The image of humans as the pinnacle of evolution is persistent. Still we consciously or unconsciously put ourselves above other animals on the basis of intelligence, consciousness, language, and so on. But man is an animal species like any other. "No single trait is totally unique to humans."

Charles Darwin clearly gave humans a place in the animal kingdom with his theory of evolution. Yet society is far from shaking off the notion that we are above other animals. Think of animal husbandry, animal testing and zoos. "It is in us to consider ourselves higher than we are," says José Joordens, associate professor of Paleoecology and Evolution of Humanoids at Maastricht University

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