The only thing that separates man from the animals is - man.
We are what they are.

It is only our need to be different, important, elevated, that sees us try to make out that we are better than the beasts of the field and forest.

We are just animals - very clever animals (we some of us are) but still just animals, mortal, frail, flawed and quite fascinating.

Acceptance of that is not defeatist, it's liberating. It allows you to understand yourself in primal terms to know why. It doesn't remove the veneer of civilization, but it does allow you to see it for what it is.

I am an animal, and I'm proud! :-)