this post was submitted on 07 Oct 2023
113 points (96.7% liked)

science

14791 readers
84 users here now

A community to post scientific articles, news, and civil discussion.

rule #1: be kind

<--- rules currently under construction, see current pinned post.

2024-11-11

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Giraffes, leopards, elephants, and rhinoceroses all were more scared of human voices than lion roars.

all 12 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] AlataOrange@lemmy.world 28 points 1 year ago (2 children)

No shit, we have been for over 2000 years.

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 24 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It's less that we are actually predators and more that the animals there react to our voices as though we are scarier than lions.

The video is fascinating.

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.ml 15 points 1 year ago

as though we are scarier than lions

We are.

[–] Sigmatics@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago

A lion can't shoot you from hundreds of meters away

[–] Swim@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago

rofl, this is what i came to say.

[–] Shade@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

When African men can straight up walk towards a fresh prey and take what they want without a fight because the lions scurry away when they approach, I would assume there is truth behind this science.

[–] MillieAndTheBandits@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Really interesting article. I don't doubt the conclusion of these animals fearing humans. But I do wonder whether this is fear of humans in particular, rather than fear of noises they've never heard before

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

That's what I was wondering. Maybe some sort of uncanny vally impact where they can hear humans talking but not be able to see them.

I was thinking too that it could be some frequency thing from the audio playback, but if that were the case, the reactions would be the same for the lion noises and hunting noises.

[–] Ubermeisters@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 year ago

Idk about the scientific validity of this approach, anyone care to comment?

[–] uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The lion is kind enough to kill and eat them, one at a time.

We come, cement over their habitat and dump sticky toxins everywhere. Also we dam up rivers and cause local droughts.

And when a particular predator decides to take care of business and hunt some naked apes, we send out a special ape with a shiny pith helmet, a penchant for tea time and large caliber rifles to manage the feral wildlife.