List of apex predators

This is a partial list of apex predators—those predators that are not preyed upon as healthy adults in the wild. Full scavengers (e.g. most vultures), although they may not be preyed on either, are not counted as apex predators unless they at least partially depend on capturing live prey. Many species listed here are only apex predators within certain environments, e.g. coyotes are only apex predators when larger predators such as the gray wolf or the brown bear are absent.

Extant predators

These living carnivores or omnivores are apex predators.

The African wild dog is a predatory canine found across much of southern and central Africa.
The lion is a large feline of central, southern, and eastern Africa, as well as Gir Forest in India. It is Africa's and India's apex predator.
The Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard and the apex predator of Komodo.
The largest surviving carnivorous marsupial, the Tasmanian devil, is both a scavenger and a fierce predator.

Terrestrial

The south polar skua both preys on other seabirds and bullies them for their catches.

Aerial

The electric rays are marine predators of the tropics.
The great white shark, a paradigmatic apex predator.
The killer whale or orca is an apex predator of most of the world's oceans.
The saltwater crocodile is the largest living reptile and is the dominant predator throughout its range.

Aquatic

Pagophilic

Notes: Animals with an asterisk (*) are only apex predators as introduced species. (**) Humans have debatable status[6]

Extinct apex predators

Dinosaurs

The carnivorous theropods listed below were likely apex predators based on their size and dietary needs. Because very few prehistoric ecosystems are known in detail, these are merely suggestions - larger, more dominant theropods might have lived during the same time in the same place.

Size comparison of the largest theropod dinosaurs
The largest Coelurosaur, Tyrannosaurus rex could possibly grow to over 40 feet long weigh around 6 to 10 tons and was an apex predator of its environment.
Spinosaurus was the largest ever terrestrial predator and an apex predator of its environment.

Other prehistoric terrestrial apex predators

Cave lions were apex predator that preyed on reindeer and other large ungulates.

Prehistoric aerial apex predators

Before their extinction, Haast's eagles were the apex predators of New Zealand, and preyed on moas.

Prehistoric aquatic apex predators

References

  1. ↑ Bargagli, Roberto (2004). Antarctic Ecosystems. Springer. pp. 282–287. ISBN 3-540-22091-7.
  2. ↑ DeMartini, Edward E., Friedlander, Alan M., and Holzwarth, Stephani R. (2005). "Size at sex change in protogynous labroids, prey body size distributions, and apex predator densities at NW Hawaiian atolls". Marine ecology progress series 297: 259 -271. ISSN 0171-8630. Retrieved on 2006-12-21.
  3. 1 2 Lepak, Jesse M., Kraft, Clifford E., and Weidel, Brian C. (2006). "Rapid Food Web Recovery in Response to Removal of an Introduced Apex Predator". Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 63(3): 569-575. ISSN 0706-652X. Retrieved on 2006-12-13.
  4. ↑ Kuhn, Carey E., McDonald, Birgitte I., Shaffer, Scott A., Barnes, Julie, Crocker, Daniel E., Burns, Jennifer, and Costa, Daniel P. (2006). "Diving physiology and winter foraging behavior of a juvenile leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx)". Polar Biology 29(4): 303-307. ISSN 0722-4060. Retrieved on 2006-12-21.
  5. ↑ Levner, Eugene; Linkov, Igor; Proth, Jean-Marie (2005). Strategic Management of Marine Ecosystems. Springer. p. 41. ISBN 1-4020-3158-0.
  6. ↑ Roopnarine, PD (2014). "Humans are apex predators". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 111: E796. doi:10.1073/pnas.1323645111. PMC 3948303Freely accessible. PMID 24497513.
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