Humans are a “unique Super-Predator” claims new research

Psychology Today

Marc Bekoff, Ph.D.

A new study shows humans have incredibly broad negative effects as predators

Posted Aug 21, 2015

We really do kill here, there, and everywhere

This morning my email inbox was brimming over with news about an essay published in Science magazine by researchers from the University of Victoria (Canada) and the Raincoast Conservation Foundation called “The unique ecology of human predators.” While the full essay is currently available, I think it important to include the summary here: “Paradigms of sustainable exploitation focus on population dynamics of prey and yields to humanity but ignore the behavior of humans as predators. We compared patterns of predation by contemporary hunters and fishers with those of other predators that compete over shared prey (terrestrial mammals and marine fishes). Our global survey (2125 estimates of annual finite exploitation rate) revealed that humans kill adult prey, the reproductive capital of populations, at much higher median rates than other predators (up to 14 times higher), with particularly intense exploitation of terrestrial carnivores and fishes…

To read the full article please visit the Psychology Today website.

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Coastal wolf with a salmon in its month.
Photo by Dene Rossouw.