I have 2 finalists:

1. Mountain lion (or puma, if you will)- he doesn’t take crap from anyone. He is very fast, doesn’t have to worry about being eaten, and isn’t just some member of a pack. He is himself. Plus, they live on a mountain.

2. Dolphin- well, they’re smart, obviously. But they’re also sleek and they shoot through water like it’s nobody’s business. “But they’re in the ocean,” you say, “that’s boring, no?” No! It looks boring to us, but that’s just because we can’t see all the cool stuff that’s really there. Plus, there’s so much more ocean than land on earth. They live in packs, (right?) but they’re still smart enough to be individual. Like humans, I guess. Social but individual.

Some kind of bird of prey might be cool too. But that’s trite. Everyone is that. Course, mountain lion is trite too. Whatever.