Chapter 80

There was a time when animals specialized in eating humans existed, but those days were tens of millions of years ago. Ever since humans learned to use and manufacture tools, from the very moment the first sturdy spear was crafted, no animal had ever specialized in hunting humans again. Because humans would hunt their entire species to extinction. In the history of the earth, mass extinctions usually took millions or even tens of millions of years. But ever since humankind mastered tools, forged spears, and learned to make fire, humans showed other species just who the most efficient exterminator truly was. In the span of just tens of thousands of years, spreading across the globe, they drove countless animals to extinction—far more efficiently than any continuous torrential rains or erupting volcanoes. And most tragically of all, humans were also the most powerful weapon for the extinction of their own kind, from the Neanderthals of the past to other kindred groups later on, and finally to every single internal war they waged against themselves.