Humans the weakest Species?

As the title says all.Humans the weakest Animal?.I mean anything can kill us,as it comes from a small spider to a large animal.We can't run as fast as many many.... animals.Can't swim and climb as fast as many animals.When it comes to Survival skills(in forest or any other place).We are the worst,we can't survive even a single day without any equipments etc.as we take look from our Physical Strength,we are also the worst there,even a cat and a dog easily beats us in a fight.So What do you think? do you think that humans are the weakest species? or in an opposite opinion that humans are the strongest species?.You can Share your any point of view.

I would definitely not call humans the weakest animals. Both the small spiders and the large carnivores can kill practically all mammals, and while it is true that we are not particularly skilled at surviving in the wild, we humans have had the skills to develop technologies that aid us in survival, and those skills have evidently been crucial in getting to our current position of being the dominant species, at least as far as mammals are concerned. So while we may not have the physical strength or speed to be the strongest, our inventiveness and dexterity is enough to at the very least balance the scales.

Humans may be weak by themselves, but their herd behavior scales that largely that the organisms of the species all over the world together develop tools and techniques for the use of everyone. It seems intelligence is more useful than plain strength, certainly if applied on a large scale.

The biggest threat animals pose to humans is the bacteria/viruses they carry, which is easily avoidable with larger animals anyway.This means most of the animals that are a huge threat to us have a life span of about a day(Mosquitoes). To put it into context animals kill primarily for food, because they need it to survive/defend themselves, basically because they're desperate. Humans kill animals for clothes(I know we do it for food too, but the point is we kill for trivial reasons, because we can).

Lycanthropy said:

Humans may be weak by themselves, but their herd behavior scales that largely that the organisms of the species all over the world together develop tools and techniques for the use of everyone. It seems intelligence is more useful than plain strength, certainly if applied on a large scale.

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I completely agree. without our intelligence there would have been no chance of survival against other species with better attributes in other areas.

One thing humans are built for is endurance. We aren't the fastest nor the strongest, but we can track for miles and hunt for hours. If we get tired, we keep going. Of course, our ability to effectively communicate and solve problems is our greatest asset.

Humans also have another asset which is a conscious mind that can overcome natural behaviors. Where all animals and creatures behave based on cause and effect, humans can step back and have a different effect for the same cause.

Perhaps this is arrogance on humanity's part, but humans are considered apex predators simply because they are able to overcome their physical limitations in a way animals cannot. We, as a species, define ourselves on our ability to circumvent the the natural order of the animal kingdom.

Humankind will naturally come up short if we focus on sheer physical attributes - we're incapable of the brute strength of elephants, for example. Our speed is nothing compared to the humble antelope, let alone the glorious cheetah. Our physical shortcomings relative to other denizens in the animal kingdom is not up for question. But it's our ability to manipulate the environment until our shortcomings are irrelevant that makes us powerful predators. In a hand to claw fight, we'd naturally die out if we were all pitted against lions. But our cognitive sophistication has allowed us to develop external ways of dealing with the lion: weapons. We're not unique in our use of weapons and tools, but no other animal comes close to our level. We use our grasp of technology to allow us to survive in 'arenas' where we would surely die otherwise. The Sahara, Antarctica, Space! Literally outside our own planet!
We all know this, though.

Also, we're almost unique in our ability to domesticate other species. Only ants keep us from claiming the title of the sole species capable of domestication. It's really quite alarming when you think about it - we've taken a species and through selective breeding, turned it into something that serves us and needs us. For the meanwhile, that is. If humans were to die out tomorrow, domesticated animals would (hopefully) adapt to their lack of a master species and not die out with us. But anyway. Our unrivaled arrogance has allowed to take a species and decide that it is best used if it is used to support us or provide us with companionship. We're quite a manipulative species, really.

While the thought of humans being the supreme species is nothing short of narcissism, we are undoubtedly very powerful.

Regumika said:

Humans also have another asset which is a conscious mind that can overcome natural behaviors. Where all animals and creatures behave based on cause and effect, humans can step back and have a different effect for the same cause.

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I don't have anything to add to this, but I thought it was a wonderful point.

If we weren't the strongest species we wouldn't have gotten to where we currently are. Our populating the entire Earth and being able to adapt it to suit our standards (as well as cooperate without a hive mentality) has made us both the dominant and strongest species. What we lack in physical attributes we make up for in brainpower. Sure we can't beat a grizzly bear in a fist (paw?) fight, but a grizzly bear can't create a bomb that can destroy everything living within a 10 mile radius.

Golurks Were Meant to Fly said:

What we lack in physical attributes we make up for in brainpower. What we lack in physical attributes we make up for in brainpower. Sure we can't beat a grizzly bear in a fist (paw?) fight, but a grizzly bear can't create a bomb that can destroy everything living within a 10 mile radius.

