The King of the jungle, and a human. A relationship a human shares with a lion is vastly rarer than that of a horse or a dog. Lions are cats, large cats with incredibly strong jaws and hunting prowess, but at the core, still a cat. Animals that were once powerful and primal hunters, have now become the many breeds we see today in species such as cats and dogs. The image shows a man kissing and hugging a lion whom he considers to be a friend of his. The story is that this individual spent years researching and playing with the 
lions, so they became familiarized with him and could recognize him. The embrace is oddly human as a hug is generally something we do when we love or care for another. A lion could bite a man twice and kill him, but the man trusts his relationship with the animal so much that he is defenseless and vulnerable. Species such as lions, panthers, wolves and other large predatory mammals are ancestors of the cute animals many of us call pets. It’s ironic to see species such as the Black Panther and Bengal Tiger nearing extinction as they are the remnant of a rich animal history that precede human existence. The saber-tooth tiger was more or less a larger lion with some tusks, but was a primary threat to early age men. Our discussions in class oftentimes force me to ponder how I look at my pets because it blows my mind that in a span of 2,000 years, we have domesticated and controlled a range of breeds and species to the point where many of us forget their evolutionary roots. Considering the teachings of Berger, applying the concept of dualism to animals is already putting ourselves above them in a sense. In areas such as Africa, large preserves and national parks have rare species in a large, but slightly maintained area of land. Natural selection and processes would injury these species, but humans would intervene to save them and tend to their injuries. At first consideration it doesn’t seem like a bad thing to do, but now factor in that these last few species are out of place.
The intrusion of man into these predators’ environments demonstrates that we cannot respect the boundary between man and nature at times. We recognize ourselves as individuals, and humans have a perception that supports the claim that humans are in our own eyes, superior. Whether it’s an anthropomorphism animals out of sympathy or miss-identifying lions as entertainment in zoos rather than hunting in the safari, humans are overly engrossed and invested in attempting to satisfy ourselves as more intelligent beings. Berger and Walker have advanced my knowledge of the multitude of perspectives on animals and our relationships, but I have been firm in my views prior to reading their work. Swimming with White Sharks and seeing them hunt from a young age solidified my desire to see nature as it should be, without human interaction. I knew that as I got older I would learn more about factors such as the economic benefits of animals and their instrumental value, but it often times is touch to gauge how I feel about my relationships with animals I encounter. Berger’s claim that our communication with animals is hindered by a lack of language, which is true. What about a hug from a lion? Where does that fall on a scale of physical representation of emotions? I don’t know exactly what is going through the lion’s mind, but it’s evident that it’s a personalized relationship between a man and a 500 pound cat. Other behavioral qualities of lions can be read at the following URL: Lion Behavioral Traits and Qualities.
Great post! One thing that you said that struck me, however, was “no other species is as intelligent or capable as humans.” I disagree with this statement. Just because we normally have a human-centered view of intelligence doesn’t mean we are smarter than animals. In a lot of ways, I think that animals are smarter than we are. For example, animals understand the importance of appreciating nature for what it is instead of going against it with technology. Humans have consciously destroyed their own habitat with things such as pollution and that is something an animal would not do to itself. I think it is definitely still possible to view animals as equals but for this we would need to recognize our “oneness” with animals and recognize our dependence on them the way many ancient tribal cultures did.
Thanks for the feedback, it’s difficult to measure something “qualitative” such as intelligence, a relationship with nature and the ability to co-exist within our world is without a doubt something animals exceed us in. Many individuals would differ on their definition of intelligence so there are a range of viewpoints on the subject.
“Intelligence” is difficult to measure, but that hasn’t stopped scientists from trying. Increasingly there is a lot of new work on animal intelligence–much of which questions how we (humans) identify intelligence. There was an earlier discussion about this on our site here. If anyone comes across articles or other things dealing with animal intelligence, consider posting them here for the rest of us to read. How we define animal intelligence is, of course, all about “representing animals.”