One of the consequences of cognition and the resulting illusions is the disregard for our animal reality. We are animals that were able to domesticate themselves and created laws that control their relationships in a way that enhances their collective bonding in order to remain within human herds. But these human herds forgot that they are not different from the rest of the living beings. The feelings of sadness, joy, pleasure and happiness are not exclusive to the mammals of the great apes family (one of the types of hominids).
All living things feel and have sensations because these feelings are not magical hymns but rather biochemistry resulting from specific physical reactions that will produce the same feelings every time. This means that our assumption that a cow doesn’t grieve when we strip her of her babies or a donkey doesn’t feel pain when we hit him is just a direct disregard for our animal nature that tells us they feel as we do.
Our human culture is full of stories and narratives that include our interactions with the rest of our animal partners. For example, we find children’s stories full of talking animals that interact in a manner similar to human interaction, but in reality these animals such as lions, leopards, elephants, wolves and others no longer exist in nature and are on the verge of extinction.
Today, we find that the balance of biodiversity tends towards animals domesticated by humans, such as cows, dogs, cats, sheep, and others, and Simba or the characters of Kalila and Dimna have no place to live.
Stories such as Mowgli and Shere Khan or Simba and the lions or Layla and the wolf are only found in our books and television screens because these animals are rapidly extinct, for example, the number of wolves in the world does not exceed 200,000, while there are about 400 million domestic dogs on the globe. Also, there are about 600 million cats compared to 20,000 lions (a century ago the lion population was about 200,000). The elephant is at risk of extinction by 2020, the African lion is at risk of extinction by the year 2050, and hundreds of other animals are at risk of extinction during this century.
The idea is that we are changing the biodiversity of the planet and soon the only place for biodiversity will be in zoos. Planet Earth will become a place where only humans and the rest of their domesticated animals will live. Today about 90% of the large animals (several kilograms) that inhabit the planet are either humans or animals domesticated by humans.
Within the history of life on Earth, 5 mass extinctions occurred that wiped out most of the life on Earth:
First Extinction:
The Ordovician–Silurian extinction event occurred approximately 450 million years ago due to climatic changes and caused the extinction of more than 60% of marine invertebrates.
The second extinction:
The Late Devonian extinction occurred about 350 million years ago and took about 25 million years, so it is not clear what are its direct causes. This extinction affected marine life in particular and caused the extinction of 75% of species.
The third extinction:
The Permian-Triassic extinction event, which occurred 250 million years ago, is considered the largest extinction event witnessed by life on Earth, as it caused the extinction of 95% of marine life, about 70% of vertebrate life on land, and 57% of insects.
Fourth Extinction:
The Triassic-Jurassic extinction event, which occurred about 200 million years ago, caused the disappearance of 20% of marine organisms and many reptiles.
The Fifth Extinction:
The Cretaceous-Tertiary Extinction, or what is known as the extinction event of the dinosaurs, which occurred approximately 65 million years ago. This event caused the extinction of more than 80% of life on the planet, and only some species of birds and small mammals survived.
Today, we are experiencing the sixth extinction in the history of life on Earth.
This is the first time that a species has caused a mass extinction such as what is happening today. Extinctions are usually due to climate change or a natural disaster, but today humans are the main driver of this extinction.
Going back to the introduction, yes, animals feel and perceive, and our omission of this fact is what makes us act with unparalleled brutality in the animal world except for humans. This delusion that we are not animals and that we are distinguished from the rest of the world is the driver of this extinction that exists today.
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