This is exactly what I meant when I said that the parent that doesn't want the pet ALWAYS becomes the one so invested in taking care of it. I wonder what causes this harsh change, dog hater to staying up all night to make sure that your dog is alright. I feel like we must give credit to the dogs on this one, something is just too sweet in loving about them to not fall in love.

This is simultaneously precious and sad. It's so cute that dogs care so much about people pleasing that they will happily choose the wrong answer in the name of making their owner happy. It makes me sad to think that there are people who have dogs that don't deserve them. Dogs, and pets in general, are so innocent and precious, it's cruel to discount their thoughts and feelings.

I can 100 percent see this in pet owners. My own mother in particular is OBSESSED with my (rather i should say our) bird, Wally. All of her friends know about Wally, she has a billion pictures of Wally on her phone, she will talk about Wally with ANYONE. I feel like ironically, this is a really common thing for parents to do when they themselves didn't want the pet.

This is so interesting and strange to think about. I find it really interesting the way we relate ourselves to our pets. Just the other day I was talking to my friends about what we are to our pets. My girl friends all said that our pets were our children, while our guy friends see their pets as their friends. One said their childhood pet was their sibling, but their dog now is their son. I wonder what influences this dynamic between pet and owner.

It's so beautiful that we've always found ourselves so connected with animals. I find it really interesting when people die with their animals, when a pet is so connected to their owner that after their passing they die from a broken heart. I really wonder what causes this. The human-animal connection is so strong and strange.

I absolutely love kids like this. Children who make it their life's mission to take care of their pet as best they can. I've seen little kids like this come into my work (I work at a bird store where we sell birds) and it cracks me up every time. I wonder when this kind of trait disappears?

This is such an interesting way to think that I've never thought about. animals really do just live life by the minute. We plan our days, but our pets just absolutely go with the flow. We're so different from animals in this way, I know a plethora of people who would have a panic attack if they had to live like that for a day.

I find the narrators distaste for dogs kind of weird. Why would you get a dog when you and your wife both seemingly despise dogs? The parental pattern of getting pets just to appease their child, and then the pet dies due to negligence, is so weird to me and not looked down upon enough.

I can definitely understand what John meant when he said that his mother was not very good at public speaking. She almost sounds like she's reciting Shakespeare. She uses such flamboyant vocabulary that would make her speech hard to understand.

The relationship between John and his mother is so strange. It seems as though Elizabeth is so set in her ways, her own son has distanced himself from her. I find it especially odd that John doesn't want to be associated with his own mother among his colleges.

I find the dynamic between both mother in law and daughter in law, and mother and son, very strenuous and interesting. It sounds as though Norma and Elizabeth have gotten into little fights like this before. I'm wondering why this is so important to Elizabeth that she risks her relationship with her son.

This is so sad. Why did people feel a need to kill animals in order to "teach" people about these animals? Doesn't it sound moronic? If people wanted to learn about animals so bad, why did the animals have to be dead? Could people not just read books and look at pictures? It's so sad that innocent lives were taken for such a stupid thing.

This is so strange. It's so weird to me that people commodified these animals and completely disrespected the lives of those animals, and then used them as a device to ponder. How were people so blind to the fact that they were committing atrocities to these creatures in order to inspire new ideas. Why does one need a taxidermied animal in order to think about animals?

It's so odd that these animals were chosen for vanity, not for any scientific reasoning. There was no lesson to be learned from these animals and i feel that this makes it cruel. Killing an animal just to look at it and for no other reasons. If they were choosing animals because they wanted to learn more or educate themselves it would be a different story, it's just so disgusting to disrespect a life like that.

This is so devastating. It's already terrible that these animals had to die for "art", but to then be disliked and ignored, not fully appriciated for their sacrifice is so depressing. Not only that, because these versions of "art" weren't as good as they could be, more animals must die. I find that killing animals for any other reason than for food is rather odd, killing an animal for the sake of art is a disrespect to nature.

This is insane. So many people were drawn to such strange things, but so many of these things were taboo or obscene. It's so hard to imagine 38 million people were drawn to the museum, and it's interesting to think about WHY people were so drawn to it.

