Cougars, leopards and grizzly bears are known as vicious in stalking their prey and then killing mercilessly. But scientists now say there is a “super predator” that targets and kills adult prey at as much as nine times the rate of other predators: humans.
Researchers analyzed data from every continent except Antarctica and found that humans typically exploit adult fish populations at 14 times the rate of marine predators. They hunt and kill grown-up, large land carnivores such as wolves and leopards at nine times the rate these predators kill each other in the wild.
When humans target species in their reproductive prime, they change ecosystems and trigger extinction of species, said Chris Darimont, the Hakai-Raincoast professor at the University of Victoria and lead author of the study published Friday in the journal Science.
Other predators overwhelmingly kill newborns and juveniles.
“There is no question that our exploitation has led to massive ecologic change,” said Darimont.
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