Just because you haven't met an elk who pondered what it meant to be an elk (are you sure that you know what an elk is pondering), that doesn't mean that an elk, or a whole lot of elk, doesn't ponder that question. How would you know what an elk is pondering; or a cetacean or ape, or even a canine or feline?

I'm sure that I've met homo sapiens who haven't pondered what meant to be human. (Some because they assume their special status.)

I think that it would be more advantageous for us humans to think less about our special status and more about our being parat of the total ecology.