For other uses, see Apex predator (disambiguation).
The lion is the world's second-largest big cat and serves as an apex land predator in Africa.[1][2]The saltwater crocodile is the largest living reptile and the dominant predator throughout its range.[3][4]The great white shark (bottom) was originally considered an apex predator of the ocean; however, the orca (killer whale, top) has proven to be a predator of the shark.
An apex predator, also known as a top predator, is a predator[a] at the top of a food chain, without natural predators of its own.[6][7]
Apex predators are usually defined in terms of trophic dynamics, meaning that they occupy the highest trophic levels. Food chains are often far shorter on land, usually limited to being secondary consumers – for example, wolves prey mostly upon large herbivores (primary consumers), which eat plants (primary producers). The apex predator concept is applied in wildlife management, conservation, and ecotourism.
Apex predators have a long evolutionary history, dating at least to the Cambrian period when animals such as Anomalocaris and Timorebestia dominated the seas.
Humans have for many centuries interacted with apex predators including the wolf, birds of prey, and cormorants to hunt game animals, birds, and fish respectively. More recently, humans have started interacting with apex predators in new ways. These include interactions via ecotourism, such as with the tiger shark, and through rewilding efforts, such as the proposed reintroduction of the Iberian lynx.
^Ordiz, Andrés; Bischof, Richard; Swenson, Jon E. (2013). "Saving large carnivores, but losing the apex predator?". Biological Conservation. 168: 128–133. Bibcode:2013BCons.168..128O. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2013.09.024. hdl:11250/2492589.
^Kristoffer T. Everatt; Jennifer F. Moore; Graham I.H. Kerley (2019). "Africa's apex predator, the lion, is limited by interference and exploitive competition with humans". Global Ecology and Conservation. 20: e00758. doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2019.e00758. ISSN 2351-9894. S2CID 202023472.
^Whiting, Frances. "Terri fights to halt croc eggs harvest." Archived 2010-10-28 at the Wayback Machine Australia Zoo. 2007-06-11. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
^"Saltwater Crocodile." Archived 2013-09-06 at the Wayback Machine National Geographic. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
^Sukhdeo, Michael V. K. (2012). "Where are the parasites in food webs?". Parasites & Vectors. 5 (1): 239. doi:10.1186/1756-3305-5-239. PMC 3523981. PMID 23092160.
^"predator". Online Etymological Dictionary. Archived from the original on 2009-07-01. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
^"apex predator". PBS. Archived from the original on 2009-07-22. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
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An apexpredator, also known as a top predator, is a predator at the top of a food chain, without natural predators of its own. Apexpredators are usually...
altogether. Some keystone species, such as the wolf and lion are also apexpredators. The role that a keystone species plays in its ecosystem is analogous...
Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding...
the removal of a single vertex Apexpredator, a predator at the top of a food chain, with no natural predators Solar apex, the direction in which the Solar...
album, ApexPredator – Easy Meat, was released on 26 January 2015.[citation needed] On 4 July, a Nepal Charity Event track from the ApexPredator sessions...
granivory, is a type of plant-animal interaction in which granivores (seed predators) feed on the seeds of plants as a main or exclusive food source, in many...
the food chain (adults not preyed upon by other animals) is termed an apexpredator, regardless of whether it is an obligate or facultative carnivore. In...
carnivore in its environment, Tyrannosaurus rex was most likely an apexpredator, preying upon hadrosaurs, juvenile armored herbivores like ceratopsians...
While large, it is not always the dominant apexpredator in its range, yielding prey to other predators. It is reclusive and mostly avoids people. Fatal...
the prehistoric eras, the species Tyrannosaurus rex may have been an apexpredator, preying upon hadrosaurs, ceratopsians, and possibly juvenile sauropods...
forests on the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. The tiger is an apexpredator and preys mainly on ungulates such as deer and wild boar, which it takes...
made it an apexpredator capable of consuming a broad spectrum of animals. Otodus megalodon was probably one of the most powerful predators to have existed...
the Cambrian, and thought to be one of the earliest examples of an apexpredator, though others have been found in older Cambrian lagerstätten deposits...
raccoons, foxes, or coyotes. They are often defined by contrast from apexpredators or prey in a particular food web. Mesopredators typically prey on smaller...
level 2, carnivores at level 3 or higher, and typically finish with apexpredators at level 4 or 5. The path along the chain can form either a one-way...
thick, scaly, heavily armoured skin. Nile crocodiles are opportunistic apexpredators; a very aggressive crocodile, they are capable of taking almost any...
preys upon a variety of fish, reptiles, birds, and mammals. Being an apexpredator and potentially a keystone species, it is generalist, capable of taking...
strongly pitched in opposite directions. The Greenland shark is an apexpredator and eats primarily fish, although they have been observed actively hunting...
Apex Legends is a free-to-play battle royale-hero shooter game developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts. It was released for...
theory of predator–prey interactions, the relationship between herbivores and plants is cyclic. When prey (plants) are numerous their predators (herbivores)...
chain ends with the apexpredators, the animals that have no known predators in its ecosystem. Humans are considered apexpredators. Humans are omnivores...
swimming and is largely a solitary, opportunistic, stalk-and-ambush apexpredator. As a keystone species, it plays an important role in stabilizing ecosystems...
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