If a miniscule 1% in our genome distinguishes us from the apes, that 1% contains the stupendous ability to attain higher consciousness and to communicate about it.
What really distinguishes us and makes us truly human, is our eternal Soul.
Animals have souls too but they are on the pre-conscious and pre-linguistic level. Humans are eternal souls inhabiting physical bodies as they continue on their journeys toward growth and expansion. This is the only difference. Otherwise, we are driven by our genes to reproduce ourselves, eat and drink to enable us to reproduce, and that is all, like any other living thing on this planet.