I think it depends on how you define "swimming." A seahorse can move around and stay alive in the water a lot longer than a horse.

by marlinkoepp 7 months ago

I mean, they are fish, yea :p I was going for the sense that a horse is beating a seahorse in a race any day

by Icy-Expression 7 months ago

So horses are faster swimmers than seahorses. Probably true over the distances you'd have a horse swim in a race. But I remember hearing that there have been some ultra-marathon length races between horses and highly trained ultra-marathon runners. And over those 26.2+ mile distances, humans start to beat horses because horses cannot keep running fast over that long of distances. Humans are better at endurance running when trained for it. So if you had a long enough race, the seahorse would eventually overtake the horse, who would have probably drowned by then...

by marlinkoepp 7 months ago

The other one we're good at is we can throw things.

by ToeApart9080 7 months ago

I suppose we could make quite a good list. Using and making tools. Visual acuity. Creating language. Big brain energy… You know what, being human isn't so bad!

by Carletongislaso 7 months ago

Lots of things, but they're not unique. A reasonably smart dog can make and use tools, dolphins and elephants language. Throwing and distance running are our superlatives, nothing else comes close.

by ToeApart9080 7 months ago

As someone whose education is in linguistics, I'd put language more towards the 'nothing comes close' category tbh. At the least I haven't seen great evidence for the same kinds of features that human languages have being present to the same degree across the board in dolphin and elephant communication. Maybe that's because the science isn't there yet, or maybe I'm just personally not up to date. I'm definitely not against the idea that other animals could have language, or that some very complex communication systems are 'on par' with human language while using some very different components, so that we might as well call it language. I do want to point out that human language is very distinct to humans and has a lot of interesting features.

by Icy-Expression 7 months ago

One thing that is underrated in humans is our sense of smell. Not overall, but for the smell of petrichor, the smell of wet dirt after the rain. We can smell petrichor at something like 1 part per trillion. That's better than almost any animal can smell almost anything. Better than dogs, better than sharks smelling blood in water. By a lot. We can't smell most things that well, but we still have the ability to find water at huge distances compared to almost every other animal, thanks to our sense of smell from our early hominid ancestors and their arid climates.

by marlinkoepp 7 months ago

Fun fact horses sweat as well, they just aren't as good at it as us because of all that hair.

by Anonymous 7 months ago

And I 100% agree that a horse is better at swimming across a river than a seahorse

by marlinkoepp 7 months ago

I wish i could find it again, but i remember watching a yt channel of an australian dude that showed how much endurance people can have. Dude could run faster than i can sprint and could go for miles, he'd go and just run at deer until he catches up to them.

by Anonymous 7 months ago

It's kinda funny, horses are better swimmers that most people think, and seahorses are worse swimmers that most think

by Anonymous 7 months ago

Whether you're a horse or a seahorse, everyone's got their own strengths...

by Anonymous 7 months ago

You say that as if humans aren't easily predictable and manipulated. Just look at any live event where something was NOT "good" and everyone automatically claps anyways

by Anonymous 7 months ago