Higher animals have self-centred impulses, to get food, to avoid danger, to reproduce. They don't see themselves as part of nature or of a species with a common interest. Apart from their close siblings nature seems to them a huge bag of promises, threats and competitors in their own drive to survive and multiply. To a lion, hunger makes the whole horizon look like dinner. To an antelope, fear makes every bush seem like a predator.
Humans have the most fully developed intelligence and self-awareness of all animals.
At times this has been used to distance us further from nature. Ever since we have believed in a soul separate from the body, or in a special role allocated by God, we have seen ourselves as superior to the material world. We have seen nature as there for our use only, to deal with as we please. But full consciousness does not have to mean separation. When we began our journey we were hunter-gatherers.