The Lives of Animals

Animals belong to the biological kingdom Animalia and are multicellular organisms that breathe oxygen, consume organic material, and have the ability to move. Over 1.5 million species have been described, including approximately 1.05 million insects, over 85,000 molluscs, and 65,000 vertebrates. The total number of animal species is estimated to be around 7.77 million. Animal sizes vary greatly, from microscopic creatures to the 33.6-meter-long blue whale. Animals interact intricately with their environments, forming complex food webs. Zoology, the scientific study of animals, explores their anatomy, behaviour, and ecology, while ethology specifically focuses on animal behaviours. All modern humans, classified as Homo sapiens, also belong to the animal kingdom.
 

Animal liberation movement, also known as the animal rights movement, animal personhood, or animal advocacy movement, is a social movement aimed at ending the strict moral and legal distinctions between human and non-human animals. This movement seeks to abolish the status of animals as property and end their use in research, food production, clothing, and entertainment industries. Animal liberationists believe that the individual interests of non-human animals deserve recognition and protection, although there are varied approaches to this cause. The modern animal rights movement has its roots in the animal protection movement of Victorian England. Crusaders of the time responded to the poor treatment of urban workhorses, the conditions under which they were exported for slaughter, and their use, along with stray cats and dogs, for vivisection. Public awareness was raised through works like Anna Sewell's 1877 novel “Black Beauty”, considered the first novel written from a non-human perspective, and the efforts of pioneers like Ada Cole, who fought for humane conditions for horses destined for slaughter. Early female suffragettes and abolitionists fought not only for their own rights and those of enslaved people but also against the abuse of animals used in research and labour. The 19th-century anti-vivisection movement was driven by prominent feminist women who contested the male-dominated scientific community. During the 19th century, the struggle for women's suffrage coincided with extensive debate and activism around vivisection, the use of living animals in research. Women leading the anti-vivisection fight were also advocates for female suffrage and the abolition of slavery. The contemporary animal rights movement is considered to have been founded in the UK in the early 1970s by a group of Oxford University postgraduate philosophy students. Another catalyst for the movement was the public revulsion to televised slaughters. In the United States, many public protests against slaughter were held in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Anthropocentrism is the belief that humans are the central or most important entity on the planet. The term can be used interchangeably with humanocentrism, and some refer to the concept as human supremacy or human exceptionalism.

Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology.

Apes (superfamily Hominoidea) are distinguished from monkeys by the complete absence of a tail, the presence of an appendix, and more complex brains. While human beings are zoologically categorized as members of the broader ape superfamily, they are usually placed in their own subcategories due to their larger brain size, advanced cognitive abilities (particularly the ability to speak), and striding two-legged gait. The gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) is the largest of the apes and one of humans' closest living relatives. The gorilla, chimpanzee, bonobo, and orangutan are collectively known as great apes due to their relatively large size and humanlike features. Great apes are significantly more intelligent than monkeys and gibbons. For instance, they can recognize themselves in mirrors, unlike most other nonhuman animals except bottlenose dolphins. Great apes are capable of abstract reasoning, learning quasi-linguistic communication (at least when taught by humans), and making simple tools in captivity. Some populations of orangutans and chimpanzees even make tools in the wild.

Animal studies is a recently recognized, interdisciplinary field that examines animals through various academic lenses, including art history, anthropology, biology, film studies, geography, history, psychology, literary studies, museology, philosophy, communication, and sociology. Scholars in this field engage with concepts such as "animality", "animalization", and "becoming animal" to explore human-made representations and cultural ideas about animals and humanity. By employing diverse theoretical perspectives, they aim to understand human-animal relations both historically and in contemporary contexts, guided by our evolving knowledge of these relationships. The development of animal studies as an interdisciplinary subject gained momentum in the 1970s. The field intersects with various academic disciplines, each bringing its unique perspective through journals, book series, and other scholarly contributions. Different disciplines began focusing on animals at different times and for varying reasons, shaping the distinct approaches scholars take within animal studies. For example, environmental history has historically highlighted the significance of animals in understanding human history. Throughout Western history, humans have often positioned themselves above nonhuman species. Animal studies partly emerged from the animal liberation movement, rooted in ethical inquiries about our coexistence with other species. 

