The World in Six Songs

"One important thing that makes us human, one thing we have that separates us from all other species on our planet, has been noted by psychologists and biologists. It's not the fact that we have a language to communicate with- other animals, such as birds, whales, dolphins, even bees, have sophisticated signaling systems. It's not that we've learned to use tools (chimpanzees do that), that we have built societies (ants have those), or learned to deceive (crows and monkeys). It's not that we're bipedal and have opposable thumbs (primates) or that we often mate for life (gibbons, prairie voles, angelfish, sandhill cranes, termites). What distinguishes us most is one thing no other animals do: art. And it's not just the experience of art, but the centrality of it. Humans have demonstrated a powerful drive toward making art of all different kinds- representational and abstract, static and dynamic, creations that employ space, time, sight, sound, and movement."