<i><font class="Apple-style-span" face="verdana, sans-serif"> paul bruesch wrote:<br></font></i><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<font class="Apple-style-span" face="verdana, sans-serif"><i>There's a reason, I believe, that "the arts" are usually lumped in with "humanities" -- that art is what makes us human, and humans make and recognize art. I may be wrong, but I'm not aware of any other species that creates or recognizes art, and humans have been doing so way way way back to "caveman" times.</i><br>
<font class="Apple-style-span" color="#888888"><br></font></font></blockquote><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="verdana, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="verdana, sans-serif">The species that comes the closest is the remarkable Bowerbird:</font></div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="verdana, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="verdana, sans-serif"><img src="<a href="http://news.discovery.com/animals/2010/04/05/bowerbird-825x550.jpg">http://news.discovery.com/animals/2010/04/05/bowerbird-825x550.jpg</a>"/></font></span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="verdana, sans-serif"><br></font></span></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="verdana, sans-serif">They collect and arrange various found objects, apparently according to some aesthetic instinct. The results are then judged by the females, who mate with the artist they find most impressive.</font></div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="verdana, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="verdana, sans-serif">That's pretty much how it works with human art too, right? ;)</font></div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="verdana, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="verdana, sans-serif">Check out this NatGeo article/gallery: <a href="http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/07/bowerbirds/morell-text.html">http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/07/bowerbirds/morell-text.html</a></font></div>
<div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>-kurt</div><div><br></div></div>