¶ … Anatomy Affects Human Culture and Behavior
The human anatomy plays an extremely important part in human culture and behavior. One of the indisputable facets about human anatomy that helps to distinguish it from that of other living creatures is the structure and build of our lungs and respiratory systems. Our respiratory systems are considerably different from those of amphibians and from conventional sea-dwelling creatures such as fish and whales. Because of the way our bodies are designed to intake oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide (Johnson), we are land dwellers whereas the other mentioned species have anatomies that make them adaptive to water. Sea creatures have certain aspects of their anatomies that make it essential for them to stay within water to derive oxygen for living. People, however, are the exact opposite and need fresh air -- which is impossible to procure underwater.
What is significant about these facts is that these anatomical constructs have substantially impacted the way humans interact with one another....
Due to the restraints of the human anatomy which pertain to the respiratory system, people have placed a premium on land. One can analyze the annals of history as they pertain to anthropology and see how through the time since the advent of mankind and civilization, people have routinely valued, fought over, and sought to protect land. If people had a different anatomical structure and could breathe and exist underwater, for example, many of the wars that have been fought over territory and the great deal of emphasis people put on land would not have taken place.
Culturally, the emphasis on land is of inestimable worth for the simple fact that a people's land helps to define that group's culture. People are routinely grouped into different nationalities, each of which has different land and substantially different cultural practices. These cultural practices encompass varying areas of food, clothing, speech, and other customs that are indigenous to certain groups of people. The implication in analyzing this aspect of culture is that if people…
