Since this is my first blog entry on my new website, I think an ice-breaker is in order. In college, I dreaded professors who started the semester with some lame meet-and-greet exercise. (“Everyone say your name, major, and why you’re here!”) But my Psych 101 professor had a different twist. He had us state our name and favorite animal. He prodded each student to give three reasons for their choice.

When it was my turn, I introduced myself and proclaimed that chimpanzees are my favorite animal. When the professor asked me what I like most about chimps, I said that they are intelligent, humorous, and genetically very similar to humans. After he’d queried the entire class, the professor revealed his belief that the characteristics people attribute to their favorite animal are the things they believe about or admire in themselves. So that means I think I’m smart, funny, and not-quite human.

For the most part I’d agree with that assessment, although some days I feel a little more human than others.

Now it’s your turn: What’s your favorite animal, and why?

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 2nd, 2006 at 9:56 am and is filed under Miscellaneous, Monkeys and Apes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.