I've always seen it the other way around I guess. People are animals, just the same as lions are. We do all the things other animals do; eat, breathe, drink, communicate with each other...
Really, us humans do nothing different than our fuzzy counterparts. It just so happens our intelligence is what's made us the way we are now, and drove us to the top of the food chain. Being an animal is still a revered trait in our world though, and something about that primal aspect of life is fascinating.
In sports, someone who's dominant is called a "beast", and it's good to have "cat-like reflexes" or the "eyes of a hawk".
Girls are sometimes considered "foxy" and boys are sometimes considered to be "dogs", as well as numerous other terms.
Whenever I think of LK, I suppose I consider them lions more than anything else, but what makes them endearing is that they're really no different than us. Just a little fuzzier.

I think that's what Disney's talking about when they say to think of them as humans.
(Although if I had the cat-like reflexes of my cat, all I'd be able to do is sleep on the most busy face in the house until they couldn't breathe.)
