Lords of Creation

Here's a thought. Humans are a part of the Animal Kingdom. More specifically, we belong in the following categories:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Mammalia
Subclass: Theria
Infraclass: Eutheria
Order: Primates
Suborder: Anthropoidea
Superfamily: Hominoidea
Family: Hominidae
Genus: Homo
Species: sapiens.
So there you have it. Humans are animals. Not only that, we are a part of only one (out of 5) kingdom. Yet we carry ourselves with some inflated sense of self-importance. Why is that? Is it because of our intelligence? Well that's simply evolutionary. Creatures evolve different survival mechanisms. That's why there's so few creatures that hunt elephants. Because they travel in groups, and are so big and heavy, it's hard to catch them off guard and kill them in conventional ways for lions, hyenas, crocodiles, etc. Evolution gave them just what they needed to thrive, and serve their part in the ecosystem.

Now why is it, that when we humans refer to the world at large we like to separate ourselves from animals. Everyone does this. Everyone. We all see the world in terms of 'people' and 'animals'. Some people say it's due to our intelligence. That seems kind of backward as we seem just intelligent enough to know what behaviors will do damage to our species (both individuals and the collective) and ecosystem. Yet we seem just stupid enough to engage in these behaviors anyway. Murder and war are two of my favorite examples, since they are unique to primates (and the former to humans only). Some people will scoff at this and say that animals kill other animals all the time. This is true; lions kill hyenas, both of them kill water buffalo, and hippos will kill anything that invades it's personal space (make no mistake, hippos will fuck your shit up). All this inter-species fighting though, is for food, survival, or the establishment of feeding territory. Even then, the most killing that takes place between different species is when a carnivore is hunting, since a successful hunt, by definition, must end with the death of the prey in question.

But contrary to popular belief, intra-species killings rarely take place. It's true, animals fight all the time. Sometimes this is for dominance, sometimes for mating privileges, and for a whole slew of other reasons. But this rarely ends in the death of said animals. They only fight until it can be clearly determined who the stronger one is, then the weaker creature often submits. Most creatures understand that needlessly killing does nothing to further the species, and so rarely engage in such. Humans, however either generally don't understand this or don't care.

Now I am all in favor of Darwinism, but not to the extant that I would kill someone just because he is weaker than I am. I seem just smart enough to know that if anybody is contributing something to my society and I exterminate him/her then I rob my tribe (see: family, friends, city, etc) of whatever my victim was providing. Furthermore; I understand that if I do harm to my tribe, then in the long run I do harm to myself.

So how is it that the whole of the Animal Kingdom seems smart enough to thrive in every respect except where humanity enters as a variable? We're the smartest terrestrial creatures in the Animal Kingdom today. We have the ability to understand and create abstract concepts like mathematics, art, agriculture, and philosophy. We even have the mental faculties to make our environment adapt to our presence, a trait which seems unique to humanity. So why is it, if we're so evolved, that we destroy everything we touch?

It's all a frightening concept to consider. There seems to be no solution that doesn't appear bleak and horrific. If I'm mistaken, though, please tell me how.