JM....as we've pointed out before, you can see empathy, kindness, love and devotion in animals. You don't want to presume?....that's fine.....if not the above, whatever they're expressing is close enough for me.
The part that is taught and emphasized is our duality, which by definition, separates us from everything around us. Since it is self-absorbed, the "I", the "me" cannot love, yet we still yearn for it, because it is our nature.