WHO IS THE REAL PREDATOR?

If wildlife could speak they would tell us that humans are the most terrifying predator on the planet. Wildlife worldwide fear the human ‘super predator’ far more than other predators, studies show.

> A 2023 African study reveals that animals (eg: giraffes, leopards, zebras, warthogs and hyenas) were twice as likely to flee, and they abandoned waterholes 40% faster in response to human stimuli than they did when encountering lions (the king of beasts) or even hunting sounds such as gunshots and barking dogs.

> A 2024 Australian study found that kangaroos, wallabies and other marsupials were 2.4 times more likely to flee in response to simply hearing human voices compared even to hearing dogs, Tasmanian devils or wolves.

“Humans are ‘the invisible killer’ insofar as we do not often think of ourselves as a major predator, let alone the most dangerous, but wildlife clearly think differently – and recognise us for what we are,” says wildlife biologist Liana Zanette, a professor at Western University in Canada, who specialises in studying the impacts of predator-induced fear on wildlife.

(Cartoon via Daily Himovies)