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Ah, humans. Homo sapiens. Mankind. We’re the most dominant species on Earth, and our population has recently reached a whopping 8 billion. We’ve been to the Moon, we discovered electricity and invented airplanes, we’ve created vaccines and medicines to prevent or treat countless diseases, and without human innovations, we wouldn’t have the internet you’re reading this article on right now.

Humans have accomplished some truly incredible things, but at the same time, we have managed to be an extremely fascinating species. From our creative clothing choices to our obsessions with social media and our appearances, there are plenty of quirks that humans have that would raise the eyebrows of any other species. And one corner of the internet that knows this all too well is the Humans Doing Human Things Facebook page.

Below, we’ve gathered some of the most confusing and hilarious posts from this account dedicated to documenting human behavior, so all of you pandas can observe your own species as if you were in a science museum. Be sure to upvote the photos you find most perplexing, and let us know in the comments below what you consider the most fascinating facts about humankind. Then, if you’re interested in viewing even more of these strange photos, you can find Bored Panda’s last article featuring Humans Doing Human Things right here!

Humans Doing Human Things, which was created on May 26, 2021, describes itself as a “blog of human things”, and it certainly does a great job of capturing some of the weirdest behavior we humans often exhibit. From how we choose to entertain ourselves to what we choose to wear when going grocery shopping, there is no limit to the amount of bizarre things we can come up with. In fact, following an account dedicated to documenting our own behavior can be considered a “human thing” in and of itself. And there are plenty of us who have decided to do so, as Humans Doing Human Things has over 98k followers.

We reached out to the creator on Facebook to hear what inspired them to start this catalog of silly human photos, and they provided a concise, yet extremely fitting response. “I just like Humans, I especially like when they do human things,” they told Bored Panda. We hope you do too pandas! Because you’re certainly in for some unique displays of humanity on this list. 

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Katrina Marie
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is just so funny!!! The time it took to dig those holes... maybe 40 weeks???

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Most of us don’t think much about what it means to be a human every day. We go about our lives, go to work, take care of our families and try to get as much enjoyment out of our time on Earth as possible. But have you ever wondered what an alien might think of us? Well, according to Steve Stewart-Williams, author of The Ape That Understood the Universe, there are several things that alien scientists might find strange about us. Psychologist Rob Henderson breaks down some of the ideas from Stewart-Williams’ book in an article for Psychology Today, first noting that having “proximate” and “ultimate” causes of human behavior is a unique trait.

He provides the example of reproduction. A human can argue that they’re engaging in sex because it feels good or because they’re trying to start a family. The pleasure that comes along with it is the proximate cause, and having children as a result is considered the ultimate cause. The same can be said for eating a food that we find delicious. You might eat lasagna for dinner because it’s your favorite food, and you enjoy it. But you also need to eat something to keep yourself alive, so hunger might be the ultimate cause.    

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Javel!
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1 year ago

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Katrina Marie
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Confidence. No shame in going alone. I love to do that. It's freeing. Just enjoying you do in peace.

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Rob Henderson also notes that aliens might find it odd that our evolution can help explain disease risk. He provides the example of how women today are at about 100 times higher risk of developing breast cancer than pre-agricultural women. “For most of human history, women spent a large portion of their reproductive years either pregnant or breastfeeding. This meant that they didn’t menstruate as often as today. In hunter-gatherer conditions, a woman would have about 100 menstrual cycles in her lifetime,” Rob explains. “In the modern world, women reach puberty at earlier ages, have fewer pregnancies, and spend less time nursing. Today, women have as many as 400 menstrual cycles. This exposes them to higher levels of ovarian hormones and fluctuations, which increases the odds of breast cancer.”

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The way that humans find love might be bizarre for an alien to observe as well. Rob explains that for the majority of human history, we lived in small communities with only about 150 people. We had extremely limited options when it came to love, yet people managed to form deep bonds with one another. Today, it seems like our dating opportunities are endless, but many of us continue to search for one person who we can share a deep and powerful bond with. “Even though we live in urban areas full of potential partners and can even open an app to meet someone new, we still care deeply about our mating partners and experience pain upon losing them,” Rob notes. 

Another uniquely human thing that might be hard to explain to an alien is the beloved meme. Memes might be hard for a human grandparent to understand, let alone an alien, but Rob explains how memes are “analogous to genes”. “Just as some genes are more likely to survive and replicate, the same holds true for memes. Some ideas and practices are more useful than others, and are thus more likely to survive."

