Although super predatory behavior in humans is well known, scientists have now given it a numerical value.
According to experts, we use about a third of all wild animals for food, medicine, or as pets, putting nearly half at risk of extinction.
The great white shark is a natural predator, but we are hundreds of times more dangerous.
And they issue dire warnings about the effects on entire ecosystems.
According to Dr. Rob Cooke of the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, "The size and scale of what we found surprised us.".
"Humans use animals in a staggering variety of ways, but we must work toward global human-nature relationships that are sustainable. ".
The researchers examined information on nearly 50,000 different wild mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish that people either capture in the wild for the pet trade or use for food, medicine, or other purposes.
They discovered that we are pushing 39 percent of these species toward extinction by using or trading 14,663 species, or about a third of all vertebrates.
And compared to top predators like the great white shark, lion, or tiger, our impact is up to 300 times greater.
More than at any other time in history, humans today have a greater impact on other animals on the planet.
The Anthropocene, a time when human activity has dominated the influences on climate and the environment, is about to begin.
The natural world has been shaped by domesticated animals, which now make up the majority of animal species on land.
The overuse of wild animals, the researchers warn, will have "profound consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem function.".
The study has been released in Nature Communications.
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