I feel like this must be some sort of karma. It's so sad that many living animals died, but I feel that all of Barnum's treasures being lost is deserved. While at the time many of his "exhibits" may have been "normal", a lot of what he did was cruel and inhumane. Why does a man need to have so many items at the cost of so many lives?

I find it so interesting that using animals to tell human stories is a trope loved by both children and adults. It's interesting that no matter the age, people can always project themselves into an animal version, with shows like Bojack horseman, depicting very serious and very real problems that many people face. I feel like by putting such serious topics onto the image of an animal makes it easier to watch.

This is really interesting and also kind of disturbing. I find it odd when children's media of any kind includes jokes like these. I understand that some jokes are meant to be funny for adults, but some jokes or illusions to sex just don't belong in children's media. I find it really odd that the adults who are creating shows/movies/etc. for children include adult humor, this is an audience that does not understand/need to understand these kinds of things.

It's amazing that we can teach such important lessons like these to children in a way that is understandable and safe. I see how it would be beneficial to use animals as a medium to discuss such serious topics with children. Although, It's strange that in order to teach these lessons, we have to remove the human aspect and put it onto animals.

I find it so interesting that so many life lessons can be found in Zootopia, a strong independent female, treating people equally no matter what they look like, and being able to do great things no matter the circumstances. It's odd that we use animals to teach these lessons instead of humans. Would using animals instead of humans make the lessons less impactful because it seems like a fantasy?

It's really interesting that we have projected the human experience onto animals. From a young age, we're taught a lot of social norms and values through animals, like the movie Zootopia. We teach lessons of how to act, as humans, through animals.

I highly resonate with this. After understanding the complexities behind octopi and just how intelligent they are, I would feel awful eating one. How could I eat an animal that I know is equally intelligent/capable of comprehension as I am? It would feel wrong, and it's hard to understand how people can learn this same information and be ok with it. This is making me want to become a vegetarian.

It's so funny to me that we try to understand things like this. I feel like there are some things that animals do just because. There have to be some things that animals do for absolutely no reason. There are so many random things that humans do for absolutely no reason, things that don't have ANY explanation, but are common for many people. I also find it funny that scientists really wanted to understand why an octopus will just randomly change colors.

It's so incredibly interesting that we will really never be able to completely understand an octopus. It sees that humans must always understand things in terms of our own bodies, but we can never truly comprehend that of an octopus. Obviously this extends to many other animals, but it's just so beautiful that each animal has an experience of its own, a life completely unique that other animals will never be able to grasp.

Where is the empathy??? I understand that empathizing with a crab may seem absurd, but why couldn't these people exercise just a bit of SOME emotion towards these animals. It's so upsetting to read all of the examples of animals showing OBVIOUS signs of pain/distress, and people are chalking it up to "just science" no real feeling. How can people be so painfully blind to what these creatures are feeling?

This is so funny and annoying at the same time. Its annoying that just because an animal doesn't want to perform for a human, they're labeled as stupid. These animals show OBVIOUS signs of intelligence, and people are so intentionally blind to the facts. It's funny to me because, don't humans act the same way? If someone told me to do something for no reason, I probably wouldn't do it. Why so we automatically assume that animals are stupid instead of realize the possibility that they're just as capable as us?

This is so sad to me. It's so frustrating when humans can't comprehend the intelligence of an animal and just continue to degrade it. Humans have let themselves believe that they're "above" animals because we are able to think and understand things. When an animal shows signs of thinking and understanding, we refuse to give them the respect that they deserve.

I find it so interesting that we don't have a complete understanding of just how intelligent octopi are, and while knowing that they are abnormally intelligent, we still have no problem eating them. An animal that can problem solve, understand humor, and use tools seems FAR too intelligent to be eaten.

I can understand the confusion due to the image, but I don't understand why nobody attempted to translate the text. That seems like a very important part of understanding and criticizing the art completely. The image is so obviously dramatic, you would think that understanding the text with it is equally important.

So extremely weird that after repeated signs of not wanting to work, they placed Moe in (essentially) jail?? why didn't they think to just, release him? Odd in that it almost feels like an animal trial, but instead of execution, he was sent to PRISON. They sent a chimp to JAIL for not acting. just wow.

this is so incredibly saddening. Animals are so insanely intelligent and we degrade them and take them for granted. Animals act with more morals than some humans.