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“But here’s the weird part: The determining factor for whether a meme will be passed on is whether survival benefits the meme itself, not the person using it,” he writes. “Just as a gene doesn’t ‘care’ about the survival of an organism, but rather the survival of itself, a meme doesn’t ‘care’ about the survival of the meme-holder, but simply its own survival. Memes are not conscious any more than genes are conscious. They simply act in a way to maximize their own survival.”

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Randy Sanders
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If she has the chops, and the will to work, what's the problem? She could look like Yoda for all I care, but I respect ethic.

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Daniel Atkins
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

She thinks his tractor is Sexy. Dang it now that song will be going through my head.

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mark glass
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There's a scoop full of dirt in the front about to be dumped on her cheating boyfriend's car. That makes it breakup via a John Deere letter.

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VeninTheNonBinaryRogue
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Good for her :) living her best life fr. Must be hard to drive in those shoes though.

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Chris Hooley
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In the ongoing list of Things I Didn't Know Might Be A Kink For Me.....

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Javel!
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When it comes to what separates us humans from other species on Earth, it can be tricky to pinpoint what precisely makes us unique. Adam Rutherford wrote a piece for The Guardian exploring this topic, and he noted that, “Prudent skepticism is required when we compare ourselves with other beasts.”

“Evolution accounts for all life, but not all traits are adaptations,” Adam writes. “We use animals in science every day to try to understand complex biochemical pathways in order that we might develop drugs or understand disease. Mice, rats, monkeys, even cats, newts and armadillos, provide invaluable insights into our own biochemistry, but even so, all researchers acknowledge the limitations of those molecular analogies; we shared ancestors with those beasts millions of years ago, and our evolutionary trajectories have nudged that biochemistry to suit each species as it is today.”

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all 4 paws
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

SHE WAS LOOKIN KINDA DUMB WITH HER FINGER AND HER THUMB IN THE SHAPE OF AN L ON HER FOREHEAD

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We might think humans are special because we use tools, but actually, many other creatures are capable of figuring out tools themselves. Around 1% of all animals, to be exact, as Adam notes that various sea urchins, insects, spiders, crabs, snails, octopuses, fish, birds and mammals have all been known to utilize tools. But one trait that actually might be unique to mankind is how we “accumulate culture and build on it”. “Many animals learn, but only we teach,” Adam writes. 

“As we meandered into the most recent 100,000 years or so, our culture became ever more significant in crafting our abilities. This is apparent in the fact that our bodies have not significantly changed in that time. A woman or man from 1,000 centuries ago would fit in perfectly well in any city in the world today if we tidied them up and gave them a haircut. But the way we live our lives since then has become ever more complex.”

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2WheelTravlr
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When they say a picture is worth a thousand words, THIS is that picture.

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One thing about us humans is that we need stories. “We are desperate to find the things that tip us over the edge from being merely an animal into Hamlet’s paragon of animals,” Adam writes. “Was it our language? Was it religion, or music, or art, or any number of things that are not as unique to us as we had once thought? The truth is that it was all of these things and more, but crucially, it was in the engagement of our minds to transmit skills and ideas to others.”

“We changed our societies and maximized how culture is transmitted,” Adam explains. “We took evolution’s work, and by teaching each other, we created ourselves. The stories we tell about how we came to be who we are often neglect the complexity of biology and the oceans of time during which we evolved. To understand human evolution, we need new stories.”

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Have you learned something new about your own species through these photos? Or are you simply feeling embarrassed that some of your fellow men have exhibited this bizarre behavior? Keep upvoting the photos that you think aliens would like to study in school, and let us know in the comments what you think makes our species so special. Then, if you’re interested in checking out Bored Panda’s last article featuring the Humans Doing Human Things Facebook page, you can find that right here

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Christian Fuller
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The senior centers in 2050 will smell like Axe Body Spray, not Old Spice.

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waddles
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

that was what i imagined when a group of seagulls ran towards me with an evil glint in their eye as a young 3-year-old. i later realized they were running past me and they were actually swans.

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Domi
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You will experience such a moment only once in a lifetime. Maybe ...

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Okatango
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When you've got company for dinner but running short on time coming home the grocery store.

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OnAFreakingRollercoaster
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Uhhh nice to say sorry but contact info please? Or are they supposed to try get DNA off the pantyliner 🤔🤔🤔🤷🏼‍♀️

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Note: this post originally had 100 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.