"Not acknowledging our wild lineage is one of the driving reasons for poaching pachyderm. If we recognized the Elephant in us & the human in the Elephant, we would end the blood trade."
- Asher Jay, Artist & Conservationist
After first presenting the effects and benefits of animal humanization in a fictional, popular culture context, this lesson launches off a New York Times case study of elephants to present the persuasive technique as key to real-life conservation. By highlighting elephant mourning rituals and the effect of poachers in their reduction of elephant value to only their ivory tusks, the New York Times article reveals an unnerving discrepancy: animals recognize the priceless value of one another, but we, as humans - as hunters, industrialists, fishermen, polluters, etc. - often do not. Since the main species under study - elephants - is also an example of a "keystone species," we not only explored a species' value beyond its animal products/parts that are useful to humans, but beyond its ecological standing. Humanization easily illuminated the third, often neglected value that originates from the mere fact that elephants are living, breathing, loving beings. In a cross-curricular quick write after a CHoMP analysis of the New York Times article, we applied our differentiation of "hunting" and "poaching" onto Time Safari, Inc. in Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder," explaining which category the dinosaur shooting business falls into and then arguing - in terms of environmental conservation - which it should fall into. A concluding, mini-research peer competition expanded our exploration of multifaceted animal value beyond elephants, prompting us to pair the products/parts of animals by which we often dehumanize species with a unique, humanizing fact about the animals to emphasize how species are more than their usefulness to humans.
Rikkiibell (2012). The shrimp from shark tale [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJvsk7NsZe4
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Effect of Animal Humanization: Shark Tale Movie Excerpt After first brainstorming characteristics of shrimp with a colored pencil on a semantic web, we watched a short excerpt from the 2004 animated movie, Shark Tale. Through anthropomorphism, the clip presents the idea that a shrimp is more than a crustacean at the bottom of the food chain (even if it's in an extremely exaggerated fictional form: a shrimp is a working dad trying to support his deceased sister's newborn) and shows how we should act on that realization of human-equivalent value: compassion and conservation (i.e. Lenny refuses to eat the shrimp despite his brother's demands and helps the shrimp escape from the undersea restaurant). After the clip, we discussed why the shrimp believed a humanizing tale would help him escape, leading to a general discussion of the benefits of animal humanization in the face of a conservation threat (Lenny wipes away a tear, so the story had emotional appeal, evoked empathy, etc.). Returning to our semantic web after the video clip, we added the fictional attributes of the shrimp in a different colored colored pencil than our initial brainstorming circles to discuss how the shrimp's humanization affects Lenny the shark - and us as viewers. |
Humanization: to portray or endow with human characteristics or attributes.
Dehumanization: To deprive of human qualities or attributes; to reduce one to his/her anatomical features.
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New York Times Article: "Documenting Elephants' Compassion, and Their Slaughter" To reinforce yesterday's new key term and introduce the New York Times blog article, we discussed how elephants are another example of a "keystone species" (i.e. By eating small trees, elephants preserve the African grasslands that need a lot of sun to survive. If there were no elephants, the savanna would convert to a forest or scrublands). After referring to the CHoMP anchor chart to refresh the reading strategy, we read aloud the popular science article as a class. The article addresses the value - priceless and economical - of elephants by justaposing elephant dehumanization (i.e. poachers see them only as their ivory tusks) and elephant humanization (i.e. elephants mourn their deceased relatives). Therefore, we discussed several during-reading questions, like how does our view of elephants change after we learn they grieve? Since the article's elephant humanization comes in the form of the African mammals' mourning rituals, the article adds to the unit trend of finding visible evidence of recognizing value in one another only when in close proximity to death. |
Keystone Species: a species that has a disproportionately large effect on its environment relative to its abundance. Play a critical role in maintaining the structure of an ecological community, affecting many other organisms in an ecosystem, and helping to determine the types and numbers of various other species in the community.
Poaching: the illegal hunting, killing and/or capturing of wild animals.
Conservation: the wise management of natural resources, including the preservation of habits and wildlife.
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Cross-Curricular Quick Write: "A Sound of Thunder" Is Time Safari, Inc. a Poaching or Hunting Organization? After we differentiated between "poaching" and "hunting" from the New York Times article, think back to Ray Brabdury's "A Sound of Thunder" from In your English class: is Time Safari, Inc. operating a hunting or poaching time travel business? Refer back to page 74 to reread the section about the legality of Time Safari, Inc.'s business. In a well-developed paragraph using BOTH text details from the short story and your knowledge from science class about the difference between hunting and poaching, explain whether Time Safari, Inc. is a hunting or poaching organization. Is Time Safari, Inc. legal, illegal, or somewhere in-between as a shady business? Based on your knowledge of how the story concludes, also include which it should be and why. In terms of environmental conservation and accountability, should Time Safari, Inc. receive government approval to conduct their prehistoric safaris? |
"The government doesn't like us here. We have to pay big graft to keep our franchise. A Time Machine is finicky business." - Travis, "A Sound of Thunder," p. 74
Informal Class Competition: Humanization Research
Add Life: Animals Are More Than Their Benefit to Humans To raise awareness about other species affected by illegal poaching - and showcase how poaching is not limited to megafauna, like elephants and rhinoceros, but also impacts plants, birds, and marine life - an informal class competition challenges you to represent species as BOTH their product/part that's useful to humans AND as a living, breathing creature through a unique fact that humanizes the animal. The activity reinforces how species should not - and can not - be reduced and dehumanized to an anatomical part or biological feature, despite how often we do just that (i.e. poaches kill and poison elephants because they equate elephant value to only their ivory tusks). In groups of three (3), you will given a set of ten (10) animal product/part templates and ten (10) blank heart templates. On the back of the animal product, write a simple, one-sentence summary of the how humans use the product (i.e. food, medicine, jewelry, etc.). Then, on a blank heart template, write a unique fact about the species that showcases its humanity, its priceless value, its life. One laptop will be available to each group to conduct the mini research necessary to fill in the templates. |
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Competition "Rules" After your group pairs a heart with an animal product, it must be approved by the teacher to ensure you've adequately represented the species beyond its human usefulness. Once approved, you can advance to the next animal product template in your pile. For each acceptable pair, you will receive a Ziploc sandwich bag adorned with a picture of the species in which you should insert the two templates. All groups must begin with the elephant tusk template, filling it and its associated heart template in using text details from the New York Times article. All subsequent templates may be filled in through mini-research searches on the provided laptop. |
All groups of three will receive the same set of ten (10) animal product templates: