Apex Predators: Who is The Highest Apex Predator of All Time?

Apex predators are living creatures that are on the top of their food chain, within a given terrestrial or marine natural habitat.

Also known as top predators, these hunters dominate the food chain in their own ecosystems and even regulate their local population.

While predators, aside from humans, influence different environments, one may wonder which of all the predatory animals ranks the highest in terms of strength, agility, and intelligence.

Before determining who is the highest apex predator of all time, prey can also alter the dynamics of their ecosystems and web of food chain.

Other factors surrounding the question are that invasive species or non-native species can also threaten and decimate local animal populations.

Regardless, the highest top predator is one species that had both stood the test of time and competition in their surrounding environments, at least before their extinction: the megalodon.

What is an Apex Predator?

An apex predator is defined by scientists as an animal that hunts and kills other wild animals. Having no other overwhelming contenders, apex predators like orcas or killer whales dominate today's oceans, where great white sharks are also seen as one of the seas' top predators.

On land, large carnivorous mammals like lions, tigers, and other big cats dominate their respective natural habitats. Canines like wolves and other species are also apex predators in some terrestrial habitats.

In addition, reptiles like saltwater crocodiles are also on the top of the food chain across some freshwater ecosystems of the world.

According to experts, an apex predator does not need to be the largest animal, adding that a mesopredator, which are animals in the mid-ranking level in a food web, can also exist. This means that a mesopredator are typically medium-sized carnivores and omnivores, including raccoons and other members of the family Canidae.

Who is the Highest Apex Predator?

Aside from potentially being the largest marine predator that has ever lived, the megalodon has been considered by scientists as the highest apex predator of all time.

Some reports even describe the now-extinct giant shark as "Earth's highest-level apex predator."

The species Otodus megalodon became extinct by the end of the Pliocene period approximately 2.6 million years ago when our planet transitioned to a phase of global cooling, according to the United Kingdom's Natural History Museum.

In a 2022 study published in the journal Science Advances, a research team led by Princeton University in the United States suggests megatooth sharks, a group that consists of the world's largest sharks that ever lived, were apex predators with a magnitude of the highest level ever measured.

They have concluded that Cenozoic megatooth sharks were ranked at "extremely high trophic positions."

This shark group includes the megalodon, which evolved following the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs 66 million years ago.

Scientists not involved in the research also described that the megalodon and some of its ancestors are at the "highest trophic level."