Perhaps there is a shift occurring among the scientific community? I was under the impression that anthropomorphism wasn't a generally held belief. I know that people doing animal research like to tell themselves that animals don't have emotions or feelings.
As far as eating habits go, in nature about the only relatively common trait I have noticed is the tendency to avoid cannibalism.
I've not studied this much, but am going mainly from my own observations. When you say 'like to tell themselves' is this so they can justify what they do to animals? Don't meat eaters do this to?
Humans have broken away from the natural food cycle. Our diets are not very natural, but they may provide what we need. There are enough alternatives for us to not need meat. We can decide what we want to do.
I've seen this myself at an "animal park" where the trainers said it about dolphins.
It came across as pretty disingenuous.
I can respect your decision as to what you eat and even more, your ability to not preach about it.
Preaching is for religions who set strict rules. I think it's up to each of us to decide what is right, but it starts by considering what you do.