In new research certain to be supported by fans of the late Cecil the Lion, scientists from the University of Victoria conclude that humans are a “unique superpredator” that kills other carnivores at a far higher rate than any other hunting creature.
The study, published Friday in the journal Science, looked at 2,125 interactions between predator and prey and found that not only do humans have a higher kill-rate than all other animals, they use methods that can have a drastic impact on the evolution and survival rate of other species.
According to the Los Angeles Times, mankind wipes out adult fish populations at 14.1 times the median rate of other marine predators, and killed top land-based predators at a rate 9.2 times that of other prominent carnivores. Lead investigator and conservation scientist Chris Darimont told the newspaper that his team was “surprised by the magnitude” of the differences they found.
Even more surprising was the discovery that humans killed the predators at a rate 3.7 times that at which they killed herbivores, and that the hunting techniques we use remove 20 percent of the planet’s large carnivores each year, Darimont added. Furthermore, he said, mankind is killing off these creatures faster than they can produce adult offspring and sustain population levels.
Tools, focus on adult prey make us “superpredators”
Humans also take a different approach to killing off these predators, BBC News explained. Most predators focus on taking down the juvenile members of the species, the British news outlet said, but mankind hunts primarily adult prey thanks to the extensive collection of tools they can use to take down larger creatures inexpensively and at relative low risk to themelves.
“Advanced killing technology mostly excuses humans from the formerly dangerous act of predation,” Darimont explained. “Hunters ‘capture’ mammals with bullets, and fishes with hooks and nets. They assume minimal risk compared with non-human predators, especially terrestrial carnivores, which are often injured while living what amounts to a dangerous lifestyle.”
The emphasis on taking down adult prey – or as the study authors refer to these creatures, “the reproductive capital of populations” – and the “competitive dominance” that human beings have over other creatures have made us “an unsustainable ‘superpredator,’ which… will continue to alter ecological and evolutionary processes globally” unless steps are taken, they wrote.
They told BBC News that the focus on adults instead of juveniles is not a sustainable long-term strategy, as a good percentage of the latter are doomed from the beginning due to factors such as predation, starvation, disease, and accidents. If adult animals are the capital, they said, then juveniles are the interest, and their deaths will have less of an impact on a species as a whole.
However, Darimont told the Times that countries should deemphasize trophy hunting altogether and focus instead on promoting ecotourism. As he explained, “You can make as much or more money from shooting large carnivores with cameras, not guns.”
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Image credit: Thinkstock
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