Value judgements...

[zan]

No absolutely, I dont' think you need more than a brief look at how cultural values vary across the world or how they have changed in one place over time to appreciate that moral values are far from universal even amongst our own one species.

I also imagine that if supermarkets all magically disappeared and we had to forage for ourselves again, people would suddenly become far less picky about what was acceptable to eat.

[STYRBJORN]

Another point here is that we often get it wrong. I suppose that a lion epitomises a "noble animal", although antelope might beg to differ. Hyenas epitomise evil sneaky cowardly creatures scavenging the lion's leavings.

Well actually, err, no. Lions do occasionally pull down zebra or antelope, but hyenas pull down a lot more. They don't feature in cutesy wildlife films because they are cursorial and nocturnal hunters. A lion will drive hyenas away from their kill and scavenge the hyenas leavings. Perfectly sound behaviour in evolutionary terms, why waste energy chasing your own dinner when theirs a freebie on the table, but "noble"? Je pense que non.