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.

   3 more examples

   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.”

   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

   With a bite that could split a shark in two and an armored mug only a mother could love, Dunkleosteus was one of Earth’s earliest apex predators, terrorizing subtropical seas 360 million years ago during the Devonian Period.

   2023 March 4, Jack Tamisiea, “Dunk Was Chunky, but Still Deadly”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

   Alessi did as he was told, and I found out later that [Ghislaine] Maxwell got out and followed me. I didn’t know it yet, but an apex predator was closing in.

   2025 October 15, Virginia Giuffre, “‘Prince Andrew believed having sex with me was his birthright’: Virginia Giuffre on her abuse at the hands of Epstein, Maxwell and the king’s brother”, in The Guardian, →ISSN