Sometimes I think rationalizing animal reactions isn’t so much anthropomorphizing them as animalizing us. Like all the creatures that evolved on earth have a somewhat “from the old neighborhood” personality. And we all share some of the same quirks. I didn’t explain it well.
I know when a squirrel tells me "I FUCKING HATE YOU THAT WAS MY WARM ATTIC CRAWLSPACE I LOVED POOPING IN THERE REMOVE THOSE SCREWS NOW ASSHOLE" This particular squirrel is missing part of its left ear. It did move away somewhere, but still occasionally visits to aggressively yak-yak-yak at me.
Oh my god yes, they are so cheeky. “what is this CRAP!!?” “Buy the seed with the happy SQUIRREL on the bag! Not the one with the stupid cardinals!”
I regard them as rats with a fancy tail tbh. Except rats are afraid of humans, and their poop less sticky