Paramount fear of humans has been demonstrated to pervade wildlife communities in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America consistent with humans worldwide being a super predator, far more lethal than other predators.<\/p>\n
Australian marsupials have been thought predator na\u00efve based on responses to non-human predators.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur results greatly expand the growing experimental evidence that wildlife worldwide perceive humans as the planet\u2019s most frightening predator,\u201d said Western University\u2019s Professor Liana Zanette, co-senior author of a paper published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe very substantial fear of humans demonstrated here, and in comparable recent experiments, can be expected to have dramatic ecological consequences, because other new research has established that fear itself can reduce wildlife numbers, and fear of humans can cause cascading impacts on multiple species throughout entire landscapes.\u201d<\/p>\n