Two words: imagination and dexterity. These set us apart from other animals.

Intelligence, not so much. There are arguments that certain animals - specifically the cetacea - have a level of intelligence that approaches ours.

What we do not see in other animals is imagination, the abiity to conceptualise something which does not actually exist.

Many animals are dextrous, amd some do use tools that they find around them.

Humans have the capacity, however, to imagine a stick joined to a stone to produce a more effective tool. We also have the dexterity to make that concept into reality. Our entire history has been about imagining things, then trying to make them happen. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

It is unfortunate that other human species such as the Neanderthals and Denisovans failed to survive. If we were not the only species of humans on the planet, we might be a bit less cocky!