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I like your logical and wonderful point that a bear or any other animal cannot create bombs and any other equipments and humans can create them.You are absolutely right that humans cannot made up for physical strength as they made up for their mental strength.

Honestly, I think the only reason humans are strong is because of our minds. Just look at our progress and technology! We've come so far because of our ability to think and come up with complex strategies. It's our brainpower that has kept us alive for so long.

Humans are weak in strength, unless you're a bodybuilder, but their intelligence is their strong point, unless you're one of those unlucky bystanders from those fail blog videos on youtube. And that is why alien species and A.I.s from fiction belittle us and want us dead, because they view our intelligence as a major threat to their own kind.

It depends on if you attribute the ability to use tools as a natural ability or not, like you throw a guy out in the desert, he's probably done for. Send him out there with a GPS or the ability to reach water, construct things, etc., then he might have a shot. Human became the "dominant" species on earth because of our ability to problem solve, our ability to make tools, and to organize. You take that away, then our status might change a bit. We've adapted to our niche just like every other species on the planet; it just so happens that our niche is a little bigger than most other species.

That depends on your definition of weak. If by weak you mean raw physical strength, then there are a lot of species stronger than us, sure (to say we're the weakest is silly; we could easily best something like a bird or a rabbit).

If you take into account other things, it's quite obvious we're the strongest. We're clearly the dominant species on the planet and we got to that point by being strong enough not just to protect ourselves but to thrive.

We're definitely not. There are loads of insects that won't even dream of harming us, haha. And the only reason why we don't have the skills to survive in the wild is because we don't learn them. If we would still live in the woods, we'd be amazing at it. We as a species have an incredible intellect that puts us above almost every other species, I'd say. Our inability to outrun a Cheetah could be argued to make us weaker than one, but I say our ability to build a car to race it with, our ability to build a gun to shoot it with, and our ability to make expensive handbags of it's fur put us above it. The mind really gives us the edge.

We are where we are now by strokes of luck and, above much else, our ability to communicate. If it wasn't for the chance discovery of fire, and (probably) a few individuals passing on their knowledge, then we'd be done for. Communication is an incredibly important aspect of human life - hence why most people are sat on the Internet or texting all day :P.

I'm probably just echoing people a lot, but no humans are in no way the weakest species.

Even physically speaking, there is a plethora of animals that we have the ability to out-muscel, out climb and outrun. We are easily far stronger, far faster and much better at climbing that a tortoise for example.

On top of that though, human's are easily the most intelligent species on Earth right now. There are other creatures capable of moderately complex thought such as chimpanzees or octopi (chimpanzee's have even been witnessed using tools). Ants farm aphids, sure. Crows have an extremely diverse range of calls and vocalisations akin to a language even. Despite this though, no other creatures on our planet have the same ability to problem solve, to communicate, to build societies and to subjugate others to our will.

Our brains make us the most adaptable creatures on the Earth. If it's too cold? We can make something to warm it up. If something is trying to kill us in our sleep? That's okay, we can make traps. Oops, there's no oxygen here. Not a problem, I brought some from home. Humans can do things that other animals don't even have the capacity to dream about.

It doesn't matter though because whilst we are definitely the most superior of the complex creatures, this world belongs to single-cell organisms anyway.

I'm amazed nobody has mentioned the fact that, in addition to our intelligence, humans also have another ability that helped our survival: our stamina.

We can walk for long distances without tiring out too quickly and when we found ways to carry water with us, this ability got enhanced even further. One of the reasons why dogs have always been "man's best friend" is because they were the only animals around with a similar ability.

Not to mention we're also the best long-distance runners on the planet.

Human physiology is a bit iffy due to the transition to walking on two legs. Humans suffer much more frequently than most animals from certain things, like back pain. I don't happen to know if we're actually worse-off overall in this regard though.

CarcharOdin said:

I'm amazed nobody has mentioned the fact that, in addition to our intelligence, humans also have another ability that helped our survival: our stamina.

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I was gonna mention that but you've beaten me to it.

Also, considering the topic and all, I just HAVE to post this.

Yes, we're the weakest species; that's why we dominate the planet to such an extent that we're affecting global chemistry and weather patterns.

There are species that can physically overpower humans (thought I wouldn't include domestic cats and dogs in that category), but intelligence has proven to be superior. The naked human organism may not be suited for all environments, but we are able to mold these environments and adapt ourselves to them.

Now is this a good thing? It's my perception that we've lost touch with the planet which produced us and are driving ourselves towards a fantastic explosive end. In other words, if we are unable to find balance and belongingness is this world, the very advantages that ensured our survival will ensure our destruction.

But hey, YOLO (or so I assume).