The
Green Heron is a small, stocky heron native to North and Central America. It mainly eats small fish, frogs and aquatic arthropods.
We, the
pompous human species, used to think that animals were
automatons - self operating complex machines. We thought that they were not
sentient. We thought that they were not capable of
empathy let alone
altruism. We thought that they could not use tools.
We were wrong!
The
Green Heron is one of the known
species that uses tools. It is known to drop food, insects, or other small objects on the surface of the water to attract fish. Certain species of
gulls are also known to use tools.
The human species has few, if any,
exclusive qualities that
detach us from all other species. We are simply a more refined, more capable
Automaton.
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of characteristics assumed to be exclusively human, to animals, non-living things or abstract concepts. Many scientists that study animal behavior (ethologist) have been falsely
accused of anthropomorphism. But that is not what they are really guilty of...
Yes animals are like us, but, in essence and in effect, we are more like them! We overstate our
human characteristics. Proof? Just observe the people around you.