# What Animals Have No Natural Enemies **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 11, 1999, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animals-have-no-natural-enemies/3231 "1999-09-11T20:47:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2017, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animals-have-no-natural-enemies/3231/101 "2017-04-18T20:12:52Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Oh sure, at SOME point, you accept animals as native even if they were introduced later than their neighbors. > > Point is, the dingoes’ prey DIDN’T have any natural enemies 13,000 years ago. But by now, no one remembers when that was true. Oh but they did: > **[Megalania](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalania)** > > Megalania (Varanus priscus) is an extinct species of giant monitor lizard, part of the megafaunal assemblage that inhabited Australia during the Pleistocene. It is the largest terrestrial lizard known to have existed, but the fragmentary nature of known remains make estimates highly uncertain. Recent studies suggest that most known specimens would have reached around 3 m (9.8 ft) or more excluding the tail, while larger individuals would have reached at least over 7 m (23 ft) long. > Megalania ... > **[Thylacoleo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsupial_lion)** > > Thylacoleo ("pouch lion") is an extinct genus of carnivorous marsupials that lived in Australia from the late Pliocene to the Late Pleistocene (until around 40,000 years ago), often known as marsupial lions. They were the largest and last members of the family Thylacoleonidae, occupying the position of apex predator within Australian ecosystems. The largest and last species, Thylacoleo carnifex, approached the weight of a lioness. The estimated average weight for the species ranges from 101 to ... (Ok, both likely all gone by 13K years ago, but still a large carnivore that preyed on kangaroos) > **[Thylacine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thylacine)** > > The thylacine (/ˈθaɪləsiːn/; binomial name Thylacinus cynocephalus), also commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger or Tasmanian wolf, is an extinct carnivorous marsupial that was native to the Australian mainland and the islands of Tasmania and New Guinea. The thylacine died out in New Guinea and mainland Australia around 3,600–3,200 years ago, prior to the arrival of Europeans, possibly because of the introduction of the dingo, whose earliest record dates to around the same time, but which ne... [Sarcophilus - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcophilus) (maybe) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2017, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animals-have-no-natural-enemies/3231/102 "2017-05-06T12:41:41Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > As noted, surprisingly few mammals are PURE vegetarians. Most herbivores will eat carrion if it’s available, and many will pounce on a small bird or lizard for an occasional high protein snack. To add one more example, apparently deer [aren’t averse](http://www.rawstory.com/2017/05/forensic-scientists-caught-a-deer-munching-on-a-human-carcass-for-the-first-time-ever/) to partaking in the occasional yummy human. ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2017, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animals-have-no-natural-enemies/3231/103 "2017-05-06T19:58:24Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > Pumas will hunt and kill smaller adult wolves as a food source. > Cats are eaten by owls, hawks, eagles, coyotes, foxes. Just wondering: Which could be honey badgers’ predators ? ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2017, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animals-have-no-natural-enemies/3231/104 "2017-05-07T03:49:24Z")
> [@Gymnopithys](#): > > Just wondering: Which could be honey badgers’ predators ? If you are talking healthy adults I would suspect leopards and to a lesser extent lions. If you made a list of animals with absolutely no natural enemies it would be very short. If you extended that description to include animals with less than a 4% mortality from natural enemies it would be a very long list. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2017, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animals-have-no-natural-enemies/3231/105 "2017-05-07T05:04:52Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > If you are talking healthy adults I would suspect leopards and to a lesser extent lions. > > If you made a list of animals with absolutely no natural enemies it would be very short. If you extended that description to include animals with less than a 4% mortality from natural enemies it would be a very long list. Yes, there’s a lot of animals with “no natural enemies” if you dont include odd acts of killing or unusual predation. orcas. Great whites. Polar bears. Tigers. That doesnt mean that once in a a while a odd tiger might not be killed. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2017, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animals-have-no-natural-enemies/3231/106 "2017-05-07T11:32:10Z")
> **[Apex predator](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_apex_predators)** > > An apex predator, also known as a top predator, is a predator\[a\] at the top of a food chain, without natural predators of its own. > Apex predators are usually defined in terms of trophic dynamics, meaning that they occupy the highest trophic levels. Food chains are often far shorter on land, usually limited to being secondary consumers – for example, wolves prey mostly upon large herbivores (primary consumers), which eat plants (primary producers). The apex predator concept is applied in wildli... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animals-have-no-natural-enemies/3231.md?page=5)