Polar Bear... but I would want water wings thrown into the bargain or the promise of a sanctuary reserve in Antarctica if we're going to go ahead with this.

Either a brown Bear or a Walrus... decisions-decisions.

A donkey? That's what they call me...

humans are not animals...

huh? are you from Kentucky or utah alamothe ?

The Balkans, actually.


hmmm... I reckon I would go for being an eagle.

ok, then i should probably choose being a brittish :-)

Sent from: alamothe (2396 ) Sent: 09:03 AM
humans are not animals...

Um... yes they are?

Yeah I dont know how they're not...

some kind of bird. a tropical one

humans = animals

Not sure how this has escaped thinking people.

If we're not animals, then are we vegetables or minerals?

Well, I see two meanings of the word.
The first, the more general term being one of the six scientific groupings of life (Animalia, Plantae, Fungi, Protista, Archaea, and Eubacteria).
The second could refer to the slightly more colloquial non-human, living, breathing organism.

So, when animal is used in a biological context, humans are included. When it is not used in a biological context, humans are generally not included.

I would like to give special thanks to Webster's for helping us clear this all up.

I fear folk won't accept a simple philologic mending of this argument, which has been going on for quite a while (dare I mention Darwin vs. God c.1859).

For my part, I'd suggest that the characteristics that we distinguish as 'human', in opposition to 'animal' are generally unique to the human animal, but that being a human animal is by no means sufficient for their cultivation. Hence, a human is, to a great or lesser degree, human and, to a lesser or greater degree, an animal. However, this simple description cannot bring together the scientific facts needed to make a strong empirical case for this suggestion, and so it remains opinion only.

And I think that I'd like to be a bear... Walrus is close second.

Can I be a Klingon? Or does that just open up a whole new can of worms?

Q'apla!

There are more distinctions than animal/vegetable/mineral.

I argue that if humans are not animals, then we are either microbes or fungi.

what do you call those unintelligent animals which are not humans in english then?

anyway if humans are included, i would love to be brittish!

"what do you call those unintelligent animals which are not humans in english then?"

Depends on the animal. I would call an eagle and eagle for instance.

Alamothe, just for your information, British is spelt with just one "t" :)

As for "those unintelligent animals which are not humans" I would call them "beasts" although this does have modern connotations of powerfulness, strictly it does mean exactly that.

I'd be an airborne strain of Ebola.

i hate animals. they are stupid and disrespectful

I think I'd like to be a pigeon. It's like being a bomber pilot, only funnier.

I'd be a Marxist gorilla. ☺

Klingon, I like that...

Not that I have a copy Hamlet in the original Klingon at home...

klingon! i cant stand the klingons. how they invented warp drive by themselves i'll never know. they are very honorable and so forth but not the brightest chaps in the universe.

alamothe- animals are disrespectful? huh?? you mean they dont conform to homo sapien concept of respectfulness right? they have their own codes of conduct and respect individual to each species. dogs are very mindful of the pack and who is the pack leader.

im not a bird lover really but you cant go past the ability to fly as something that wouldnt be great.

whats the longest living most intelligent bird?
albatross? eagle?

The longest living wild bird is very possibly the albatross.... it's not known for sure, since large seabirds can outlast the metal rings that researchers tag them with. The most intelligent bird is known to be Big Bird from Sesame Street. HTH.

"whats the longest living most intelligent bird?"

Parrots are quite long lived and pretty bright.

Parrots in captivity can live more than 50 years, but I understand that some sea-birds outlive most humans. Some parrots have proved to be surprisingly intelligent, but there's not much basis for comparison.... being captive animals, parrots have simply been subjected to more research than wild birds. There is evidence that cormorants can count to eight, at least.... and then there was that seagull who learned to shoplift.... though Sicarius and mapleleaf will probably have differing opinions on the level of intelligence thus demonstrated....

I'd be a raptor. =)

Either dinosaur or bird of prey works for me.