![](https://commonreader.wustl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Animals-in-the-human-world-web-cover-600x450.jpg)
![](https://commonreader.wustl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Animals-in-the-human-world-web-cover-600x450.jpg)
![](https://commonreader.wustl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Animal-Issue-BIRDS-150x150.jpg)
Flight, Feathers, and Freedom
We love birds for their beauty, their feathers, and their flesh, but what do we really know about these light creatures that seemingly float so effortlessly above us?
![](https://commonreader.wustl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Animals-Issue-RODENTS-150x150.jpg)
Life With Rodents
I had been surprised days earlier when I found gray fur on one of the traps, from a now partially bald mouse who had a story to tell his many buddies, but here was something worse: not an uncaught rodent, but a half-caught rodent.
![](https://commonreader.wustl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Animals-Issue-INSECTS-150x150.jpg)
Lords of the Flies
Insects may be the perfect villains, but there are inherent problems with casting insects as the bad guys with whom heroes must do battle.
![](https://commonreader.wustl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/ledy-and-cliff-wedding-150x150.jpg)
Animal House
Shuffling through the vaccination and microchip records, reading the myriad names, I sometimes smile with nostalgic fondness, but more often my eyes mist as I am reminded of the multitudes we have loved but lost.
![](https://commonreader.wustl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Animals-Issue-TURTLE-150x150.jpg)
Turtles All the Way Down
In a number of ancient traditions, the world is believed to rest on the back of a giant turtle, which leads to the epistemological question of what might be supporting that turtle.
Archtypes: Hook-Ups
“The Dogs’ Office”
![](https://commonreader.wustl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Animal-Issue-HUMAN-NATURE-150x150.jpg)
How Animals Teach Us to be Human
In some sense, animals may possess a more instinctive humanity than we do. The world is our classroom, and all its inhabitants are our teachers.
![](https://commonreader.wustl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Fish-2-150x150.jpg)
Minding Nemo
Our alienation from fishes stems from the fact that they have existed, both literally and figuratively, beneath the surface of our awareness. Gaze over a lake, a river, or an ocean, and while there may be legions of fishes carrying on with their lives within inches of the surface, we witness nothing of it.
![](https://commonreader.wustl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/animals-listicle-150x150.jpg)
Some Interesting Tales About Animals in the Human World
An incomplete listicle of how we think about animals.
![](https://commonreader.wustl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Animal-Issue-MASCOT-150x150.jpg)
Bulldogs, Gridirons, and Saturday Afternoons
Mascots in sports–especially animal mascots–create a vision that fans imagine as reality until it becomes tradition. A mascot is a stand-in for how we see ourselves, if only for three or four hours on a Saturday.
Archtypes: Hook-Ups
“The Dogs’ Office”