Reaction paper for life with mammals

Marianne Miguel

2012-63082

STS X2   Juned Sonido

Reaction paper for life with mammals

                After watching the documentary “Life with Mammals”, I realized how similar monkeys and apes are to people. First off they both have amazing and large brains that enables them to learn and retain more information. The two use their minds to think of ways that are efficient and practical to them. Much like their distant relatives, humans, these mammals use their memory and mind to solve problems like opening clams for food and rubbing a plant that serves as an insect repellant.  Younger ones watch adults to learn the tricks and techniques and eventually, those “toddlers” learn to imitate the adults and practice the techniques on their own. Monkeys and apes also make use of their different statures to their advantage, like how spider monkeys use their long limbs to move from one tree to another making it easy for them to travel in a fast pace. Marmoset monkeys are known as the smallest breed in the world, their tiny bodies are great for climbing the topmost parts of trees (whose branches are normally very thin, making it impossible for other monkeys to hold on to without breaking) for the fruits and insects. Some use their sharp teeth to open food with hard shells. Nocturnal monkeys take advantage of being  active at night to get food without running into any predators. Howler monkeys scare rivals away by making loud noises so that they do not have to resort to fights.

Second, humans and mammals, specifically monkeys and apes, have a complex social status system. There is always a high authority in a group that makes the rules to keep the order. Also, divisions of social classes are evident in both mammal groups. The upper classes are able to use their power to get what they desire from the others. An example would be how a monkey who was born into the upper class was able to get food from another lower class monkey. The lower class will have to give up its food because it is how the status quo works in their group.

Lastly, they both learn to adapt in the environment. Apes were able to figure out how to travel in lakes by walking with their two hind legs just like what the ancestors of humans did when the water levels started to rise and changed the different areas in land. Humans also adapted to the environment for their survival, they went to where the cows went so that people could use their strength to make crops. People also made their own methods and developed skills in hunting animals for food.  After some time of moving from one place to another, people in groups decided to just settle in one particular place and grow food in nearby fields.

                The difference between humans and other mammals were how people started to become more advance with discovering new things, and so started to manipulate the environment to fit their standards. From trying to adapt to the area around them, humans now change the environment to adapt to them by building tons of crop fields to feed millions of people every day. Landscapes are changed by man to be used by man. In the year 2020, Mars will potentially be inhabitable because Earth can no longer sustain for the human race. I say that should not be the case because if people are smart enough to think of a way to live in another planet, then they should at least know how to revive Earth back to when it was still full of life. People should go back to simpler times instead of being so dependent on technology. Humans, being the most advanced species, should learn to work and live with the environment, not just live on it.