Like Peter says, people in his and Mary's world view non-anthropomorphic critters the same way we'd think of apes and monkeys: distantly related, wild cousins on different branches of the same evolutionary tree. Nothing weird about it, just different paths.

As for how thousands of different species co-evolved intelligence, bipedalism, and civilization in vastly different environments at roughly the same time...

...just repeat to yourself its just a comic, I should really just relax.

(Originally uploaded April 2023)