Love the opposable thumbs joke!
As for the rest? I think our perception is skewed a bit. I think there is a reason we are one of the last bipedal primates standing. And there is a reason our ancestors were lucky to see 40 years of age. Earth wasn’t a Utopia. It was a single stage winner takes all fight to the death stadium. And we are a product of the ultimate survivors, but old habits die hard.
I think just going to water every morning was risking your own life back when. And in some places on Earth? It still is.
How many modern humans would have the courage to even leave the cave? Let alone spread out over an entire planet. It’s an amazing story.
Our violence today is more organized and mostly contained within our own species. It’s something mostly within our control to solve. Back then? Violence was mostly predation from other species including those in our own genus. Or mishaps or child birth. Most of it must have seemed incredibly random and well outside of our grasp to control. And the survival of our species wasn’t even on the radar. We were just another version of ape men from dozens of species that had came and gone over and over again.
^ yeah, I get it. Lions don't have opposable thumbs either (which are great for making save the whale stickers). The great kindness, compassion and empathy to which you refer seems to be diminishing. Humans are wasting a veritable Utopia so, putting Bigfoot in a zoo seems to be the perfectly wrong thing to do.
I think there is a duality of Homo Sapiens. We have great skill and cunning in being ruthless warriors.
But we also have great kindness, compassion and empathy.
But I have a sneaking suspicion that this will be may be true of any sentient species.
Albeit I don’t see a species of sentient bipedal lions having “save the whale” stickers on their personal transportation vehicles.
Each species will add its own twist to intelligence I suppose?
Qualification for basic human rights is on the decline these days so; I would say no, they would not qualify, in our current 'environment'. I don't think there will ever be any Bigfoot in a zoo and that is fine by me. The world that humans have created is a horrible zoo in and of itself that I don't think will be judged favorably when our brief time on Earth is said and done..