Mobians: Truly sentient, or do they merely carry sapience?

[Lynchenberg]

They seem to be able to be capable of sound judgement in their guerrilla attacks on Robotnik, however, they are, or at least resemble, animals. So are they truly wise in a human context, or rather, are they simply reacting to their environment in order to survive? I imagine Robotnik takes the latter point of view, although it is worth nothing that the Mobians have mastered the human art of language within the context of the television program!