Lorenz Aliwalas - Reaction Paper

Lorenz Aliwalas
2011-18065
Sir Juned Sonido STS X2

Reaction Paper on Life of Mammals

The two documentaries shown in class revolved around the idea of the growing relationship of mammals and humans with each other and how it has evolved and changed in such a way that has either a positive or negative effect on our environment, depending on how we view things. After watching the documentaries, we could clearly see the similarities as well as differences between humans and mammals in terms of multiple categories.

A factor that would establish the different levels of complexity of social status systems is the size of the brain, as explained in the end of the first film. As the size of the brain increases, the ability to think and develop more complex relationships with the community also increases, thus resulting to a bigger and advanced population than those of mammals of relatively smaller brain size. This main idea was shown clearly in the film by using multiple species of monkeys with different ways of life. The brain is very important in all animals because it represents so much capability, the ability to solve problems, learning from others, develop cultures, storing experiences by memory and so much more.

More similarities between mammals and humans include the establishment of a complex social structure and the ability to adapt to the environment. Complex social structures would include the presence of alpha males and harems, in the case of monkeys where a class was identified to be higher than another based on physical features or how it maintains its relationship with the society, depending on the species. As for adaptation, shown in the films, apes learnt to cross rivers by walking with their two hind legs, so did humans learnt to domesticate animals and start farming. Humans developed techniques and made tools which were specific for a particular step in a particular task. Both cases of adaptations serve to make life easier for both organisms, and represent an innate ability or desire of mammals to discover new things.

The main difference between humans and the mammals are that we are more advanced in the sense that we have been manipulating the environment to suit our needs compared to just adapting to living in the environment as what the mammals and humans in ancient times were doing. As shown in the film, humans have been reforming landscapes and have even considered the possibility of life on another planet. As our knowledge on everything around us expands, so does our insatiable desire to learn even more. Although this does seem to be a good thing, we must also consider the consequences of our actions. Inevitably, the population will grow and so will our demand for supplies for living. In effect, natural resources will slowly be depleted thus limiting production of goods which may cause a major problem for our global population in the future. In my opinion, the advancement of science and technology is definitely helpful and is generally beneficial for all humans, although we must also consider the price that comes with it because what we may think would be our success might also lead to our downfall in the long run.