I knew that we needed something dramatic for what would inevitably be a centerpiece of the hall. There is so much diversity in size and form and behavior and their physiology. It's just an awesome animal, reptiles are kind of like a playground for evolution. This is an apex predator living on isolated islands, and it's absolutely gigantic. Track sites suggest it might have been a long-distance hunter that would follow herds for miles to pick off prey. It had long arms with grasping claws and a strong bite force. It was a hatchet feeder like a hawk, meaning it would chop into prey with its head. rex, but it was no slouch as an apex predator, it was able to hyper-extend its jaw for a super-wide gape. For example, grizzly bears and humans are each apex predators and are omnivores.Īllosaurus might not have been as big as T. Apex predators do not need to be hypercarnivores. The apex predator concept is commonly applied in wildlife management, conservation, and ecotourism.įood chains are often far shorter on land, with the top of the food chain limited to the third trophic level, as where such predators as the big cats, crocodilians, hyenas, wolves, or giant constrictor snakes prey upon large herbivores. One study of marine food webs defined apex predators as greater than trophic level four. Apex predator species occupy the highest trophic level and have a crucial role in maintaining the health of their ecosystems. In this context, "apex predator" is usually defined in terms of trophic dynamics. Zoologists define predation as the killing and consumption of another organism. Freebase (5.00 / 4 votes) Rate this definition:Īpex predators are predators with few to no predators of their own, residing at the top of their food chain.