Ecology manuals define predation as the (natural) biological interaction in which the individual of one animal species, which is called a predator, kills and devours the individual of another species, the prey, to feed and subsist. The dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy includes another meaning for the root of this word that, in this case, can also be applied with relative propriety: “Predating: Stealing, looting with violence and destruction”.
What is the world’s top predator, the species that captures, kills, or eats the greatest variety of other species? The answer is really within our reach, we just need to look in the mirror…
From a more scientific perspective, a team of twelve researchers from Canada, the United States, Brazil and the United Kingdom, has carried out a first comprehensive review of the largest known predators and the number of prey (species) preyed on by each of them. In addition, they have taken the trouble to weight the data for each predator species based on their habitat or the extent of their occupation in the territory.
The broadly winning species, that is, the most predatory, by far, is humans. It is not the first time that this popular recognition has been scientifically verified, but it can be considered one of the first studies in which concrete data is provided and also indicates the number of vertebrate species that we are preying on (killing or capturing for our benefit) even knowing that they are endangered species.
The results of this study, published this July in the journal Communications Biology (of the Nature group), details that the human species preys on 14,663 species of vertebrates. The study refers only to vertebrates (it does not include, for example, the octopus or the shrimp) because it takes as a reference the Red List of species that the International Union for Conservation of Nature prepares with the objective of knowing the state of conservation and degree of threat that is known for each of the species of this subphylum.
Thus, the new study recalls that the IUCN list has cataloged 47,665 species of vertebrates. As a result, says the new study, humans prey on about a third of known vertebrate species. Humans have a predatory variety 300 times greater than any other known predator, the study indicates.
The new publication, whose first signatory is Chris T. Darimont, from the University of Victoria (Canada), points out that, of the total of 14,663 species depredated by humans, only 8,037 are sacrificed for human consumption. The rest are captured, kept in captivity (outside their natural environment) or killed for the use of their products (eg skin) or various activities (from sport hunting to collecting or keeping as pets).
The study highlights that among those preyed on by humans include 1,859 species that the IUCN Red List has classified as “vulnerable, endangered or seriously threatened with extinction.”
The authors turned to the IUCN, an organization made up of civil and governmental organizations dedicated to monitoring, protecting and conserving natural resources, based on the rigor of their studies.
The researchers found published data indicating that humans feed, capture, kill, or keep out of their natural environment 14,663 vertebrate species, which is about a third of those known to the IUCN. They also found that almost 40% of the species preyed on by humans are listed as threatened.
More specifically, they found that approximately 55% of these species are eaten by humans. And they found that more than half of all terrestrial species preyed on by humans are part of the pet trade. In addition, humans hunt approximately 358 species of finned fish for sport and 452 species of birds, and 207 species of mammals and fish are used for clothing. They also found that 192 mammal species and 82 amphibian species are used for medical purposes.
The research team notes that such large numbers make humans by far the largest predators on the planet; In short, they found that humans feed on other species at a rate 300 times greater than any other predator when the size of predation areas is taken into account. .
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