It’s also a form of safe practice of one’s life pursuit. In the case of cats,
much of the rapey stuff (as with ducks) also serves the fundamental life model of reproduction
That doesn’t refute the poster above. Humans have evolutionary imperatives too.
They have their classic interactions with the world and don’t tend to bother other species-- mainly because it’s not worth their time.
That’s not nobility as the original Watership quote implies but a simple lack of capacity to conceive and implement evil. The original quote could equally wax poetic about how rocks don’t try to spoil other creatures lives.
I agree that animals can also sympathize with other species. Intelligence is a spectrum.