I could absolutely see them doing those things if they had the intelligence and capabilities
If you reduce other species to aesthetics, sure. Big Orange Man ultimately behaves the same as Smaller Brunette Man. But there are a bunch of sociological elements you’re leaving on the table. Different species organize and interact with each other and their peers very differently. The Chimpanzees and Bonobos have night-and-day different social hierarchies and organizing principles, despite only minor variances in genetic traits.
Most animals on this planet will do whatever it takes for their next meal
But then what? We’ve long since solved the problem of the next meal. You don’t need to send a man to the moon looking for the next meal.
If anything, we’ve seriously lost sight of solving for “the next meal” on a long term scale, as we engage in the kind of industrial activity that degrades and collapses our arable biome.