WOAH WOAH WOAHHHH. I was about to annotate the paragraph above saying how I've read a lot of SInger's other work and how I thought it was good, but this took me for a spin. Really really really odd that Singer came up with this IN THE YEAR 2000. at this point I feel like people had a good enough grasp as to what is socially acceptable and what is not. this is insane.

this is my religion. This two line snippet perfectly describes what i believe in. Life is so beautiful and to degrade that is evil. Animal life should be respected like human life.

this makes me want to sob. So insanely saddening to imagine a cute little helpless mouse. Animal cruelty extends to animals as big as elephants and as small as mice. This also reminds me of the poem "the crime of being small".

again, a crazy thought thatI'm SO surprised so many poeple were ok with. So many people believe in the connection between god and nature, so why did they think they could just destroy everything? so confusing.

mind boggling that this idea was ok with people. This isnt even something that needs extensive testing, it's so evident that if you do something malicious to an animal they will feel hurt.

wow. random piece of Thomas Edison information I never knew. Really makes one think about just how passionate Edison was about electricity

why would the animals be found guilty of rape but humans weren't found guilty of raping animals, the animals were ALSO guilty??

so interesting that the animals were apart of the parish community. Implying that the animals are somewhat religious? hilarious. I love that this logic gave animals rights

this is something that I would DIE to witness. how does one gather a group of termites before a court? how do you know how many termites are responsible? why do these termites have such good lawyers??????

I wonder why this part of history is largely lost. while looking back, it's quite funny, but i wonder if it brought people shame, and that's why its lost/ covered up

so interesting and ironic. so crazy to me that crimes like these were enforced with animals, but centuries later, the same crimes go unpunished/are taken less serious with humans (granted due to a messed up judicial system but nonetheless).

Very interesting word to use. I've come to really like this authors writing style. It's made me laugh, but also a little horrified at times. the words the writer uses really convey his connection and commitment to the experience.

Again, very unsettling but intriguing writing. It's so graphic, but really does help me get the picture.

This is so interesting when thinking about how we've been considering conscience. "I think, therefore I am". Who is to determine how an animal feels when we cant really know what they're thinking. It's unfair to say that animals don't have emotions just because we aren't capable of understanding them.

very interesting because I've been learning about Darwin and alike scientists from his time. At that time nobody cared about that, they cared about pioneering in biology.

the author keeps throwing in these random sentences that seem to be scientific, but also some sort of profound comment.

A very interesting fact about badgers, while also a profound comment on the way humans deal with our dead. The author is very very gruesome in his details.

This is such a weird yet interesting statement, as it -so clearly- has nothing to do with badgers. Maybe a very random way to throw in ways that badgers die?

I find it very interesting that badgers are so social. I never really imagined them as a pack animal, more of a lone wolf.

The writing style of the author is so disgusting, bizarre, yet intriguing, that I can't stop reading. This is so unlike any author I've ever been presented before.

I find it interesting to use the word sinister. The anthropomorphism used immediately automatically hooks the reader as its so random yet intriguing. It's interesting that in order to become the badger, one must first consider the worm.

octopi just wanted to explore and inspect and Aristotle was just mean. Why was the first reaction to their curiosity met with MEAN? I think it's really interesting that human beings saw an animal being curious about humans by "approaching with kindness" instead of seeming scary, and Aristotle's automatic reaction was "yea that thing is dumb". This says a lot about how we as humans disrespect nature all around us.

i always find it interesting and annoying when animals (particularly those that aren't the stereotypical cutest) gain a bad or evil reputation. The same thing happened with sharks, humans have demonized sharks and they are now percieved as cruel or evil. These animals are just being ANIMALS. It's annoying that people are shocked when an octopus "steals a camera" when it feels threatened.

i personally feel like octopi are too intelligent to be eaten by humans. Every article, video, documentary, etc. that I hear about regarding an octopus, they are explained to be so creative and smart that they're almost human. I think it's really weird that people learn about octopi and CONTINUE to eat them as if it's no big deal.