Which animal is the scariest? According to a recent study, humans have ousted lions at the top of the predator pecking order.
The experiment on a group of wild animals showed that they were twice as likely to run away when they heard a human voice compared with the sound of a lion snarling or roaring, with 95% of species in the study fleeing upon hearing the sound of a human voice.
Prof Liana Zanette, Lead researcher from the University of Western Ontario in Canada, said she was surprised by the response from wildlife, as well as the number of species who reacted with terror and fled after hearing human sounds. ‘Lions should be the scariest thing out there – but humans were much scarier … It shows we really are terrifying to animals,’ Zanette said.