Scientists disclose the threats that humans pose to other living creatures

Experts have been examining how lethal some animals and critters are for a long time, but this is the first time that scientists have defined how life-threatening people may be.   

"We exploit around a third of all wild animals for food, medicines, or to keep as pets," experts say, "putting nearly half at risk of extinction."

"This makes us even deadlier and more dangerous than other natural predators like the great white shark, threatening entire ecosystems."

"The size and scale of what we found surprised us," said Dr. Rob Cooke of the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Wallingford, Oxfordshire.

"Humans have a breathtaking diversity of uses for animals, but we need to move towards global human-nature relationships that are sustainable."

According to the BBC, the researchers also assessed data on roughly 50,000 distinct wild animals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish species that humans either capture in the wild for the pet trade or harvest for food, medicine, or other uses. 

As a consequence, it was determined that humans utilise or trade one-third of all vertebrate species – 14,663 species — and that 39% of them are on the verge of extinction, according to their findings published in the journal Communications Biology.

Furthermore, our influence is up to 300 times that of top predators such as the great white shark, lion, or tiger. Humanity today has a larger influence on other species on the globe than at any previous moment in history.

The Anthropocene, a period in which human activity has dominated climate and environmental factors, is about to begin.

Domesticated animals, which currently constitute the bulk of animal species on land, have shaped the natural environment.

Overuse of wild animals, according to the researchers, would have "profound consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem function."