You really think we would have let a competing species exist?
Depends on whether they were considered competing, and whether "we" were as organized, single-minded and competitive as this statement seems to imply - "we" probably weren't, not until larger kingdoms and empires started forming ~4000 years ago.
Lions, bears, wolves, etc all survived us
Barely and only because some of use decided to protect them.
Bears and wolves were indeed "removed" from parts of Europe by humans.
There is a long list of Megafauna that did not.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_Pleistocene_extinctions
Depends on whether they were considered competing, and whether "we" were as organized, single-minded and competitive as this statement seems to imply - "we" probably weren't, not until larger kingdoms and empires started forming ~4000 years ago.
Lions, bears, wolves, etc all survived us
Barely and only because some of use decided to protect them.
Bears and wolves were indeed "removed" from parts of Europe by humans.
There is a long list of Megafauna that did not.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_Pleistocene_extinctions