Using these perspectives, those who engage in animal studies seek to understand both human-animal relations now and in the past as defined by our knowledge of them.
Take rats, for example, with a history of being used as “an experimental subject, feeder, and “pest.”[2] However, fewer than 10% of research studies on animals result in new medical findings for human patients.
[5] This has led researchers to find new Non-animal Approach Methodologies (NAMs) that provide more accurate human reactions.
Singer's work followed Jeremy Bentham's by trying to expand utilitarian questions about pleasure and pain beyond humans to other sentient creatures.
Overall, progress happens slowly, but the marginal voices help introduce new concepts and ethics that can eventually transform society's relationship with other species.
Later in the 15th century, artists began coinciding with animals as a serious subject when discoveries in foreign lands were brought back to England.
[10] Leonardo da Vinci studied animal anatomy to create anatomically accurate drawings of various species.
[13] In most movies, predatory animals such as sharks and wolves are usually the antagonists, but this only causes significant damage to their reputation and makes people fear what they think their true nature is.
Researchers are analyzing the positive and negative effects of anthropomorphized animals on a child's view of the non-human species.