New Scientist recommends a smart new account of human exceptionalism

Imagine that you took an animal, tripled its lifespan, stuck the world’s knowledge in its pocket (indeed, gave it pockets at all) and, for good measure, told it about death. A mightily confused, angst-ridden animal would be my bet, and I would strongly recommend it read Michael Bond’s Animate: How animals shape the human mind to at least begin to get a handle on its twisted condition. We are animals, nothing more, nothing less.

We evolved among other animals, and are still sharply attuned to their presence, though we have spent much time trying to deny and erase this connection. Animate’ s enchanting and disturbing history of the human animal begins after the last glacial period. This, says Bond, a former New Scientist senior editor, was an Edenic time. True, we competed for food with cave lions, wolves and leopards, and for sleeping space with bears and spotted hyenas. It was a world so dominated by other animals, we would each be lucky to see our 30th birthday. But there were compensations for finding yourself in the middle of the food chain. Witness the extraordinary, emotionally articulate art made in the caves of places like Les Combarelles, Rouffignac and Lascaux (pictured above) in France. They capture the animal’s essence as well as its form, how it moved and felt. They are, says Bond, “visceral and unadorned – more reincarnation than art”. There are few depictions of people, and what there are tend to be quite cursory. According to Bond, it’s because animals are, or were, the point. They didn’t just outnumber us; they were us.

Key points

• We evolved among other animals, and are still sharply attuned to their presence, though we have spent much time trying to deny and erase this connection.
• Animate’ s enchanting and disturbing history of the human animal begins after the last glacial period.
• This, says Bond, a former New Scientist senior editor, was an Edenic time.
• True, we competed for food with cave lions, wolves and leopards, and for sleeping space with bears and spotted hyenas.
• It was a world so dominated by other animals, we would each be lucky to see our 30th birthday.