That said, anyone reading this post is probably not a lion or a bird, and has some level of self-reflection as a result. Just to play devil's advocate for a bit, couldn't you argue that if it's possible for me to live a fairly healthy life without killing any higher-minded creatures, then I should? If we are smart enough to have an entire philosophy of ethics, then shouldn't we be using this ethical framework to minimize suffering in the world?
I should reemphasize, I'm not a vegan, or a vegetarian, I have a fairly typical American diet of "it's not a meal without meat" sadly. I'm just saying that these kinds of papers make me question that.
[0] I'm not a biologist or doctor or anything, but my understanding is that cats (at least house cats) cannot product their own vitamin A out of Beta-Carotene like humans can, and must get it out of animals. I certainly cannot blame any animal that is doing what it absolutely has to for survival.
I still eat meat, but I do wonder what paper is going to get released that is the tipping point for me; it's easy for me to justify eating meat if I think these animals are so stupid that they can't feel higher-level emotions, but if we have legitimate evidence of animals having "uniquely human" traits, I can't help but think that us eating them is sort of ungodly cruel.