With their sharp claws, undulating mass of pure muscle, sharp eyes, quick reflexes and gentle jaws, lions are definitely not the predators most animals want to connect with. Especially considering they are smart enough to hunt in packs.

“Lions are the largest land predators that hunt in groups, and therefore should be the most feared,” says environmental biologist Michael Clinchey of Western University in Canada.

But in more than 10,000 recordings of wild animals on the African savannah, 95 percent of the species reacted with much greater terror to the sounds of a completely different animal. This animal isn’t even technically an apex predator. We are human.

We are monsters hiding under other mammals’ beds.

“People’s fear is ingrained and pervasive,” Clinchy says. “There is a belief that if animals are not hunted, they will get used to humans. But we have shown that this is not the case.

In experiments, Western University ecologist Liana Zanette and her colleagues played a series of vocalizations and sounds to animals near bodies of water in South Africa’s Great Kruger National Park and recorded their responses.

This protected area is home to the world’s largest existing population of lions (Panthera leo); therefore other mammals are well aware of the danger posed by these predators.

The researchers released audio of human speech in indigenous languages ​​including Tsonga, Northern Sotho, English and Afrikaans, as well as sounds of human hunting, including dog barking and gunshots. They also played the sounds of lions communicating with each other.

“The important thing is that the lions growl and snarl as if they are ‘talking’ rather than growling at each other,” explains Clinchey. “Therefore, lion vocalizations are directly comparable to human voices speaking during speech.”

But did all subjects appreciate the researchers’ efforts?

“One night, a recording of a lion made this elephant so angry that it charged and smashed everything,” Zanette recalls, referring to the camera setup.

This seems like a fair answer!

Nearly all of the 19 mammal species observed in the experiments were twice as likely to leave ponds when they heard human speech compared to lions or even prey sounds. Mammals include rhinos, elephants, giraffes, leopards, hyenas, zebras and wild boars, some of which can be dangerous in their own right.

But the fear of these creatures rarely prevents us from deciding their fate. We will tackle any task, from the destruction of giant mammoths to the care of the most dangerous modern dinosaur.

The deadliest animal on the planet and the main driving force behind evolution, humans unfortunately deserve every blow of fear we inflict on others.

“Hearing human voices was what evoked the greatest fear,” the researchers wrote in their paper, “suggesting that wildlife perceives humans as a real threat, while associated disturbances, such as barking dogs, are merely secondary intermediaries.”

Given that humans are now everywhere, escaping us will only be a temporary situation, which means these mammals will unfortunately continue to cause fear.

This does not bode well for the already declining populations of many savannah species, including giraffes. As the team’s previous research has shown, persistent fear can reduce the population of prey animals over several generations.

But conservation biologists can also use this information to help these species. They hope to save the endangered southern white rhino by chatting with people in parts of South Africa known for poaching.

“I think the spread of fear among savannah mammals is a real testament to the impact humans are having on the environment,” Zanette says.

“Not just because of environmental loss, climate change and species extinction, which are important things. But our mere presence in this landscape is enough of a danger signal to which they will react very strongly. They are scared to death of people, even more so. than other predators.” Source