"Unreasoning animals?"
Many, many, many animals can reason, including crows. Mammals, mice, even octopuses can solve problems.
We are animals, not qualitatively different than many other species, though our brains may be a bit bigger.
It saddens me when people consider animals as lessor and treat them badly for that reason. A dog on a chain feels depression the same way the human animal does; through neurotransmitters in the brain. They feel distress at losing an offspring the same way we do; through stress and anxiety mediated by hormones. Hormones drive their mating behavior as it does ours.
The more similar a mammal is to us, the more similar the body functions. Fight, flight, or freeze reactions just like us. Ever been so scared your hair stood up on the back of your head? That's how animals feel when they face a threat and the hair stand up on their back.
Our bodies work the same basic way. We are mammals, and yes we can think and reason, but so do other so-called "lessor" animals. We are excellent predators, but we're certainly not at the top of the food chain. Bears, crocodiles, big cats (mountain lions) are all OUR predators and make us their prey often enough.
There's humility involved when you realize that we're just an animal, no better or worse than all the others. We feel emotions and so do they. We're social animals and need people just as social animals need to be around others of their species.
When we treat them badly or as less than us, it only makes us look less than.
