Leon wrote:Since I understand that you are not a christian, Geshtinnanna, allow me to quote a source other than the Bible - dictionary.com.
Dictionary.Com wrote:an·i·mal
n.
1. A multicellular organism of the kingdom Animalia, differing from plants in certain typical characteristics such as capacity for locomotion, nonphotosynthetic metabolism, pronounced response to stimuli, restricted growth, and fixed bodily structure.
2. An animal organism other than a human, especially a mammal.
Humans are as you said a
species, but not an
animal per definition. If
you like to think of the human as an animal, you are naturally free to do so, since everything is subject to definition - "Who claims this?" - but you must also understand that others, and not very few, are of the opinion that humans are not just any animal but something more.
In addition, simply because something occurs in the animal kingdom, in nature, does not make it "natural" for humans to do by default.