Data from: The unique ecology of human predators

Paradigms of sustainable exploitation focus on population dynamics of prey
and yields to humanity but ignore the behavior of humans as predators. We
compared patterns of predation by contemporary hunters and fishers with
those of other predators that compete over shared prey (terrestrial
mammals and marine fishes). Our global survey (2125 estimates of annual
finite exploitation rate) revealed that humans kill adult prey, the
reproductive capital of populations, at much higher median rates than
other predators (up to 14 times higher), with particularly intense
exploitation of terrestrial carnivores and fishes. Given this competitive
dominance, impacts on predators, and other unique predatory behavior, we
suggest that humans function as an unsustainable “super predator,”
which—unless additionally constrained by managers—will continue to alter
ecological and evolutionary processes globally.