Humans Are Special: Difference between revisions
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* The most obvious difference between humans and every other species on the planet is our sapience—but then, that hardly counts, since any intelligent aliens (which is what this trope is about) would have that too, by definition (and it's not like we can really ''know'' that other creatures don't have sapience too). Ditto opposable thumbs and toolmaking, agriculture, language, music, art, etc. in the vast majority of examples.
** These two videos [https://web.archive.org/web/20131111031101/http://www.ted.com/talks/robert_sapolsky_the_uniqueness_of_humans.html 1] [http://www.ted.com/talks/matt_ridley_when_ideas_have_sex.html 2] cover unique aspects of humans.
* One real physical advantage enjoyed by humanity is our endurance. Humans are able just ''keep going'' far longer than most other species. A prehistoric technique called [[wikipedia:Persistence hunting|persistence hunting]] takes advantage of this; it essentially entails following around an animal that you want to eat until it collapses from sheer exhaustion (then killing and eating it).
** The only animals that can match us in this regard are wolves—even horses, which are commonly thought of as high-endurance animals due to their ability to travel at high speeds even while carrying heavy loads, can't match human endurance over a period of days rather than hours.
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