• Tool use? Even birds have mastered that.
  
• Culture? Sorry, chimps have it, too.
  
  

Many refute this by saying:

• On the purely biological plane there is a wide, unbridgeable chasm between man and animals.

• The human brain possesses qualities that have no parallel in the animal world. One consequence is man’s explicit mental capabilities.

• Only man is fully bipedal; he can walk upright because of the special structure of the spine. Thus, our hands are not required for locomotion and are available for other purposes. (true).
  
  
• A chimpanzee, our closest genetic relative (around 99% similar in DNA), can be taught to do basically everything a human can, though of course at a more generally primitive level.
  
  
• Not to mention that the Bible clearly distinguishes between man and animal.
  
  (I do not have any religious opinion)
  Only man received the breath of God. In this way, he was given a spirit. by God
  
  

Nevertheless, the big majority will say that what really distinguish us is the ability to self-awareness. But is it that so, is it our self-awareness that makes us unique? Not quite. Apes are showing various degrees of self-awareness.

• So far we couldn't prove that a chimp's or any other animals can self-reflect, that is, take that mental and spiritual leap of stepping outside of himself and seeing himself from an alternate perspective.In a BBC Earth Kanzi the ape documentary is possible to understand that we might be wrong in many animal kingdom aspects.
  The story of Kanzi, an ape of bonobo kind, revels that he points to what he wants on a lexigram, a computerised touchscreen device on which each symbol represents a word. Kanzi can use 500 words and when he is talked to, he can understand a few thousand and is also mentioned that he was emotions, morality, and culture.

If they are right, our species is not as unique as we like to think.

• One of the cornerstone ideas of the animal rights movement is that there are no fundamental differences between humans and animals: humans are just animals, only more intelligent. Do you agree? What is your opinion?
  
  

Difference Between Animals and Humans in a dictionary.

• The term Animal as described in the dictionary means a living organism other than humans which feeds and usually has sense organs and a nervous system and can move. Animals can consist of many different species of creatures (dogs, cats, elephants, spiders, etc.).
  

• Human is defined as a member of the primate genus Homo, especially a member of the species Homo sapiens, distinguished from other apes by a large brain and the capacity for speech.
  
  

Suggestion, if you are interested in this subject I suggest you to read an article in Nature magazine, Bruce Lieberman reviewed the fascinating work of Ajit Varki of the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Varki (glycobiology) is trying to uncover the mystery of human uniqueness.

BTW, Glycobiology is the study of sugars in biology.