http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/mg19826571.700-so-you-think-humans...
So you think humans are unique?
21 May 2008
From New Scientist Print Edition. Subscribe and get 4 free issues.
Christine Kenneally

THERE was a time when we thought humans were special in so many ways. Now we know better. We are not the only species that feels
emotions, empathises with others or abides by a moral code. Neither are we the only ones with personalities, cultures and the
ability to design and use tools. Yet we have steadfastly clung to the notion that one attribute, at least, makes us unique: we alone
have the capacity for language.

Alas, it turns out we are not so special in this respect either. Key to the revolutionary reassessment of our talent for
communication is the way we think about language itself. Where once it was seen as a monolith, a discrete and singular entity, today
scientists find it is more productive to think of language as a suite of abilities. Viewed this way, it becomes apparent that the
component parts of language - everything from gesticulation and babbling to meaning and syntax - are not as unique as the whole. In
fact, a boom in research into animal cognition and communication has gradually picked off most items on the list one by one.

Interesting article, but if I used the language from it applied to
human awareness of the similarities between humans and animals, the
article itself was nothing new as shown by the essay from the 1700s
below. But in your article there were some very bold comparisons.

Of The Reason Of Animals
David Hume (1711–1776).
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding.

ALL our reasonings concerning matter of fact are founded on a species
of Analogy, which leads us to expect from any cause the same events,
which we have observed to result from similar causes. Where the...