apex predator

[ey-peks pred-uh-ter, -tawr]

noun

1. a carnivore that preys on other animals but has no natural predators of its own; the predator at the top of a particular food chain.

   Sharks fill an important ecological niche as apex predators, keeping the population of other species from exploding.

Word History and Origins

Origin of apex predator¹

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

To earn his “cloak,” a symbol of acceptance as a full-fledged member of his clan, Dek travels to the planet Genna to bag a Kalisk, a fellow apex predator even his father won’t risk his life against.

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According to Voris, "This new species provides us the window into the ascent stage of Tyrannosaur evolution; right when they're transitioning from small predators to their apex predator form."

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Scientists believe that Khankhuuluu, or one of its relatives, crossed a land bridge into North America, where it evolved into the formidable apex predator Tyrannosaurs.

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In the years since her widely praised Broadway run as “Mean Girls” villain Regina George, which she embarked on when she was just 19, Rapp has had a stint in television, reprised her role as North Shore High School’s apex predator for a movie musical adaptation of “Mean Girls” and released and toured an EP and two albums’ worth of music.

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Swimming with the birds made me feel like I, too, was a wild creature — another element in the web of life rather than the apex predator detached from the natural world that I usually am in my everyday urban existence.

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