Animals: Are We So Different?

Dear Internet,

   I confess that I have not actually begun my analysis of the Bible yet.  I have had other things of more immediate necessity which I have needed to take care of.  Nevertheless, a new subject for discussion has become rather more concrete in my mind, if only as an idea, and that is animals.
   Much of the Bible, and even much of science, focuses on the assumption that we are the only "intelligent" life forms.  Aliens aside (that's another topic for another time), humans consider themselves as being apart from animals, even though we are closely linked to some of them.  Even evolutionists (not all, but a lot of them) assume that humans are different from animals, that we are special somehow.  This is yet another idea that humans have formed because of egocentricity.
   There have been studies that cats and dogs show the same six basic emotions that humans do.  There have been incidents where monkeys have learned sign language.  There have been elephants taught to paint and horses taught to count.  It has been found that cats and dogs, and many other domesticated animals, react to the tone of a human's voice.
   I propose that animals are more intelligent than we are giving them credit for.  I think that animals, although not as "intelligent" as humans, are, in fact, sentient beings who react to their surroundings not just out of instinct, but out of thought processes.
   Of course, their level of cognitive functioning is directly linked with the size of their brains.  Some are more intelligent than others.
   But how can we say that we are so different from them, so special?  Pigs are, after all, almost identical to humans when dissected.  All the same organs in all the same places, and almost exactly the same size.  And chimpanzees are very closely related to us genetically.
   So how can humans claim that we have souls, that we are the only life forms on this planet with souls and that no other creature on this planet is going to Heaven, that we were created in the form of God?  Does that not sound just a bit egocentric?  We have no proof of what God looks like.  We have no proof that there even is a God, let alone Heaven and souls.
   Humans are self-centered by nature, so it is not too surprising that many of them have believed such things for thousands of years.  In fact, it is probably this self-centered tendency which has propagated the beliefs for so long.
   I wish I could have said more on the matter, and made more sense, but I'm very tired today, so I'm going to leave it at that.  I just wanted to share those thoughts.
   As always, to any readers out there, I strongly encourage you to take everything I say with a grain of salt, challenge it with your own minds and ideas, and form your own beliefs.
   Until next time...