Humans are in the process of herding the world’s largest animals right over the brink of extinction, and the main driving force is our insatiable appetite for meat.

It’s a dire warning, and it comes from the first analysis to look at how humans have impacted the world’s “megafauna”.

Bringing together over 300 species of unusually large vertebrates – including polar bears, blue whales, hippos, saltwater crocodiles, ostriches – the findings illustrate a woeful future for our shared environment.

All told, at least 200 megafauna species are dwindling in number, and more than 150 are being pushed under the shadow of extinction.

“Our results suggest we’re in the process of eating megafauna to extinction,” says lead author William Ripple, an expert in ecology at Oregon State University.

“In the future, 70…