Pet owners everywhere have looked at their pet at one time or another and wondered what they were up to thinking. Many have even wondered what their pets would say if they could talk. People unconsciously relate to animals, but if you asked these owners if they knew about the connections in medicine between humans and animals, they would most likely be amazed. Recognizing similarities is one thing, but it would be very beneficial for both humans and animals to understand the importance of these similarities. Medical progress is always a priority for society, regardless of the time period. Similarities between humans and animals in health, disease, and addiction are important because they can provide valuable insights into medicine and further advance our understanding of humans as a species. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay Diseases are an important subsection of health that is very important in this discussion because it can help us deepen our knowledge about specific diseases and at the same time advance us towards a cure for those diseases. The author of Zoobiquity shows curiosity towards this topic and has studied whether different animals were capable of contracting certain diseases. “I started with the big killers. Do animals get breast cancer? Stress-induced heart attacks? Leukemia? How about melanoma? Chlamydia? And night after night, condition after condition, the answer kept coming, “yes.” (Bowers 7). Not only is it evident that there are some similarities between humans and animals, but there are specific diseases found in humans and animals. When I first read that rhinos could get leukemia or penguins could get melanoma, I was intrigued but not shocked. It seems like most people just don't know this, but when they know it then it makes more sense. It is important that people not only know this, but are also educated about this. Only then will we be able to use these similarities between humans and animals to further promote health issues in today's society. The main reason this topic doesn't get much attention is because of the Great Chain of Being paradigm. This is the idea that we humans are above all other species in terms of hierarchy. The reason this negatively affects our understanding of the relationship between humans and animals is because we are automatically inclined to believe that we are the more superior species. While it is true that we have been able to dominate most species since we learned to use weapons, this does not change the fact that animals are very similar to us. Most people will have difficulty relating to a koala as we are stuck in the idea that we are above all other species. “Could Koala research inform human public health strategies?” (Bowers 8). This question in itself would make most people laugh and turn their heads, but if I told these same people that Koalas have been found to be capable of contracting chlamydia and that if we could understand why they contracted it, then we could help the Koalas and help the human species by understanding the small differences and similarities between the species. Once humans are able to break down the superiority complex, we may be enlightened by what we can learn from other animals and.