I often hear people say that humans are superior to other animals and see them behave as though this were somehow true. But can humans regrow body parts, fly among the clouds or navigate thousands of miles without maps or GPS?

Not only do other animals frequently surpass us in their physical capabilities, they often do so in the ethical arena as well by showing unbiased empathy. October is World Animal Month, a perfect time to remember that every animal is someone who deserves respect and the freedom to live as they choose.

One of my favorite books is Ingrid Newkirk’s Animalkind: Remarkable Discoveries About Animals and Revolutionary New Ways to Show Them Compassion, which dazzles readers with extraordinary facts about individuals so often underestimated by humans. Tiny desert mice, for example, know how to collect drinking water by placing a stone outside their burrow so they can drink the morning dew on warm summer days, and sheep can recognize at least 60 other sheep and can tell humans apart in photographs.

Other animals can do things humans can only imagine. For instance, axolotls, a type of salamander, are renowned for their extraordinary regenerative abilities. They can regrow limbs and organs — including their lungs, hearts and even brains. Imagine if, after a mishap with a table saw, a carpenter could just regrow a finger or even an entire arm!

Speaking of carpenters, carpenter ants can carry up to 50 times their own weight. That’s equivalent to a human carrying an elephant with ease.

Elephants’ trunks can stretch up to 20 feet, eliminating the need for a ladder, something humans would need to reach even half that high. These highly social and empathetic animals celebrate calves’ births with joyous bellowing and trumpeting and mourn their dead. Asian elephants display remarkable altruism, fearlessly risking their own safety to rescue baby elephants who fall into muddy watering holes and prioritizing the well-being of others in their herd above their own.

Elephants are the largest land mammals on Earth, which has a circumference of 24,901 miles. An albatross can fly twice that distance without touching land. They have the largest wingspan of any bird and conserve energy by gliding for miles without flapping their long, narrow wings.

Far below, Pacific salmon embark on a grand full-circle journey. Born in freshwater streams, they transform into smolts with silvery scales and a craving for saltwater. They migrate to the ocean, where they grow for several years, eventually returning to their birth rivers. Scientists believe they’re guided by the Earth’s magnetic field and river scents as they swim hundreds of miles, leap rapids and dodge predators. Exhausted, they finally reach their spawning grounds, where the females lay thousands of eggs, which the males compete to fertilize. After spawning, most of them die, their mission finally complete.

Adélie penguins, the smallest species of penguin in Antarctica, also travel long distances and have been known to migrate tens of thousands of miles. The males are natural builders and compete to attract females by trying to construct the largest nest. These mischievous little masons use small rocks from surrounding areas to assemble their abodes, and they also nab rocks from their neighbors’ nests if their own isn’t up to the standards they set for themselves. Sneaky!

Cockroaches can live on every continent except Antarctica. These little wonder insects have been around for over 300 million years and can survive without air for 40 minutes. While they can go without food for up to a month, these social animals prefer to dine together when it is time to eat. They live in close-knit communities and make joint decisions for the good of the group.

While animals around the world and right in our own backyards are busy with their own lives, we must remember that all they really want is to live according to their own needs and desires. Let’s let them, and work to protect them from exploitation and harm, not only this October but always.

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(Melissa Rae Sanger is a licensed veterinary technician and a staff writer for the PETA Foundation, 501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510; www.PETA.org.)

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