Bingo.

There is also the simple, brutal reality of the food chain.

Being most aware and capable, also means seeing all of that, where the lesser beings are, and treating the world with respect.

Should anyway. Our nature easily demonstrates otherwise.

Animals are a lot like us. Simpler mostly.

Though I understand what you mean by simpler, I would remind you that every living creature is adapted to its ecological niche, and that entails a baffling complexity that we, humans, can hardly grasp.

Animals are a lot like us.

They have different trade-offs. We're physically weak and fragile for our size. Long life and decent endurance and stupid smart, but crappy high infant mortality rates (before modern medicine), prone to food borne illnesses, sensitive to climate, have to cook our food, etc. My dog and cat and chickens are made of tougher stuff than me.

People are soft as hell these days. Humans are not sensitive to climate any more than most animals are. We dont need to cook our food either. Physically we are not weak, we are the only animal that can throw a stone and also climb a tree. I agree with you about the infant mortality though.

It can be amazing to watch them exercize peak form.

Right on. Agreed.