Apr 19 2011 Humans are efficient killers – and we have been for
a long time. It seems like the inevitable consequence of our
cognitive evolution combined with our tribal and hunting
instincts. It’s one of those quirks of evolution. When the right
combination of features arises in a species, it can have
profound effects on an entire ecosystem – or an entire planet.
But let’s back up a bit to pre-historic Homo sapiens. Various
hunter cultures figured out ways to mass slaughter hundreds or
even thousands of animals, even very large animals. In the
Americas, for example. the Clovis culture (11-13k BP) learned
how to take down very large prey, such as mammoths, but they
generally killed only one or a few at a time. They were
succeeded by the Folsom culture (9-11k BP) who figured out how
to surround their prey and kill dozens at a time. Later paleo-
indians figured out how to herd bison over cliffs, killing
hundreds at a time. It is still controversial the extent to
which this overkilling contributed to the decline