Almost human: Photographer's intimate studio portraits that show wild creatures making unnervingly

[snagglepuss]

similar gestures to us

The 54-year-old has created a collection of incredible photographic portraits of animals so intimate they reveal the complex emotions of their subjects. And the emotions on show look strikingly familiar to our own





Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2233048/Almost-human-Photographers-intimate-studio-portraits-wild-creatures-making-unnervingly-similar-gestures-us.html#ixzz2CFZ9ncRP
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[Sheldon Cooper]

1. Spectacular.

[zbdent]

11. "Guys ... I think the camera guy found

our boardroom ... ixnay on the corporate talk ... start grunting ..."

[Sheldon Cooper]

14. Haha!

[TahitiNut]

24. It's almost like a "Dutch Master" painting.

The lighting and tones are very evocative.

[Sheldon Cooper]

45. Yes - a 'Dutch Master' painting

is the perfect description for it.

[AlecBGreen]

25. thats my favorite picture as well

[BlueMan Votes]

2. is it painful for a chicken to have its feathers plucked while it's alive...?

it sure looks freaky.

[BlueMan Votes]

5. an answer to my own question- they're bred that way.

seeing the little tufts of feathers, i just assumed that it had been plucked.

nope.

http://avaxnews.com/disgusting/Naked_Chicken.html

A genetically engineered featherless rooster struts around the campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Department of Agriculture May 22, 2002 in Rehovot, Israeli. After two years of research, departmental scientists announced the naked chicken, as it has been dubbed, as a low calorie bird because the lack of feathers means the chicken has less fat. It also matures earlier than its feathered counterparts. (Photo by Moshe Milner/GPO/Getty Images)

[Spitfire of ATJ]

30. Why can't chickens look like the ones we grew up with?

[backscatter712]

38. Fortunately, I keep my feathers numbered for just such an emergency... n/t

[Spitfire of ATJ]

40. He was someone you loved to hate.

[BlueMan Votes]

43. go away son, you bother me...

[Skittles]

61. that chicken was a smartass

yes INDEED

[cui bono]

42. Ugh. Why do we have to tamper with these poor creatures?

I'm sure they also do it so there's less work when they process them into food.

[Hydra]

53. I know, that was my first thought!

That poor chicken! There's a reason it had feathers...but we just found that "inconvenient"

[cui bono]

59. Where are the God followers on genetic engineering?

I don't hear the outcry.

[Hydra]

60. Me either, and I expected to

If there was ever a case of trampling in "God's" flower garden, genetic engineering would be PRIME.

[Liberal_in_LA]

9. poor chicken

[Berlum]

57. Obviously a Republican chickenhawk

[msongs]

3. the arrogance of religions that proclaim us special and made in "god's" image nt

[AlecBGreen]

23. according to my understanding, yes, we are both special and made in God's image

We are special in that we are the only species that (AFAWK) can contemplate the nature of reality and our place in it. We are made in God's image in that, like God, we have the ability to create, to shape nature and to help draw out its latent potential. Not only that but we also take great joy in our handiwork. Thats the way I see it anyway. That doesn't strike me as arrogant.

[Hydra]

54. AFAWK

Which isn't much. Up until recently infants were not given anesthesia because it was thought they had not developed the equipment to feel pain yet.

What do you know? We assumed, and they suffered. Not unlike the animals that supposedly can't talk and don't have more than instincts.

Hopefully one day we'll give equal status and consideration to our fellow living being as equals...but since we can't even do that with our own species, I'm not holding my breath.

[AlecBGreen]

62. wow

I had never heard what you mentioned re: infant anesthesia. How could anyone assume that!? Crazy... (I say "crazy" with the complete understanding that many years from now, our descendants will look back on us and the views we now hold and wonder the same thing!)

I dont think we will ever give equal consideration and status to animals. I cannot imagine a scenario where the life of a human and say, the life of a deer are held to be equal. I DO think we will increase our compassion towards animals but where does one draw the line? At insects? Worms? Do we include plants? Maybe sequoias and ancient oaks etc but what about dandelions and thistles? Im not trying to be trite, I just think that on so many issues, its not black and white but gray.

