Several island nations, such as New Zealand, Iceland, and Ireland, are well-known for having a lack of native terrestrial (land) predators that are dangerous to humans.
Bald eagles are another apex predator that have no known natural predators other than humans. They are opportunistic hunters that will swoop down on prey, including fish, birds, reptiles, and mammals (in short, pretty much anything), as well as scavenging carcasses. Bad eagles' prey rarely see them coming.
New Zealand's native animals, including flightless birds like the kiwi, evolved without ground-dwelling mammalian predators. That made them vulnerable to the mammals that arrived with European settlers in the 19th century.
The world's quietest predator isn't a big cat or a shark… it's the owl. Their wings are designed to fly in near-total silence, letting them swoop down on prey without a sound.
Its large carnivores are long gone – the brown bear probably became extinct in the early medieval period, around 1,500 years ago, the lynx around the 16th century and the wolf in the 18th century, through a combination of persecution and loss of habitat.
5 Apex Predators: Lion, Eagle, Leopard, Orca, Polar Bear.
Badgers are the UK's largest land predator and are one of the most well-known British species. They are famed for their black and white stripes and sturdy body, using their strong front paws to dig for food and to perfect their hobbit-like burrows, called 'setts'.
1. Mosquito (780,000 deaths per year) The tiny mosquito is the most dangerous animal in the world as well as the most dangerous insect, claiming 780,000 lives annually.
The Amur leopard is one of the rarest big cats in the world, with only around 100 individuals left in the wild.
Killer whales, also known as orcas, are among the most intelligent and strategic predators in the ocean. One of their most remarkable hunting techniques involves targeting great white sharks, a formidable and dangerous opponent.
Countries Remarkably Void of Snakes
Arguably the most famous and surprising snake-free country is New Zealand. This South Pacific archipelago, formed millions of years ago through tectonic activity, remained geographically isolated, preventing the natural colonization of snakes.
Yes, roughly 80% (or around 78%) of New Zealand's land is considered uninhabited, not because it's truly barren, but due to challenging terrain like mountains, vast protected areas (National Parks), and large expanses of farmland managed by few people, causing most of the population to cluster along the coasts and in major cities like Auckland.
This is due to its geographic isolation and strict biosecurity laws that prevent snakes from establishing populations. While sea snakes occasionally appear in New Zealand's waters, they do not breed there, keeping the country virtually snake-free.
Here are the top 10 most harmless animals in the world.
The great white shark (bottom) is one of the top marine predators; however, the orca (top) is known to prey upon them. The wolf is both an apex predator and a keystone species, affecting its prey's behaviour and the wider ecosystem.
Without predators like wolves, entire ecosystems collapse and this might be irreversible over a lifetime. Drawing, Simon Mustoe. Lead author Hobbs went on to say: 'All we can be sure of is what's observable now — the ecosystem has not responded dramatically to the restored food web.
Here are four animals at risk of extinction by 2050.
The so-called 'immortal' jellyfish, or Turritopsis dohrnii, can somehow reprogramme the identity of its own cells, returning it to an earlier stage of life. ADVERTISEMENT.
The Secret Seven – Africa's Elusive Safari Animals
Taken together, heart diseases and cancers are the cause of every second death. In red are infectious diseases, which are responsible for around 1-in-7 deaths. These include pneumonia, diarrheal diseases, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and malaria. A smaller share – around 4% – was from neonatal and maternal deaths.
Most reported cases of man-eaters have involved lions, tigers, leopards, polar bears, and large crocodilians.
Whale of an appetite
The largest animal on earth, the blue whale, puts away four tons of krill a day. That's sounds like a lot, but this animal has a 200-ton body to feed, so that's not a high percentage of its body weight.
Fun fact - super hiker: Wolves are the second largest predator in Europe after the brown bear.
The answer is we did, until really very recently. Cave lions died out in the UK around 12 to 14,000 years ago, a relative blink of the eye in evolutionary terms and their extinction coincides with the point humans were getting into farming as the ice retreated from northern hemispheres.
Sperm whales are the world's largest predator 🐋
These giant whales dive down to almost 3000m below the surface where they hunt giant squid. Giant squid can be the same size or bigger than sperm whales and will fight viciously with them. Adult whales can be seen with scars on their heads from the beaks of giant squid.