Worms are the master of the underground and represent 80% of all living things in weight, bacteria live inside us and will devour us when we die... it depends on how you define masters. If it's killing other species and changing the environment, sure, we pick the definition that allow us to consider ourselves masters. If it's adaptability, tardigrads are winning. If it's perception, shrimps or bats are solid contestants.
We only really have strength in numbers and experience. You leave some rando in the jungle alone hes probably going to die unless he has knowledge passed from other humans
Most apex predators would fair better than humans if dropped in an unfamiliar environment, and we aint got shit on smaller organisms in terms of numbers. What sets humans apart is our ability to create and manipulate tools, and our ability to communicate complex knowledge to each other and across generations.
Most life forms are limited by their biology to remain within their niche without generations of adaption allowing them to expand or change. Humans can use tools to allow us to participate in almost any niche we wish to (simple tools allow digging, mining, or climbing, complex tools allow extremum environment habitation such as submarine or outer space).
Additionally, humans are unique in that we can retain information long term through writing, without having to have it evolve into our biology the way pretty much every other creature on earth does.
I think one of our key advantages is our ability to use external production and energy. As an example for staying warm we don't spend precious resources to grow a fur coat every winter. Instead we leave that up to sheep or plants and then reuse those coats. Fire is another one where instead of raising our body temperature to survive we raise the temperature of our environment locally.
We are very wierd fish.
The fire thing is accurate, it also allows us to maximize nutrients gained from food which helps us grow faster, larger, and smarter than wild animals. However the use of external resources for energy and heat is not unique; there are plenty of animals that have tactics for protecting or climate controlling themselves ranging from digging burrows (mice, polar bears, kangaroos (ok, roos more dig ditches but the point stands) etc.), building structures (beavers, ants, spiders, bees, etc.), or using other creatures as protection usually by hiding or laying eggs in fresh carcasses (wasps, flies, rats, wolves, hyenas, etc.).
Most life forms are limited by their biology to remain within their niche without generations of adaption allowing them to expand or change. Humans can use tools to allow us to participate in almost any niche we wish to (simple tools allow digging, mining, or climbing, complex tools allow extremum environment habitation such as submarine or outer space).
Additionally, humans are unique in that we can retain information long term through writing, without having to have it evolve into our biology the way pretty much every other creature on earth does.
We are very wierd fish.