Apex predators

Animals with no natural predators of their own as adults.

• LionPanthera leo
• TigerPanthera tigris
• JaguarPanthera onca
• Polar BearUrsus maritimus
• Grey WolfCanis lupus
• Killer WhaleOrcinus orca
• Great White SharkCarcharodon carcharias
• Saltwater CrocodileCrocodylus porosus
• Komodo DragonVaranus komodoensis
• Golden EagleAquila chrysaetos
• King CobraOphiophagus hannah

About this list

"Apex predator" is a statement about a food web, not about an animal, and the same species can sit at the top in one system and be prey in another. Adult wolves have no predators, but wolves are killed by bears at carcasses; orcas are apex everywhere they occur.

Removing an apex predator tends to restructure the community beneath it. The best-documented case is the return of wolves to Yellowstone, though the size of the effect is still argued over.