Why Ancient Humans Were The Most TERRIFYING Animal Alive

Why Humans Are the Most Terrifying Animal Alive All research and sources are linked below. 📚 RESEARCH & SOURCES: ▸ Endurance running & persistence hunting — Bramble & Lieberman (2004, Nature 432:345–352). Our running anatomy is a trait of the genus Homo originating about 2 million years ago. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03052 ▸ High-speed throwing — Roach, Venkadesan, Rainbow & Lieberman (2013, Nature 498:483–486). Cocking the arm stores elastic energy in the shoulder like a slingshot and releases the fastest motion the human body makes; the anatomy appears together ~2 million years ago in Homo erectus. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12267 ▸ Chimpanzee strength — O'Neill et al. (2017, PNAS), "Chimpanzee super strength and human skeletal muscle evolution." Chimp muscle is ~1.35× stronger pound-for-pound, yet throws at only ~20 mph. ▸ Shared intentionality ("we" vs "I" mode) — Tomasello et al. (2012, Current Anthropology 53:673–692), "Two Key Steps in the Evolution of Human Cooperation," and Tomasello et al. (2005, Behavioral and Brain Sciences), "Understanding and sharing intentions." ▸ Megafauna extinctions — Sandom, Faurby, Sandel & Svenning (2014, Proc. R. Soc. B 281:20133254). Extinction severity tracks human arrival — minimal in Africa, severe in Australia and the Americas. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.3254 ▸ The human "super predator" — Darimont, Fox, Bryan & Reimchen (2015, Science 349:858–860). Humans kill adult prey at up to 14× the median rate of other predators, with especially intense exploitation of land carnivores and fish. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aac4249 Experts@Minnesota ▸ Fear of the human voice (Africa) — Zanette, Frizzelle, Clinchy et al. (2023, Current Biology 33:4689–4696). Wildlife in Greater Kruger fled human speech far more than lion sounds, dogs, or gunshots. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2023.08.089 Phys.org ▸ Fear of the human voice (North America) — Smith et al. (2017, Proc. R. Soc. B) and Suraci et al. (2019, Ecol