After the scientific age in the 17<sup>th</sup> Century led to a break with the history of the representation of animals, which lasted approximately 30,000 years, the image of the animal currently shows a radical change. On the one hand, astonishing abilities have been discovered: thinking ravens and playful octopi. Here, agency is a central term: Can animals be subjects who actively intervene in human society? This new image has also increased the human need for emotional closeness. On the other hand, the human claim for absolute power over the life of animals is continued: Animals are being cloned, and synthetic biology is working on animals grown in the lab. Researching this schism between the interference with the evolution and an attitude towards animals that postulates subjectivity and demands animal rights, Bernd Hüppauf illuminates the heterogeneous animal images from the early modern period to the contemporary ecological crisis.
