Mammals are shrinking, and it's our fault!

The destructive capacity of humans over other species is no secret to anyone. Thanks to us, hundreds or thousands of animal species - not to mention the vegetation! - were being totally eliminated from the face of the earth.

But in addition to driving the animals to extinction, according to scientists like biology professor Felisa Smith of the University of New Mexico, homo sapiens is also responsible for shrinking the remaining mammals.

If man's destructive behavior continues - and is unlikely to stop - within a few hundred years, the researchers predict, the few remaining giant mammal species will be extinct, and the largest animals on Earth could be the cows.

And this is not just a guess! This projection was based on the speed of elimination of species since homo sapiens began to inhabit the planet and comes from prehistory, with the hunting and extinction of creatures such as the giant sloth, the mastodon, the mammoth. woolly and the short-faced bear.

The group led by Dr. Felisa analyzed data such as the size and weight of mammals that have lived here in five different periods over the past 65 million years from their fossils.

The conclusion was that before the man arrived, everything was fine, and being big had no impact on the life of the animals, as the food chain managed to keep its balance in order.

When humans entered the equation, however, new factors also came with them: hunting, theft of some of their prey, collections and the idea of ​​precious items, as well as deforestation and the building of cities.

One hypothesis of the scientists is that when hunting, men always preferred the larger animals, so the tendency was that the smaller ones would survive, but as the giants ceased to exist, the search for the largest ones that remained diminished. size gradually.

Another suggestion of the research is that when humans turned a plantation or an urban area into what was once a forest, humans left some species without habitat - which, having no place to look for food, were also being eliminated and reduced in size with passing. of the years.

Sport hunting and the search for rare items also contribute to this scenario. This is the case, for example, of the mass death of elephants on the ivory route between the African continent and Asia.

Unfortunate, isn't it?