Study on the «Super-Hunter»

Successful, but hardly sustainable: that is how the hobby hunter can be described.

To protect the environment, scientists demand that he take predators as his role model.

The hobby hunter distinguishes himself from predators in a particularly dangerous way. With his sophisticated weapons and other technical aids, he hunts primarily adult, healthy prey animals on land. This sets him clearly apart from predators, writes a Canadian research team in the journal «Science».

Since adult specimens represent the reproductive capital of a species, humans — unlike many animal predators — durably influence the structure of ecosystems and food chains in this way.

Humans are a super-hunter, the scientists summarize the findings of their study. «Our impact is as extreme as our behavior, and the planet bears the costs of our dominance as a predator,» said lead author Chris Darimont of the University of Victoria, Canada, in a statement from his university.

Predators attack primarily juvenile animals

Study director Thomas Reimchen from the same university adds: «While predators primarily attack the juvenile members of a population, humans deplete their reproductive capital by hunting adult animals.» According to the study authors, this is not sustainable, and the consequences are becoming increasingly costly for humanity. To change this, the exploitation by human hunters must be vigorously reduced and humans must more closely align their behavior with that of non-human predators.

The researchers had evaluated numerous data sources, such as specialist articles, scientific books and reports, determining how many individuals of a species fall victim to a predator. They compared the yield of human hunters with that of animal predators. In total, they analyzed data from more than 2,100 wildlife populations on land and in the sea.

«More successful» than other predators

According to the study, human hunters worldwide kill significantly more adult animals than other predators. In the oceans, they harvest roughly 14 times more prey than predatory fish, the scientists report. There, they fish “down the food chain.” On land, hunters kill approximately nine times more bears, wolves, and lions than animal predators.

The superiority of humans is due primarily to their equipment and technical tools, the scientists write. These allow them to kill safely from a distance and, for example in trophy hunting, to target large, healthy specimens.The hobby hunter is thus moving ever further away from nature. He decimates the populations of many species and destroys ecosystems.

Der Hobby-Jäger im 21. Jahrhundert

Capacity for Change?

In a commentary on the study, biologist Boris Worm of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, writes: “We have the unusual ability to consciously analyze our behavior and change it in ways that reduce harmful consequences. I believe that this last point will prove decisive for our continued coexistence with wildlife on land and in the sea.”