Man is a wolf to man… but first and foremost, he is the super-predator of many other species, especially Australian marsupials. This is what a study has just demonstrated, focusing on interactions between humans and the wild world. And it’s safe to say that the resulting picture is not very flattering for us.
You love animals but can’t understand why tirelessly, sparrows, rabbits, cats, and other adorable creatures persist in fleeing from you? It’s your nature’s fault. You might not harm a fly, but no matter what you do, as a human being, you will remain a super-predator next to which an ill-mannered bear would appear as a harmless ball of fur.
And this is confirmed by a new study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Scientists compared the reactions of native Australian marsupials and Axis deer to the presence of humans compared to other predators. The goal was to verify if Eastern grey kangaroos, Bennett’s wallabies, Tasmanian pademelons, brush-tailed possums, and Axis deer (or chitals) were more afraid of humans than other predators like dogs, Tasmanian devils, and wolves.
Native Marsupials Flee from Us 2.4 Times More Than From Other Predators
To conduct their research, the researchers used Automated Behavioral Response (ABR) systems to record the animals’ reactions to audio recordings of predators (humans, dogs, Tasmanian devils, wolves)) and non-predators (sheep). These recordings were randomly played at 13 sites in the experiment, spread across a sheep grazing property in Tasmania.
The results of the experiment are clear: native marsupials showed a much greater fear of humans, fleeing from them 2.4 times more often than from dogs, which are among the more feared predators. As for the deer, they also fled from humans, but not more than from other predators. A slight difference in behavior that could be explained by the very different evolutionary histories of Australian marsupials and deer.
Humans, Outcasts of the Planet
These conclusions are not the first of their kind and add to the long list of similar observations made on other speciesspecies. Indeed, numerous studies show that, all over the world, animals react strongly to human presence, often more than to other natural predators. Research on mammals in North America, for example, has shown that White-tailed deerWhite-tailed deer adapt their behavior to avoid humans. Similarly, African elephants, foxes, and coyotescoyotes adjust their behavior by avoiding areas with high human density.
If this information should lead us to critically examine how we occupy natural space and interact with other species, it also has implications for their management and conservation, and can help scientists understand how to minimize conflicts between humans and wildlife.