"...since we can't even do that with our own species, I'm not holding my breath." I hear you but dont give up hope!

[Hydra]

66. The equal consideration thing is a thorny issue

I eat meat. I enjoy eating meat. We can't live without eating things that are alive and probably aware. We eat some things raw, or kill them horribly in the cooking process(Lobster anyone?). Are we wrong to do that, or is that the cycle of life?

At the root though, I think we do ourselves and other animals a disservice by dismissing them as lesser beings. By disrespecting them(and each other in similar ways) we're closing our mind to a bigger world that exists, but we don't accept.

[Flaxbee]

26. indeed

the arrogance of believing these creatures don't have souls boggles my mind. All a person (who does not have massive inferiority complex) has to do is look into any one of those animal's eyes and SEE the soul, the unique individual. Different from humans, but no less valuable or unique.

[Jamastiene]

49. +infinity

I could not agree more. My mother says that if our pets and other animals do not go to Heaven when they die, she doesn't want to go there either. She wants to go where our pets went when they died. I agree with her. I'm not sure what happens or if there really is an afterlife, but if there is, I don't want to go to an afterlife without animals in it. An afterlife without animals would be my definition of a Hell.

To this day, I still despise the term "anthropomorphism." Animals most certainly do have emotions. Anyone who claims otherwise must have their heads in the sand. It would take an extremely dense, cold, and uncaring person not to see it after seeing all of the videos of animals showing real emotions toward not only their own kind, but also toward other species, including humans. Of course, when I mentioned the word a while back on DU and how scientists coined that term and that many scientists follow that school of thought, I was lambasted as anti-science. No, I'm pro-science. I just think the scientists that refuse to acknowledge that animals express emotions and have emotions need to get their heads out of the sand and look at the animals around them.

[alterfurz]

44. "Man was created to be a little lower than the angels...

...and he's been getting lower ever since." -- Mark Twain

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. I got a couple "kids" that proved that to me a long time ago

The two conures are down right amazing.

[Livluvgrow]

6. That chicken

looks to me like it is flipping off whoever plucked it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. There s a type of chicken

That was created in Israel that is featherless. I am betting this is the case.

[Liberal_in_LA]

10. I hope so.

[Frosty1]

7. Beautiful!

Thank you for sharing!

[LadyHawkAZ]

12. I want to hang that bat photo on my wall

Very cool article, thank you.

[Jamastiene]

27. This is an adorable picture of black mastiff bat embryos.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/10/nikon-small-world-winners/?pid=5122

I want to find the one at the link in the wide screen laptop size for wallpaper. I think it is 1400x990 or something like that. It's so adorable. If the first bat embryo on the left just had his little wing/hands (I can't remember the correct term) over his ears, it would be a perfect "Hear no evil. Speak no evil. See no evil." photo. I love it anyhow.

The one in the article in the OP is adorable too.

[NYC Liberal]

32. Here's a laptop-sized version:

http://d.pr/i/V7iY

[Jamastiene]

47. Thank you!

I have it as my wallpaper now. I love that picture. Thank you so much.

[kimbutgar]

13. Thank you for the awesome pictures

It is so obvious we are all living creatures on this planet and have a shared essence, that words can't adequately describe.

[robinlynne]

15. spectacular. He has been one of the greats for a long time.

[arthritisR_US]

16. Pure beauty! TY

[brer cat]

17. Wow.

Just speechless. Thanks for sharing.

[jaysunb]

18. Very nice post ! nt

[Go Vols]

19. cool stuff

+1

[Curmudgeoness]

20. The gorilla hand is incredible.

All of these pictures are intense. Thanks.

[Vattel]

21. awesome

Some day we will recognize that the well-being of other sentient creatures matters as much as our own well-being.

[blue neen]

22. Fantastic work.

These pictures are amazing and enlightening.

[graywarrior]

28. Amazing

[IDoMath]

29. I was with you until...

"And the emotions on show look strikingly familiar to our own "

They may look familiar but you do a disservice to the animal to assume they are similar. Anthropomorphizing animals deprives them of their own identities and clouds our ability to learn what those identities are.

