Donovan decenters self-serving anthropocentrism and repositions animals as co-creators of animal ethics.

In fact, human exceptionalism isn't for the birds or other animals but rather devalues their very lives.

We must establish an inclusive community-centered ethic that includes all living creatures and entities.

We must listen to the animals' opinions—what they want and need—and give them agency and freedom to choose.

I have learned that anthropomorphism is a deeply suspect word, used to defend cruelty to creatures unable to speak and defend themselves against human exploitation. –Sir Brian May, founding member of Queen and Save Me Trust.1 The mental territory we can claim to be 'uniquely human' is shrinking at an alarming rate. Wasps can distinguish faces, dolphins call one another by name, pigs use tools, zebra finches dream, parrots go on Zoom, and sometimes crayfish get anxious. Chimps, meanwhile, exist in complex cultures, rather like ours, with fashion trends. –Martha Gill2

I have learned that anthropomorphism is a deeply suspect word, used to defend cruelty to creatures unable to speak and defend themselves against human exploitation. –Sir Brian May, founding member of Queen and Save Me Trust.1

The mental territory we can claim to be 'uniquely human' is shrinking at an alarming rate. Wasps can distinguish faces, dolphins call one another by name, pigs use tools, zebra finches dream, parrots go on Zoom, and sometimes crayfish get anxious. Chimps, meanwhile, exist in complex cultures, rather like ours, with fashion trends. –Martha Gill2

For far too long, self-serving speciesist anthropocentrism has dominated how we view and position nonhuman animals (animals) in the natural world. Arguing for human exceptionalism while placing animals below and separate from ourselves, misleads some people into thinking we are above and separate from other species—often cashed out as we are "better" and "more valuable“ than them—a myth that doesn't represent what solid transdisciplinary science has repeatedly shown.3

In fact, nonhumans are not sub-human, and viewing all species as unique and important in their own ways is a........

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