Order 1081360: essay

Louhou 3

Cindy Louhou

Professor O’Donnell SAMPLE

English 50

14 October 2015

Writing Project #2

[Intro] Animal rights has been a controversial topic for many years. As scientists and scholars learn more about animal behavior, a startling realization has been brought to light: they are more like humans than previously thought. Jeremy Rifkin, an American journalist, wrote a lot about these similarities between humans and animals in his article “A Change of Heart About Animals”. His article suggests that animals should be treated with more humanity and dignity than they have been previously given. This revelation brings another question up: do animals have culture? The definition of culture means the ability to communicate, to use tools to make life easier, and to have some notion of mortality and the passing of time. Therefore, animals do have culture, because they exhibit language skills, they use tools for gathering food, and they exhibit grief and mourn the passing of their animal brethren. Thus, animals should be treated better than they are now.

[Topic Sentence w/ immediate connection to thesis] Animals have culture because they exhibit language skills. This means they communicate with each other and also demonstrate the ability to learn. [Quote from Rifkin properly quote-sandwiched] Rifkin agrees with this idea, and discusses one animal in particular: Koko the gorilla. Koko, according to Rifkin, “was taught sign language and has mastered more than 1,000 signs and understands several thousand English words” (Rifkin 2). This means that Koko shows the ability to learn and communicate. [Tie in with thesis] In other words, gorillas demonstrate culture. [Example from your research properly quote-sandwiched] However, gorillas are not the only animals that show language and learning skills; dogs also demonstrate communication and learning. In the 1998 study from The Harvard Journal of Dog Behavior titled “Canine Whisperer”, it was found that dogs are able to “learn more than 3,000 commands and continue learning up until fourteen years of age” (Thompson 42). In other words, dogs display strong learning and communication abilities. [Connect to thesis] Because learning and language skills are included in the definition of culture, these examples from Rifkin and Thompson show that humans are not the only species to be cultured. Animals have culture too. [Transition to the next idea]. They have other cultural traits as well, namely the skills of tool use.

Works Cited

Balter, Michael. “Strongest Evidence of Animal Culture Seen in Monkeys and Whales.” Science

Magazine. AAAS, 25 Apr. 2013. Web. 12 October 2015.

Bearzi, Maddalena. Beautiful Minds: The Parallel Lives of Great Apes and Dolphins.

Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2008. Web.

De Waal, Frans. “Moral Behavior in Animals.” TED Talk. TED. TED, Nov. 2011. Web. 14 Oct.

2015.

Rifkin, Jeremy. “A Change of Heart About Animals.” Los Angeles Times 1 September 2003.

Print.

Thompson, Samuel. “Canine Whisperer.” The Harvard Journal of Dog Behavior 3.2 (2014): 40-

45. Print.

Rifkin, Jeremy. “A Change of Heart About Animals.” Los Angeles Times 01 September 2003.

Print.

Professor O’Donnell’s notes: Use this link to get to the OWL at Purdue’s MLA Works Cited Basic Rules: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/05/

NO EXTRA SPACES!

Sources should be listed in alphabetical order

All lines after the first line of each source should be indented.