Big game blunders: Hunters should be killing juveniles, not adults, to protect ecosystems
If humans want to continue to see large beasts like rhinos, elephants and lions in the wild, as well as ensure the health of ocean life, scientists said big changes are needed.
Humans are super-predators that upset the natural balance on Earth by killing far too many adult animals and fish, scientists said, urging a focus on catching fewer and smaller creatures.
People tend to kill adult fish at 14 times the rate of marine predators, said the findings in the journal Science on Thursday.
And humans slaughter large land carnivores such as bears and lions at nine times the rate of predatory animals in the wild.
Based on a survey of 2,125 predators around the world on both land and in the water, scientists found that people cause “extreme outcomes that non-human predators seldom impose,” said co-author Chris Darimont, professor of geography at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada.
These include extinctions, shrinking numbers of fish, smaller sized fish, and disruptions to global food chains.
These impacts are made possible by humans’ unique approach to hunting - using weapons and external energy sources like fuel to power our hunts, searching for the biggest catch possible and acting as suppliers for other hungry mouths in faraway places, he said.