Are we all descendants of Adam and Eve?

The Voyager record does include the sound of dogs barking, along with a variety of other animal sounds. There are no duck feathers, as far as I know, but there are pictures which feature feathers. This one's got a bird in it: And here's one of an eagle: And not sure about these - are they tropic birds? They have feathers, anyway

Contra jar, I'd say that of course we'd be more interested in the planet with the technological civilisation, since of course we'd be more interested in things more like us. But this says nothing to your general point, the idea that we are 'more unique' than a hedgehog or salamander. You've explained the reasons that the old-fashioned evolutionary trees put humans at the top in your little anecdote - because humans write the history and humans drew the trees. We ascribe greater significance to the things that make us unique than to the things which make other species unique, because we're us.As for this: Aside from being just another example of people being interested in people, it's also becoming quite old fashioned. Below you can see a pictorial representation the evolutionary relationships of modern mammals. Humans aren't pictured, but our branch is in the lower far left, just about the picture of the anteater.