Are wildlife animals really more scared of human sounds?
People often say that humans are the scariest animals on Earth. This might sound strange, but many animals fear human sounds.
A new study found that most African species, including giraffes, hyenas, zebras, etc., are more likely to run away when they hear the sound of two humans talking. They are less scared of the sound of gunfire, lions, or dogs.
This study was published in a journal called Current Biology.
What does the study say?
A team of researchers conducted the study in South Africa's Greater Kruger National Park (NP) during the dry season. They set up cameras and speakers near 21 waterholes often visited by animals. These cameras and speakers ran all day for six weeks, playing different sounds when they detected movement.
These sounds were of humans talking, lions, hunting sounds (dogs and gunshots), and birds. The animals in the NP were more scared of human sounds than lion sounds. When they heard human sounds, they ran away twice as fast from the waterholes than when they heard lions or hunting sounds.
This study shows that animals are more afraid of humans than any other predator.
How can this study help?
The researchers hope that this study can help better understand this fear of humans, which can help reduce wildlife poaching. The study showed that rhinoceroses fled twice as fast after hearing human sounds than lion sounds. Rhinos are poached a lot.
The researchers are trying to find out whether playing human sounds from speakers can keep rhinos away from places where poachers might harm them.
This study can also be used to see how tourism-dependent African regions can be affected as animals find human sounds to be more frightening. Even though tourists can sometimes be noisy, many places need them to make money.
