Did Animals Make Humans Human?

A well-researched article in boston.com examines anthropologist Pat Shipman's premise that the unique ability to observe and control the behavior of other animals is what allowed us to become the humans that we are. While some of Shipman's colleagues are skeptical, others describe her work as a promising new framework for looking at human evolution, one that highlights the extent to which the human story has been a collection of interspecies collaborations — between humans and dogs and horses, goats and cats and cows, and even microbes. read more