Animals are the direct product of their environment.
We get to decide the course and intensity of our personal evolution by intelligently designing our environments..
This is the fundamental difference.
Although the environment is the medium through which humans adapt and evolve, our choices determine our environments.
Human-beings are the indirect product of their environment.
The process of their evolution is slow and random.
They reactively evolve over-time based on external circumstances.
Animals are the direct product of their environment