Humans aren’t the exact same thing as animals, but are a subcategory of animals right? And animals are not human, correct?

Question

In classification, humans are classified as animals. But what does that mean exactly?

Answer 1

That's accurate. It is true that humans belong to the animal kingdom. Animals and humans are both part of the larger group of organisms referred to as Kingdom Animalia. But because of a variety of biological, cognitive, and cultural traits, humans stand out within this group. Although there are numerous parallels between humans and other animals, there are also important distinctions, such as the development of sophisticated culture, language, and technology. In conclusion, although humans belong to a certain animal species, they are not the same as all other animal species.

Answer 2

It means that humans are classified under the Kingdom Animalia. Technically, in a scientific sense, humans are called "animals," meaning that they are grouped along with animals (in our colloquial, regular sense) into this Kingdom Animalia.

The confusion comes in with our usual way of referring to animals (animal equals anything not human and usually furry, scaly, or fuzzy). I'll call the furry/scaly/fuzzy kind of animal regular animals for the sake of discussion here.

The term "animal" can refer to humans or to our regular animals. In science, the term applies to both. In our everyday speech, it usually just applies to regular animals, but describing a human as an animal ("They're a very special animal.") has become more common recently.

Also, yes, regular animals--the species in the Kingdom Animalia that do not belong under the species Homo sapiens--are not "humans" in the scientific sense. Then again, other species in the genus Homo, like Homo erectus, could potentially be called "human" too.

Hope this helps!