Many of the world's vertebrates have experienced large population and geographic range declines due to anthropogenic threats that put them at risk of extinction. The largest vertebrates, defined as megafauna, are especially vulnerable. We analyzed how human activities are impacting the conservation status of megafauna within six classes: mammals, ray‐finned fish, cartilaginous fish, amphibians, birds, and reptiles. We identified a total of 362 extant megafauna species. We found that 70% of megafauna species with sufficient information are decreasing and 59% are threatened with extinction. Surprisingly, direct harvesting of megafauna for human consumption of meat or body parts is the largest individual threat to each of the classes examined, and a threat for 98% (159/162) of threatened species with threat data available. Therefore, minimizing the direct killing of the world's largest vertebrates is a priority conservation strategy that might save many of these iconic species and the functions and services they provide.

中文翻译：

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我们是否正在吃掉世界上灭绝的巨型动物？

由于人类活动的威胁，世界上许多脊椎动物的种群数量和地理范围都在减少，从而使其面临灭绝的危险。最大的脊椎动物被定义为大型动物，特别容易受到伤害。我们分析了人类活动如何影响六类巨型动物的保护状况：哺乳动物，射线鱼，软骨鱼类，两栖动物，鸟类和爬行动物。我们确定了总共362种现存的大型动物。我们发现，拥有足够信息的巨型动物种类中有70％正在减少，而59％的物种已濒临灭绝。出乎意料的是，直接采集巨型动物以供人类食用肉类或身体部位是对所检查的每个类别的最大个体威胁，并且是根据可用的威胁数据，对98％（159/162）的受威胁物种的一种威胁。所以，