[snagglepuss]

52. Take that up with the DM. I have simply copy and pasted.

[lonestarnot]

31. What a cute little bat. I wonder if it has rabies.

[NYC Liberal]

33. Incredible! These are amazing.

[morningfog]

34. Love the photos, hate the title.

They aren't "almost human." They are fully animal, the same as us.

[AlbertCat]

35. Beautiful pics!

Amazing and moving.

But the emotions look like ours because we anthropomorphize.... everything from these animals to the weather.

In reality, one has little idea how animals see and interpret the world. I mean, your cat or dog really doesn't understand what you say to them. They live in a world of sounds and smells we cannot detect. And they don't see as we see. And of course they don't have the same brain with the same connections we have.

[Jamastiene]

50. I suppose all those dogs and cats and other animals who sit on command,

and do other tricks based on words we say to them are just doing the exact thing we ask them at the exact time we ask them are doing it all by mere coincidence then? Those are some pretty amazing coincidences, aren't they?

Your post is full of shit.

I had a cat that knew left from right based on what directions we gave her after she went blind. Not only that, she knew exactly what we told her on many many everyday things. She even got my aunt's medicine for her when I was away and my aunt needed that certain medicine to be able to breathe.

Animals can and do understand what we are saying to them. The biggest problem is that we don't understand what they say to us. When it comes to superiority in understanding communications outside of their own species, animals have us beat, hands down.

[AlbertCat]

63. Those are some pretty amazing coincidences, aren't they?

Oh please....

Are you serious? You think you dog understands English. Are you gonna teach it French next?

[Hydra]

56. ...You're kidding, right?

My dog used to play games with us to get more treats. One of the things he'd do occasionally was look at us blankly when we gave him a command, basically a non-verbal "I don't speak english..."

I decisively caught him at it though. I had my back turned so was not looking at him or giving him gestures and told him I had a treat for him and that he needed to leave the dining room and go sit and wait by the front door.

He couldn't do it fast enough! Busted!

[AlbertCat]

64. You're kidding, right?

C'mon people!

You've GOT to be joking! Knowing a few commands to sit and stay is NOT UNDERSTNDING ENGLISH. Have you tried explaining pluperfect tense to your dog yet?


Jesus H Christ!

[Hydra]

65. lol

Putting together a string of commands is...language. Understanding and doing it or resisting it is also known as "thought."

The truth is, we're all animals, just like them. We do some things better than them, and they do some things better than us.

The idea that they don't think is a funny one, but if it helps you feel better about yourself, feel free to continue to believe so despite evidence to the contrary.

[AlbertCat]

67. The idea that they don't think is a funny one,

Where did I say that????

Please quote me saying they don't think.

They DO think.... but not like us.

If you tell your well trained dog to shit instead of sit.... I'll be he sits instead. He does not understand what you are talking to him about. He may understand a handful of commands, because he expects a reward, even if you say a similar word...or a different sounding word altogether but use the same hand gestures. But that is not what I am talking about.

I do understand English, however and can see when you make things up and put words in my mouth. You folks are ridiculous!


P.S. You cat wants to wear clothes too...and even though he's a carnivore, you dog really wants to eat vegan!

[AlbertCat]

68. we're all animals

So is an amoeba... teach it to sit....

[barnabas63]

36. I've taken a recent liking to bats..

I don't know why, but they are interesting and in a strange way even CUTE!

[ohheckyeah]

41. Never thought I would say a bat is cute...

but that's one damn cute bat.

[barnabas63]

46. watch this..lil Drac

[workinclasszero]

48. That was a cool video, thanks /nt

[ohheckyeah]

55. Oh - how cute.

Is your username and the fact you like bats a coincidence or are you a Dark Shadows fan?

[Jamastiene]

51. Bats are highly beneficial to our surroundings.

They eat lots of mosquitoes. With the threat from so many diseases from mosquitoes, I am thankful to the bats' appetites for mosquitoes.

I have always thought bats were cute and amazing creatures. Welcome to the bat appreciation world. They are amazing little creatures.

[flamingdem]

37. oh my so beautiful

awwwwwww lovely

[xchrom]

39. Du rec. Nt

[scheming daemons]

58. nice pics... however, I will remain an omnivore

And continue to eat chicken.