A study conducted by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and Cambridge University published last year in Biological Conservation found that Africa's large mammal population has dwindled 59% in just 40 years.
"We weren't surprised that populations had dropped but we were surprised by how large the drops had been," said lead author Ian Craigie in an interview published last month on Mongabay.com.
"The massive declines in West Africa are likely due to the lack of financial and personnel resources, high rates of habitat degradation and the growing bushmeat trade," according to the ZSL.
And while the International Union for the Conservation of Nature estimates that 40 percent of world's species are endangered, Homo sapiens keep on multiplying at a frightening rate. At the current rate of growth, the human population will balloon from 6.9 billion today to 9.3 billion by 2050. (In 1960, there were less than 3 billion people.)
Among the ten most populated countries in the world, Nigeria had the highest rate of human population growth -- almost 27% since 1950 -- according to the United Nations Population Division.
The continent's population of 1 billion people is projected to grow to 1.9 billion by 2050.
But out-of-control population growth is far from just an African problem. In his book, The Coming Famine: The Global Food Crisis and What We Can Do to Avoid It , Professor Julian Cribb argues a catastrophic global food shortage will hit by mid-century.
There are simply too many people. And the rest of the world's species are paying the price.
"Although the results indicate that African national parks have generally failed to maintain their populations of large mammals, the situation outside the parks is almost undoubtedly worse," said Craigie in the ZSL release.
"Many species...are practically extinct outside national parks."