"No Orangutan Writ of Habeas Corpus" and "Orangutan Declared a 'Person' by Argentine Court"

This article intrigued me because this idea that an animal can be considered human just blows my mind. I can understand the points that came to the conclusion that the orangutan had some basic human rights. In all humans and especially mammals, we all have incredible brain activity and perform many different functions. Humans have emotions, motor skills, and reasoning skills. Don't orangutans and other mammals have the same? This is what I believe was the deciding factor for the Argentinian judge. We have these basic skills that make us humans and therefore so do other mammals. We have basic rights and so do other mammals which we belong to. We are so closely related to these other mammals that it would almost seem unfair to deny an animal certain rights. Studies have been conducted and found that animals do get depressed and stressed in certain situations.  People need to realize that although humans are the most dominating species on the plant we do need to share and respect the other animals on it.

I have to admit that I am a huge fan of animal rights so I don't want to seem as if I am playing devils advocate. Animals have the same functions as humans do and mammals are so closely related to humans. It doesn't seem right to lift up the human race so to speak and look down upon other species. As humans we look to animals to learn from how they operate and think. We are hand in hand with these animals and should give them the respect they deserve. I agree with some points that orangutans are not humans and there are big differences. But they are still not that far apart and should have the respect from their closes relatives (humans).