It boils my blood how many people who ought to know better keep promoting the idea of human exceptionalism, when all evidence is to the contrary. I cannot count how many times a broadly accepted idea that "only humans can do " has been soundly disproven. And every time, it seems, one of two things happens:

1. People outright ignore the evidence and keep parroting the same bullshit.
2. They move on to some other arbitrary distinction that hasn't yet been disproven scientifically, but is obviously also bullshit.

Tool use, language, culture, and object permanence spring to mind. Lots of good research on various types of abstract thinking as well, with a wide range of animals from pigs to crows to octopuses to bees and more.

We've demonstrated that these "human" traits are NOT exclusive to the human species. In many cases they're not even exclusive to our genus, family, order, class, or phylum. (I half expect someone to tell me they're not exclusive to the animal kingdom, even; please share any relevant research on fungi or plants if you have it!)

At least we, as a society, have moved on from the "featherless biped" era.

I agree with you that it's just a convenient rationalisation, not a considered belief. I guess the idea of moving beyond human exceptionalism is a distant dream when we can't even move beyond racism and nationalism.