Scientists now classify humans as "super predators" which is a term that applies to human hunters that consider other animal predators as their prey. This new study reveals that even if other carnivorous animals also hunt for other predators as prey, only humans can create a huge impact that can have a potentially devastating effect on Earth's ecosystems.
According to Chris Darimont who from the University of Victoria, no other predator like the human has such as a large menu and this global impact on prey and ecosystems together is manifested in such a deviant way.
Human hunters engage in an activity called trophy hunting where it is currently popular among 10 million Americans who actually spend a lot of cash in order to hunt for big game. However, even if there are global efforts preserving endangered species, the practice is still allowed.
Lead author of the study, Thomas Reimchen along with Darimont and team noted that there are disturbing patterns after 40 years of field work on Haida Gwaii which is an archipelago region located at the North Coast of British Columbia.
The team examined the hunting habits of 22 predatory fish and and diving birds where they hunted to kill not exceeding 5 percent of the adult fish found in the region. However, salmon fisheries that are operated by humans kill more than 50 percent of the region's adult salmon population.
The researchers collected information and created a massive database of 2,125 predator species from different regions around the world, from land and sea, and how they affect other animal populations overall. When this data was compared with humans, they discovered that the Homo sapiens killed other adult species with a rate 14 times higher as opposed to other predators, targeting on prey such as carnivores on land and fish.
Researchers also found out that this predatory effect was more prevalent in the Atlantic ocean region where they believe that this is due to denser human populations dwelling near the coast and fish population exploitation in the region.
Scientists believe that humans evolved into this "super predator" due to technological innovations to capture prey and disable their defenses, fossil fuels that provide more energy to hunt, the habit of killing in a massive scale and growing human populations.
For animal predators, predator populations decline when prey also disappears but in the case of humans, since humans are sustained by agriculture and aquaculture, humans have the advantage of many choices in diet than any predator.
He adds that, humans are already blessed with the understanding and the ability to know the consequences of this deviant behavior and this should be utilized to change this destructive activity to ecosystems that can affect humans in return. This new study is published in the journal, Science.