Over time, we’ve hunted them to near extinction for their fur, out of fear, and for their use in traditional Chinese medicine. They’ve been found to feed on everything from rabbits and salmon to deer and wild boar, and even small bears.

While they have no natural predators, tigers prey on just about everything. Most tigers live solitary lives and defend the vast expanses of land they claim as their territory from other tigers. They’re great swimmers and frequent watering holes and rivers. Unlike a lot of other big cats, tigers love the water. You can find them roaming throughout Asia, from India and China to the polar forests of Siberia. Tigers are one of the largest big cats in the world, with some specimens weighing well over 600 pounds (270 kg). Tiger sharks, bull sharks, and hammerheads all sit at the top of their respective food webs with only larger sharks as a threat. When they do, the white sharks strike from below and behind.Īside from white sharks though, sharks dominate marine ecosystems. The sharks hug the deeper water, waiting for seals to venture out for food. They mostly feed on marine mammals like seals, stalking them from what is called kill zones. The only threats white sharks face are from humans, larger white sharks, and orcas. Only basking sharks, megamouth sharks, and whale sharks grow larger, but they both feed almost exclusively on plankton. Growing to over twenty feet in length and weighing in at up to 4,500 pounds (2,000 kg), white sharks are the largest of the predatory sharks. Millions of years of evolution have left them largely unchanged, mostly because of how well-adapted and successful biological sharks have become.Īt the pinnacle of the shark food chain is the great white. In nearly any marine environment in the world, you’ve going to find species of sharks. This does bring us to our next apex predator though.

The former top predator of the oceans was the great white shark, however, it’s been documented that orcas specifically prey on them and will eat their livers. Aside from human hunting activity and pollution, there are basically no threats to orcas from predation. Recently, a pod of whales was videoed hunting and preying on the world’s largest animal, a blue whale. Some groups may almost entirely eat fish, while others feed mostly on marine mammals like seals.Īfter more study and observation, killer whales have essentially become the undisputed apex predator of the oceans. They use their intelligence to form both highly complicated hunting strategies and complex social structures.Īn orca’s diet varies depending on where they live regionally, as well as learned behaviors of the pod. Scientists believe orcas communicate with each other to the extent of nearly having their own language. Orcas are one of the most intelligent species on the planet. These groups can number from just a few to over twenty individuals, and pods have been seen to group together for mating or hunting large prey. Orcas live, hunt, and play in familial groups called pods. In the wild, these animals can live anywhere from 30 to 90 years, reach lengths of over 30 feet (10 meters), and weigh as much as 11 tons (9,979 kilograms).

They can be found nearly worldwide, with higher populations in the southern oceans near Antarctica, but also in the Arctic, off the coasts of Alaska and New England, and in African waters. Killer whales are the largest species in the dolphin family. Most predation of apex predator species occurs when individuals are still juveniles and therefore vulnerable.

For the most part, the only threat to an apex predator is a larger individual of the same species or larger, hostile herbivores.Īn apex predator does not have to be the largest animal in its environment, but in many cases, they are larger animals. There are some exceptions in the animal kingdom when apex predators become prey, and some of them will be noted in this article. They prey on multiple other species in their ecosystem, while (normally) having no other organisms that prey on them. What is an Apex Predator?Īn apex predator is defined as an organism that sits at the top of the food chain in an ecosystem. These animals are what we classify as apex predators. Once they’ve grown into adults, they have little to fear from other predators. The ecological role they fill places them at the top of the food chain. Some animals are just built differently than others.

Top 10 apex predators