The human species.

All my life, humans have referred to themselves as somehow more than a species.  It is like we have no resemblance or relationship to animals except as far as we can benefit from their existence.  I have heard people explain that stance with everything from genesis where all life was made by God, but humans were in the image of God and the animals were to make us happy, to scientology where the majority of life forms are from evolution but the special humans are from aliens,to a strange religious evolution, where earth formed, animals evolved, but humans were never part of that, they started just as we are today, from Adam and Eve.  There are other stories, all variations of the beginning of life.  I'm not sure why so many people are OK with stories that strain plausibility but not OK with being a part of nature, a species like any other species.

I have wondered if we have a few mutant genes that make us prone to certain behaviors, but other behaviors can be seen throughout the animal kingdom.

Start with Gorillas.

In general, females emigrate from their natal groups to avoid inbreeding.  If young males remain in their natal groups, they will be subordinates to the silverback, but may have the opportunity to mate with new females or become dominant if the silverback dies. Females protect against infanticide when their resident silverbacks die by seeking the protection of other adult males in new groups (Stokes et al. 2003). There is no evidence of birth seasonality and mating occurs year-round (Watts 1991; 1998). A female will initiate copulation by pursing their lips and slowly approaching a male, establishing prolonged eye contact. If he does not respond she may reach towards him, touch him, or slap the ground in front of her to attract his attention (Sicotte 2001). In groups with multiple males, solicitation is taken as indication of female preference, though females may be coerced to mate with multiple males during the estrus period (Sicotte 2001). A male initiates copulations by approaching the female and displaying at her or touching her and giving a "train grunt" vocalization (Watts 1991).
(tell me how different that is from our own meat market youth)


Since mortality is as high as 38% in mountain gorillas during the infancy period (from birth to three years), caregivers, primarily females, are acutely important in the survival of their infants (Watts 1989). Because of their long period of development and dependence, gorilla mothers can expect to invest years caring for their vulnerable offspring. Although male gorillas do not take an active role in caring for infants, they play an important role in their socialization, often associating with older infants and juveniles (Stewart 2001). The relationship that develops between the silverback and infants in his group is usually supportive; he serves as an attachment figure during the difficult time of weaning and he shields young gorillas from intragroup aggression by intervening in disputes involving older, more dominant individuals (Stewart 2001).

Gorilla gorilla gorilla
Photo: Helen Buckland

For the first five months of life, infant mountain gorillas remain in constant contact with their mothers and females seek close proximity to their resident silverback for protection (Stewart 2001). During this period, infants are dependent on their mothers for food, suckling at least once per hour, and sleep at night in their mothers' nests (Stewart 1988). After five months, mother-infant pairs break body contact, but only for a few seconds and by 12 months, infants venture up to, but never more than, five meters (16.4 ft) away from their mothers. By 18 to 21 months, this distance between the pair is regular and increases (Fletcher 2001). Concurrent with this decrease in proximity is a decrease in nursing frequency, with infants only nursing once every two hours (Stewart 1988). By the age of 30 months, infants spend only half of their time with their mothers.
The juvenile period is from three to six years and is characterized by a decrease in maternal grooming, no longer sharing a sleeping nest with the mother, and weaning (Stewart 2001). Because of the enormity of the task of rearing infants and the stress of lactation on the mother's body, female gorillas experience lactational amenorrhea until the infant is weaned at three or four years. After the infant is weaned, the mother begins to ovulate and shortly thereafter becomes pregnant (Stewart 1988; 2001). Weaning conflict is minimized in gorillas, compared to other great apes, because of the cohesive nature of gorilla groups. The constant availability of play partners (including the silverback) may contribute to less intense conflict between mother and infant during this period (Fletcher 2001).

By DNA, we know the closest to human is Chimpanzee, but what about the DNA of Gorillas.

 

For the first time, researchers have sequenced the complete genome of the western lowland gorilla. Credit: Ronald van der Beek, Shutterstock View full size image

Adding to the already-sequenced genomes of humans, chimpanzees and orangutans, researchers have completed the set of the great apes by sequencing the genes of a western lowland gorilla.
The complete genome comes from a female western lowland gorilla named Kamilah, who was born in captivity and now lives at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. The researchers also sequenced parts of the genomes for two other western lowland gorillas and one eastern lowland gorilla. The results reveal more than ever about how the evolutionary tree connecting humans, chimps and gorillas was shaped.
"The gorilla genome is particularly important for our understanding of human evolution, because it tells us about this crucial time when we were diverging from our closest living relatives, the chimpanzees," study researcher Aylwyn Scally of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute said in a press conference about the findings on Tuesday (March 6).

Family ties
The results show that humans are closer to gorillas than we'd realized. The human-chimp part of the great ape lineage split off from the gorilla line about 10 million years ago, study leader Richard Durbin, also of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, told reporters. Humans and chimps then diverged from each other about 6 million years ago. Evolutionarily speaking, that's fast.
"The interesting consequence of that is actually that the pattern of ancestry across the three genomes changes from position to position [in the genome]," Scally said. "So although most of the human genome is indeed closest to the chimpanzee genome on average, a sizeable minority, 15 percent, is in fact closer to the gorilla, and another 15 percent is where gorilla and chimpanzee are closer."

So what about Chimpanzee behavior.

Did you know that chimpanzees shake their head no when their offspring are doing something wrong.
How about the universal sign for "gimmee" , the open out-stretched hand used to request food.

( http://www.livescience.com/4427-apes-point-origins-human-language.html)
Or Laughing when tickled.  Or picking out the face of a known fellow chimp from a photo array,
Chimpanzees are also great tool makers, including tools for sex play and entertainment.

Rhesus monkeys are prone to eating sweets when stressed, they use it to soothe themselves, they share enough DNA with humans that we have been using them for research animals for ages (kinda makes me sick to think about).

Several apes and monkeys choose gender specific toys for their infants. (poor little ones)

Last but not least--the concept of fairness/equity is found in the apes.  They like their lives fair, and will fight over it.

But let us not assume that life if only similar to humans when we are genetically close.

Elephants, those long living creatures have repeatedly shown they are brave, loving, recognize those they have seen before, and have a sense of play and creativity (watch the elephant paint).

Goats play and lion cubs play and the signs of emotional connection and caring are seen in almost every species if you can get them out of that very dreadful space of life--just trying to survive this hour, hungry, cold, wet, threatened, injured,--and how is that any different than humans (maslow's heirarchy wasn't just for humans).

But instead of looking at our connection to other species, our similarities and mutual needs, we focus on the differences among ourselves. 
It is all about race, and religion, and do you have the right job or car or education.  We compete about everything.  We want to have power over others--both human and animal.  It is like we have forgotten that the species will not survive without diversity.  We don't just need CEO's.  We don't just need men  (think about that one) and we don't just need one religion, for there lies the root of a truly horrifying course for human life--a kind of mind-control/thought-control.

The cheetah, apart from being a rare endangered animal, has one of the most curious genetic profiles on the planet. There are only a few thousand cheetahs around the world and they are all genetically identical.
 A single virus could wipe them out.
No diversity.

Diversity is good,  we should relish it, learn from it, embrace it--both in our fellow humans and among the many life forms on this planet.

So, be an individual of the human species, and share the world with all the other species for the good of us all.  Our diversity will be what keeps us alive.