I've spent enough time in the woods to know that animals fear the Apex predators, I have my hunches as to why but it has a great deal to do with hunting and the pressure man puts on what he hunts.
I think that may be the impression due to the results, but I think a lot of it is because any animals that are either not afraid, friendly, curious, etc are some of the first killed. That may include both bad ones that could pose a risk, and so no longer will. But also those happy to stay at a distance and do their own thing and would never have posed any problems but knowingly remaining fully visible.
Being an ambassador to humans is a death sentence.
The only ones that can survive are the most paranoid.
This may give the impression they are all like that, but I think it is less that they have changed and more that those are the type of individuals that can manage to survive.
It is human selection of only those that dash from cover to cover, over react to the slightest stimuli, etc
The others are not taught through pressure, they are dead. Whenever a new happy joyful little member that likes to sit in open meadows and enjoy the sunshine is born, they die a few hunting seasons later. While the one that slinks around cover and sticks to the shadows, they survive.
It is human selection of the stressed out paranoid animals as survivors.
Humans have a big impact on animals. For example trophy hunters also shrink the average size of many animals over time. The desire to slaughter the biggest examples of certain animals means the largest survive the least amount of time to mate and pass on their genetics. It is essentially selective breeding of smaller animals. The biggest strongest and healthiest that is bold and full of confidence are more likely to be killed quickly than the small, sickly, and skittish.
Humans do essentially the opposite of natural predators. Rather than making species stronger and more vibrant culling the weak like natural predators, humans kill the best genetic specimens and weaken the species over time.
