#GOING WILD 2 PREDATOR VS. PREY FULL#
#GOING WILD 2 PREDATOR VS. PREY CRACK#

That humans target the largest and flashiest animals, Cooke says, threatens not only their unique biological diversity and beauty, but also the roles they play in their ecosystems. “The more rare it is,” says Cooke, “the more that drives up the price, and therefore it can spiral and go into this extinction vortex.” Humans, however, tend to covet the novel. Most predators target common species, since they are easier to find and catch. Their disappearance limits seed dispersal and the spread of trees around the forest.Īnother big difference between humans’ influence on wild animals and that of other predators is that we tend to favor rare and exotic species in a way other animals do not.

#GOING WILD 2 PREDATOR VS. PREY CRACK#

With their massive bills, these birds are one of the few species that can crack open some of the largest, hardest nuts in the forests where they live. The helmeted hornbill, a bird native to Southeast Asia, for example, is captured mainly for the pet trade, or for its beak to be used as medicine or to be carved like ivory. The problem is especially acute for tropical birds, and the loss of these species can have rippling ecological consequences. In all, almost 75 percent of the land species humans take enter the pet trade, which is almost double the number of species we take to eat. Mammals are mostly taken to become people food, while birds, reptiles and amphibians are mainly trapped to live in captivity as pets. For terrestrial animals, however, it depends on what kind of animal is being targeted. When it comes to marine and freshwater species, our main take is for human consumption. There is some nuance to this broad trend. “That’s where things have gone off the rails,” he says. The “ta-da result,” he says, “is that we remove, or essentially prey on, more species of animals for non-food reasons than for food reasons.” And the biggest non-food use, the scientists found, is as pets and pet food. Yet according to Chris Darimont, a conservation scientist at the University of Victoria in British Columbia and a co-author of the study, the biggest shock isn’t how many species we affect but why we take them. According to the researchers’ calculations, humans take 469 species across an equivalent geographical range.

Not a picky eater, this owl will hunt up to 379 different species. The Eurasian eagle owl, for instance, is one of the largest and most widely distributed owls in the world. Center for Ecology and Hydrology and a co-author of the study, are owls, which hunt a notably diverse array of prey. The predators that give us the biggest run for our money, says Rob Cooke, an ecological modeler at the U.K. That’s about one-third of all vertebrate species on Earth, and it’s a breadth that’s up to 300 times more than the next top predator in any ecosystem. Analyzing data compiled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, researchers have now found that humans kill, collect or otherwise use about 15,000 vertebrate species. But biomass is only a sliver of the total picture, and researchers wanted a fuller understanding of how human predatory behavior affects biodiversity. Previously, scientists have tallied how much more biomass humans take out of the wild than other predators. The research showcases just how broad our collective influence on wild animals is.

#GOING WILD 2 PREDATOR VS. PREY FULL#

Now, for the first time, researchers have attempted to capture the full picture of how we use wild vertebrates, including how many, and for what purposes. From agricultural feed to medicine to the pet trade, modern society exploits wild animals in a way that surpasses even the most voracious, unfussy wild predator. Yet our reliance on wild animals goes far beyond just feeding ourselves. Birds, bugs, whales, snails, we’ll eat them all. Some people may be picky eaters, but as a species we are not. This article is from Hakai Magazine, an online publication about science and society in coastal ecosystems.

Going wild 2 predator vs. prey