Dr Rajiv Desai
An Educational Blog
Are We Animals?
Are We Animals? _____ Man versus polar bear: _ Keeper Julius Latoya shares a tender moment with Kinna, a young orphaned African elephant at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Tsavo East National Park, Kenya. ______ ______ Section-1 Prologue: Many parents admonish their misbehaving children by saying “stop acting like animals” implying that children are acting in a primitive and thoughtless manner. When my students/patients misbehave, I occasionally tell them that they are behaving like animals. Of course, my critics in India would label my utterances as racist and dehumanizing akin to the Nazis’ persecution of Jews during the Holocaust and torture at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Many patients hospitalized in some Covid-19 facilities in India complained that their condition was like “animals” at the facility. Most of us grew up eating meat, wearing leather, and going to circuses and zoos. Many of […]
HUMAN EVOLUTION
HUMAN EVOLUTION: _ Figure below shows conservator Effie Verveniotou and human origins researcher Dr Louise Humphrey examine the oldest nearly complete modern human skeleton ever found in Britain before it goes on display in the gallery. Cheddar Man is a human male fossil found in Gough’s Cave in Cheddar Gorge, Somerset, England. Excavated in 1903, Cheddar Man is Britain’s oldest complete human skeleton. Cheddar Man lived around 10,000 years ago. Analysis of his nuclear DNA indicates that he was a typical member of the western European population at the time, with lactose intolerance, dark skin, blue eyes, and dark curly or wavy hair. ________ Prologue: Recently, minister of state for human resource development of India said that the Darwinian theory of evolution was scientifically wrong and should not be taught in Indian institutions. Many scientists and students signed a petition calling upon him to withdraw his remarks. Three science academies […]
