1. Carnivores: Predators are animals that live by eating other animals. Predators are carnivores, meaning their diet consists primarily of meat

2. Scavengers: Some predators hunt their prey, while others are scavengers, eating the remains of other predators’ prey or dead animals

3. Prey animals: Unlike predators, there are prey animals that can be both carnivores and herbivores. Animals that can eat both meat and plants are called ‘omnivores’ or ‘omnivorous’ animals

4. The animal kingdom: Although the word ‘predator’ brings to mind an animal with pointed teeth and sharp claws, not all predators have these characteristics. As mentioned, predators are any animal that eats other animals to survive and can be found in all parts of the animal kingdom – including amoebas, nematodes, molluscs, arthropods, arthropods, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals

5. The food chain: The food chain is a process by which energy is passed from one organism to the next. Predators are an essential part of the food chain and are typically involved in the following way: 1) a plant absorbs the sun’s energy 2) a herbivore eats the plant 3) a predator eats the herbivore 4) an omnivore eats the predator and is thus at the top of the food chain

Fact: Predators include all animals that live by eating meat. Predators are therefore found in all parts of the animal kingdom

 

6. Hunting techniques: How a predator hunts and takes down its prey depends on several factors, but most commonly 1 of the following 4 techniques are used: hunting, pursuit, ambush or cooperation

7. Assistive technology: The most obvious hunting aids are teeth and claws, but exhaustion, poison and electricity are also used (as in wolves, snakes and electric eels, respectively)

8. Tools: Just as there are natural aids, there are also various tools that require a certain level of intelligence to use. Examples include 1) chimpanzees reaching for ants with sticks or throwing spears at other primates, 2) dolphins using sea sponges to dig up the seabed to access buried prey, or 3) sea otters crushing seashells with rocks

9. The goldsmith: The dragonfly is today considered the most successful predator in hunting, with a dragonfly taking down around 95% of all prey it hunts. In comparison, a lion’s hunting success rate is around 25% and a shark’s around 50%

10. Predator/prey: In zoology, we talk about the relationship or interaction between predator and prey – i.e. certain predators have their prey and vice versa. Examples include lion – zebra, bear – fish, fox – rabbit, etc. The two groups live in the same environment where they evolve and adapt together

Among all the world’s predators, the dragonfly is considered the most successful hunter, managing to bring down its prey 95% of the time. Its success is mainly due to the fact that it can calculate the upcoming position of its prey and predict where it can catch it