The Lowest Animal by Mark Twain. Short summary

5 seconds

While at the zoo, Twain concluded that man had not evolved from animals, but had degenerated from them. In his opinion, animals are more humane, honest, noble, and beautiful.

1 minute

At the beginning of the story, the author cites newspaper articles about religious persecution in Cyprus. He says that man is descended from beasts, but has not followed a path of evolutionary development, but a path of degradation. He became convinced of this by observing and doing some experiments at the London Zoo.

A certain earl on safari killed 74 bison. He and his entourage ate part of 1 carcass. They left the rest to rot.

The author launched 74 calves into an anaconda’s cage. She strangled one and went to sleep. Animals don’t do unnecessary killing.

There are fights between them. But fights are fought by individuals who feel anger toward each other. And only humans gather others around them and go off to kill people with whom they have not quarreled.

The author trained a dog and a cat to be friends. It took a day for them to make friends with the rabbit. A sheep and a monkey were brought into the cage, and peace reigned. In the room where they put the Irish Catholic, the Anglo-Saxon Protestant, the Orthodox priest, the Jew, and the Mohammedan, everyone fought to the death.