Domestication of Animals is the process of adapting wild animals for human use, encompassing species raised for food, work, clothing, medicine, and other purposes. Domesticated animals depend on human care and are distinct from their wild counterparts. Around the same time people began domesticating plants, they also started taming animals in Mesopotamia for meat, milk, and hides. Animal hides, or skins, were utilised for clothing, storage, and constructing tent shelters. Goats were likely the first animals to be domesticated, followed closely by sheep (Ovis aries). In Southeast Asia, chickens (Gallus domesticus) were domesticated around 10,000 years ago. Subsequently, larger animals such as oxen (Bos taurus) and horses (Equus ferus caballus) were domesticated for ploughing and transportation. Over time, these selective breeding practices have resulted in domesticated animals that are significantly different from their wild ancestors. For example, dogs were probably domesticated from grey wolves (Canis lupus). Domestication represented a major turning point for humanity, marking the beginning of an agricultural lifestyle and more sedentary communities. This shift allowed humans to settle in one place, as they no longer needed to roam to hunt animals and gather plants for food.

Empathy is the ability to take on another's perspective, to understand, feel, and possibly share and respond to their experience. 

Ecofeminism, also known as ecological feminism, is a movement and framework that emphasises the interconnectedness between women and nature, particularly focusing on the link between the oppression of women and the climate crisis. It reveals how women are integral to nurturing nature and communities through their labour and knowledge, yet are often denied equal access to social, political, and economic rights and benefits. By highlighting the connections between gender-based oppression and the climate crisis, ecofeminism addresses the root causes of both issues: the extraction, exploitation, and devaluation of nature and marginalised groups.

Eco-activism, also known as the environmental or ecology movement, is a social movement aimed at protecting the natural world from harmful practices to promote sustainable living. Environmentalists advocate for the fair and sustainable management of resources and environmental stewardship through changes in public policy and individual behaviour. Recognising humanity as a participant in ecosystems, the movement focuses on ecology, health, and human rights. The environmental movement originated in response to the severe smoke pollution during the Industrial Revolution. The rise of factories and increased coal consumption led to unprecedented air pollution, further compounded by industrial chemical discharges and untreated human waste. In response to political pressure, Britain's Alkali Acts of 1863 were the first major environmental laws, targeting air pollution from the Leblanc process used to produce soda ash. 

Human exceptionalism is the view that humans are not only qualitatively different from other animals but that we are greater in moral value. This idea is ancient and pervasive and is the foundation for the complex, and often inconsistent, relationship between humans and other animals. This paradigm is currently widely criticised by the humanities and sciences. 

Posthumanism, often referred to as the posthuman, is a philosophical concept that explores the nature of the world and its potential future without humans at its centre. This idea, when applied to science fiction, literature, or media, helps us envision better futures and avoid worse ones. Posthumanism invites us to think outside traditional human categories of race, gender, or nationality; beyond the interests of our species; and across conventional divisions between animal, human, and machine.

Personhood refers to the status of being recognised as a person. It is a debated topic in philosophy and law, linked to citizenship, equality, and liberty. Legally, only a natural or juridical person has rights, protections, responsibilities, and liabilities. The concept of personhood is globally debated in contexts such as slavery abolition, abortion, fetal and reproductive rights, animal rights, theology, ethics, and corporate personhood. In the 21st century, corporate personhood and the "personhood movement" connect Western and Indigenous legal systems. Recognition of personhood varies across cultures, showing that definitions are not universal.

Multispecies refers not only to the involvement of multiple species, which are often inseparable from one another, but also to a range of perspectives where all entities are constantly creating and influencing worlds. This concept can be complex, so examples can help clarify. Ecofeminist philosopher Anna Tsing illustrates this by explaining how beavers reshape streams, fungi create soil by digesting rocks, and bacteria produce our oxygen atmosphere, which plants now maintain. Each organism thus alters the worlds of others as they intersect (Anna Tsing, The Mushroom at the End of the World, 2025). In her 2016 book Staying With the Trouble, Donna Haraway expands on this by introducing "multispecies worlding", a practice or life-skill where we should focus on how humans and other animals continuously create, share, transform, and shape worlds, especially in everyday life. This involves not just addressing suffering but, more importantly, finding ways to continue worlding in more desirable and less speciesist ways.

Zoomusicology examines the musical aspects of sound and communication in animals, blending musicology and zoology within the realm of zoosemiotics. Originating from François-Bernard Mâche's 1983 book “Music, Myth, and Nature, or the Dolphins of Arion”, translated into English in 1992, the field has been expanded by various scholars. Zoomusicology spans multiple disciplines including music, semiotics, philosophy, and biology. Researchers from these varied fields contribute to its development. David Rothenberg, a clarinettist and philosopher, interacts musically with animals and has written on the connections between animal and human music. Composer Emily Doolittle has created works based on animal songs and researched the hermit thrush and musician wren.