As a corollary, I often ask my classes whether they would rather be hunted by a human or by a chimpanzee. I have never yet had a class where more than a few students choose the chimpanzee -- even though a chimpanzee would be enormously less dangerous as an enemy than a human. (For one thing, a chimpanzee is rather less likely to continue to track you after dark...) It seems to come down to a fear of the unfamiliar, and the optimistic idea that you could reason with a human enemy.

I have to say, I have had the identical experience with students -- down to their arguing that animals may have their own versions of Shakespeare. "Who is to say they don't?" is the argument I have heard a lot.

My reaction is different than Hoffmeyer's, though. For one thing, these students have a long upbringing of being told it is wrong to make value judgments; for another, they have a long upbringing of watching movies with talking animal characters who emote with real human feeling.