Predators Fear Humans

Two new studies confirm
that large mammal carnivores
“fear” human presence

Genesis 9:22 states that after the Flood, God told Noah and his family, “the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea.” Two studies published in Current Biology confirm this to be the case for two powerful mammalian predators: mountain lions and bears.

While the authors had no motivation to support the Genesis account, it is interesting that they used the word “fear” to describe the behavior of two large carnivores in different classes (felids and ursids), both with plenty of muscle to take down a human. Why wouldn’t evolution put the fear on the other foot – on naked apes powerless to outrun or outfight large carnivores looking for meat?

In what follows, we don’t want to exaggerate the findings or extend it to every possible conflict between humans and all animals. It is interesting, however, to notice that the scientists were a bit surprised by what they found.

Fear of humans disrupts trophic interactions that underpin animal-mediated ecosystem functions (Manlick et al., Current Biology, 8 June 2026). This study on bears focuses on how human presence tends to alter the “ecosystem services” that bears provide by consuming salmon, because bears avoid places where humans are visible or audible (or smellable).

Habitat selection and outdoor recreation help explain human-mountain lion conflict (Morgan et al., Current Biology, 6 July 2026). This study on mountain lions shows that the big cats naturally avoid places humans occupy unless they become habituated to their presence.

On August 3, Oswald J. Schmitz commented on these two papers, again using the word “fear” in the behavior of the large, “fearsome” predators:

Wildlife ecology: When the fearsome become fearful (Schmitz, Current Biology, 3 August 2026). Oswald J. Schmitz, an environmental scientist at Yale, seemed surprised by the findings of the two papers.

Humans recreating in wilderness areas face a risk of encountering and being harmed by fearsome large wild carnivores. Yet, the risk is exceedingly low, because, it turns out, these fearsome predators become quite fearful when encountering humans.

Schmitz notes that attacks by bears and lions make headlines, but are surprisingly rare.

Grizzly (Corel Pro Photos)

A sure-fire way for the media to capture public attention is to report on a hiker who was simply out enjoying nature being mauled by a large carnivore. Such reporting plays to a long-held view that wild nature is a risky place, full of fearsome predators that come seemingly out of nowhere to pounce on any unsuspecting person. This kind of event is highly newsworthy because it is both stark and unusual; so unusual in fact that another rare event — getting struck by lightning — is common by comparison. Given that millions of people live and recreate in wilderness each year, one might guess, however, that the chances for such dangerous encounters should be much higher. Why, then, are they so exceedingly rare? Two complementary recent studies in Current Biology by Philip Manlick and colleagues and by John Morgan and colleagues offer some answers. It turns out that large fearsome carnivores such as brown bears (Ursus arctos), black bears (Ursus americanus), and mountain lions (Puma concolor) are indeed quite fearful of humans.

Come back later today for more information and commentary on this intriguing subject!