"Well you see pfr, the species homo sapiens sapiens is not a primary predator we never have been."

Well, there are two schools of thought on this and the answer isn't cut and dried. There is little doubt that we are now an apex predator, living at the top of a food pyramid because of our use of technology. Based on studies of human trophic levels in natural systems and where humans fit in the evidence suggest we might well be apex predators. However, some think we're lower level omnivores that don't occupy the apex position; personally I think it's likely they're both right.

In the past, we would have been apex predators in some environments but not others, as is the case now. Go walking in Yellowstone with nothing but a bag of butties and a pointy stick you're not at the top of the food chain. Go walking on the South Downs and you are.


"Way back in the old days we would let primary predators bring down large game then we would as a group drive them away from their kill"

This statement is meaningless and misleading. When and where are you actually talking about? Humans are very effective predators and we certainly actively hunted prey from very early on after the appearance of our species; in fact the vast majority of the last 200,000 years anatomically modern humans have been on the planet we have been hunters.

There is school of thought that suggests we are persistent hunters. Check out this fantastic and profoundly beautiful sequence from The Life of Mammals: Human Mammal, Human Hunter - Attenborough