Humans Relationship With Animals

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Ancient Times The use of animals by humans goes back to dawn of human development. Certainly by the time Homo sapiens developed, there is evidence that humans were sophisticated in their use of animals for food, fiber, clothing, building materials, medicines, and host of other uses. During the Pleistocene era humans were accomplished hunters. It is most probable that the Aflight distance@ between human hunters and their potential prey in the pre-historic period was quite short, and humans were intimately associated with the activities and behavior of all the animals in the environment. Today we can see the evidence of such relationships in the European Paleolithic rock art that portrays the Ice Age mammals of Europe with such precision and empathy. As mammals, we have been predators on humans, and humans have been predators on other mammals. We humans share many diseases with our animal kin. In addition, we have placed our fellow mammals in useful categories, useless categories, sources of inspiration and beauty, miracles of life forces, etc. They have been deified in some cultures. There obviously existed a close association between the early hunter-gather societies and all other animals within their environment. They have been symbols for deities and bestowed with human characteristics. They have been parts of religious ceremonies. They have been used to predict the future, carry people and trade goods, etc. It is probably not incorrect to postulate that humans developed in concert with the animal life that surrounded them. The first surge in human population occurred when the emerging humans learned to make tools and manipulate fire. Effective tools and fire were two important cultural advancements which enabled humans to survive in the pre-glacial conditions of northern Europe and America during the last

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