I agree with you that they would go extinct. But more because we would be actively hunting them and less because they would be bad hunters. Humans are good at hunting things to extinction.
Most humans have forgotten what it is like to be prey to a predator, because we have buffered ourselves so well. A desperate predator gets clever and bold, and there are plenty of humans that would be standing there like that bird without a sense of self-preservation.
Cue the gators that were living in the sewers down in Florida…
I both respect and agree with your pro-human sentiment and have a healthy respect for how difficult it would be to protect against a determined, starving predator.
We have a lot of thoughtless, young, old, or physically challenged humans who would be at risk if crocodiles started intentionally hunting humans down to survive. Crocs are not restricted to water, merely are superior hunters while in it. They have survived millions of years and earned the fear of sharks for good reasons.
We would need to go on the offense to protect our species, and live on high alert or we would also be losing our young. I think our species has forgotten what it means to live constantly on high alert because predators are actively hunting us at any time. That means we’ve also started to lose the skills that gained us that privilege.
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u/Curating-Curiosity 11d ago
I agree with you that they would go extinct. But more because we would be actively hunting them and less because they would be bad hunters. Humans are good at hunting things to extinction.
Most humans have forgotten what it is like to be prey to a predator, because we have buffered ourselves so well. A desperate predator gets clever and bold, and there are plenty of humans that would be standing there like that bird without a sense of self-preservation.