Scarier Than Lions – Animals Around the World Fear This “Super Predator”

A new study reveals that elephants, rhinos, giraffes, and other wildlife fear this predator far more than lions.

Lions have long been regarded as the apex predators, often referred to as the “king of beasts,” but a new study suggests that on the African savanna, elephants, rhinos, giraffes, and other mammals exhibit greater fear of a different threat: humans.

This finding adds significant weight to the increasing body of evidence from global wildlife research, which indicates that the fear of humans as the “super predator” is widespread among animal populations around the world.

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Elephants aggressively approaching, and attacking, speakers broadcasting lion vocalizations. Credit: Liana Zanette / Western University

The Impact of Human Presence

The new findings by Western University biology professor Liana Zanette, in collaboration with one of the world’s leading lion experts, Craig Packer from the University of Minnesota, and others, were published today in Current BiologyCurrent Biology is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published biweekly by Cell Press. It is focused on all aspects of biology, from molecular biology and genetics to ecology and evolutionary biology. The journal covers a wide range of topics, including cellular biology, neuroscience, animal behavior, plant biology, and more. Current Biology is known for its high-impact research articles, as well as its insightful commentary, analysis, and reviews of the latest developments in the field. It is widely read by scientists and researchers in biology and related fields, and has a reputation for publishing groundbreaking research that advances our understanding of the natural world.” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]”>Current Biology.

Working in one of the world’s premier protected areas, South Africa’s Greater Kruger National Park, Zanette and her colleagues experimentally demonstrated that local wildlife was twice as likely to run, and abandoned waterholes in 40 percent faster time, in response to hearing human voices compared to hearing lions or hunting sounds (dogs barking or gunshots).

Elephant still image from camera recording. Credit: Liana Zanette / Western University

Near 95 percent (94.7) of speciesA species is a group of living organisms that share a set of common characteristics and are able to breed and produce fertile offspring. The concept of a species is important in biology as it is used to classify and organize the diversity of life. There are different ways to define a species, but the most widely accepted one is the biological species concept, which defines a species as a group of organisms that can interbreed and produce viable offspring in nature. This definition is widely used in evolutionary biology and ecology to identify and classify living organisms.” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]”>species ran more or abandoned waterholes faster in response to humans than to lions, with giraffes, leopards, hyenas, zebras, kudu, warthog, and impala all running significantly more from the sound of human voices than the sound of lions, and elephants and rhinos abandoning waterholes significantly faster upon hearing humans than hearing lions.

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Rhinoceroses and elephants abandoning waterholes upon hearing humans. Credit: Liana Zanette / Western University

Ecological Consequences and Global Perspective

“These findings add a new dimension to our worldwide environmental impacts,” said Zanette, a renowned wildlife ecologist. “The 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.”

Global surveys show humans kill prey at much higher rates than other predators, making humans a “super predator.”

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Giraffe, leopard, hyena, zebra, kudu, warthog and impala running in response to hearing humans. Liana Zanette / Western University

“Consistent with humanity’s unique lethality, data from North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, and now our work in Africa, is demonstrating that wildlife worldwide fear the human ‘super predator’ far more than each system’s non-human apex predator, like lions, leopards, wolves, cougars, bears, and dogs,” said Zanette.

To conduct their experiment, Zanette and the team deployed hidden automated camera-speaker systems at waterholes that, when triggered by an animal passing within a short distance (approximately 10 meters or 30 feet), filmed the response of the animal to hearing either humans speaking calmly in locally-used languages, lions snarling and growling, hunting sounds or non-threatening controls (bird calls).

“These results present a significant new challenge for protected areas management and wildlife conservation, because it is now clear fear of even benign humans, like wildlife tourists, can cause these previously unrecognized impacts,” said Zanette.

Reference: “Fear of the human “super predator” pervades the South African savanna” by Liana Y. Zanette, Nikita R. Frizzelle, Michael Clinchy, Michael J.S. Peel, Carson B. Keller, Sarah E. Huebner and Craig Packer, 5 October 2023, Current Biology.
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.08.089