apex predator

English

The lion is one of Africa's apex land predators.

Etymology

apex +‎ predator

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

apex predator (plural apex predators)

1. An animal atop the food chain, preying on another animals, and not itself preyed upon.
   • a. 2007, Martha Hiatt, quoted in, 2007, Wendell Jamieson, Father Knows Less, or, "Can I cook my sister?", Putnam, →ISBN, page 203,

     Killer whales are the oceans' apex predators, which means they are at the top of the food chain.

   • 2017 April 2, Tim Carvell, Josh Gondelman, Dan Gurewitch, Jeff Maurer, Ben Silva, Will Tracy, Jill Twiss, Seena Vali, Julie Weiner, “Marijuana”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 4, episode 7, John Oliver (actor), Warner Bros. Television, via HBO:

     And marijuana is not a Schedule I any more than a hedgehog is an apex predator. “You’re not scaring anyone, Roland. Get a tattoo.”

Usage notes

Apex predators still have parasites, and these may include micropredators.

Translations

an animal atop the food chain

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 頂級掠食者／顶级掠食者 (dǐngjí lüèshízhě)

• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: toproofdier n
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: huippusaalistaja, huippupeto
• French: superprédateur (fr) m
• German: Spitzenprädator m
• Greek: κορυφαίο αρπακτικό n (koryfaío arpaktikó)
• Hebrew: טורף־על m (toréf-al)
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: csúcsragadozó (hu)
• Italian: please add this translation if you can
• Japanese: 頂点捕食者 (chōten hoshokusha)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: toppkonsument m

  Nynorsk: toppkonsument m

• Persian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: drapieżnik szczytowy m, drapieżnik alfa m
• Portuguese: superpredador m
• Russian: сверххи́щник m (sverxxíščnik), вы́сший хи́щник m (výsšij xíščnik), суперхи́щник m (superxíščnik)
• Spanish: superdepredador m
• Swedish: toppkonsument (sv) c
• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

Further reading

• apex predator on Wikipedia.Wikipedia