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onetime2, not speaking and age, but the mental sophistication to allow understanding of others' suffering. Its not as trivial as it sounds, and definitely not arbitrary. Until childrens' and animals' minds are sophisticated enough to understand their own motives and not care about the suffering of others, you can't say they are cruel.
We can't really prove that animals perceive other animals as living things that feel pain, but for most of them, evidence (like the mirror test, as posted above), shows that they don't think of the animals they see the same way as they think of themselves... Make of that what you will.
Shpoop, IHMO cruelty in people is often caused by the need for dominance, and they are NOT mutually exclusive. Someone feels the need to make up for some deficiency, so they justify their cruelty without usually realizing it (think bully).
refusion, can you really teach cruelty? IHMO it would not be cruelty anymore - it would be doing as you are taught. I think there is a difference here...
MuadDib, great post! Malice, apathy, and vengence are emotions that are very human, aren't they? They are all components of cruelty, but are lacking in animals, as far as I can tell.
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