# Which is the most dominant animal 1 on 1? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 9, 2014, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-the-most-dominant-animal-1-on-1/695195 "2014-08-09T23:34:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-the-most-dominant-animal-1-on-1/695195/21 "2014-08-11T22:47:44Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Could a blue whale realistically swallow pretty much anything except a full grown elephant? The example usually given is that a blue whale couldn’t swallow something bigger than a grapefruit. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-the-most-dominant-animal-1-on-1/695195/22 "2014-08-11T23:13:19Z")
The problem with all these types of questions is that the answer varies based on various factors and doesn’t have one answer. Some factors offhand: [ul] [li]Are both of the animals fully grown and in good condition or is one juvenile and/or old or injured? (There was a celebrated instance a while back of an orca killing a GW shark, but it was a fully grown orca versus a juvenile shark.)[/li][li]Which animal is more motivated? Is one hungrier and/or defending its turf or offspring? Sometimes an animal which could win a confrontation will back down because it’s not worth the risk while the other is fighting for its life or turf etc.?[/li][li]Whose terrain? As someone alluded earlier, most animals are built more for one terrain than another, and there’s a big difference between a croc/lion fight in water versus on land, and so on.[/li][/ul] There are also some rock/paper/scissors situations, where A beats B and B beats C but C beats A. E.g. a mongoose wins over a cobra but a cobra can kill a lot of other animals which can kill a mongoose, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speak_to_me_Maddie)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-the-most-dominant-animal-1-on-1/695195/23 "2014-08-11T23:20:52Z")
Full grown, equally motivated, neutral territory. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-the-most-dominant-animal-1-on-1/695195/24 "2014-08-12T00:57:26Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Eh, gimme a BAR. Pff. Davey Crockett kilt him a BAR when he was only three. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-the-most-dominant-animal-1-on-1/695195/25 "2014-08-12T08:45:37Z")
> [@AtomicDog](#): > > A human with a pound of C4. C4 is useless without a detonator. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-the-most-dominant-animal-1-on-1/695195/26 "2014-08-12T13:25:06Z")
> [@dstarfire](#): > > My nomination for dominant animal on land is simply the biggest creature that can’t be taken down by a single predator (probably an elephant). In the water it’d be the sperm whale (followed close behind by orcas), which is the largest predator on the planet, afaik. Yeah, for one-on-one, I’d say the sperm whale. Once you’ve settled on best on land & best on water, you have your final elimination round. Given a ridiculous scenario where a sperm whale and an elephant could fight with each retaining its mobility, etc I don’t think there’s much chance for the elephant there. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-the-most-dominant-animal-1-on-1/695195/27 "2014-08-12T14:07:26Z")
> [@Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](#): > > Full grown, equally motivated, neutral territory. Neutral territory would be the hard part. What’s neutral territory for a lion vs. croc fight, for example? But I think even equally motivated might be inherently skewed as well. Some creatures are naturally more aggressive, which is a type of motivation, and this is part of their natures much as any other weapon. For example, brown/grizzly bears tend to dominate polar bears in confrontations, but this is thought to be because the former are more aggressive. Harder to know who would win in a fight to the death. But their natural aggressiveness is itself a natural characteristic that stands them in good stead in these confrontations. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-the-most-dominant-animal-1-on-1/695195/28 "2014-08-12T14:27:19Z")
I think you’d find out that it’s like a game of rock, paper, scissors or, dare I say, Pokemon. Some animals have evolved to do well against certain other animals, but not so well against others. How well does an elephant fare against a box jellyfish or an adder? ``` I thought the polar bear was just about an invincible killing machine until I saw one go up against a pack of elephant seals in a documentary. The poor polar bear couldn't even make a dent in their hides -- they just shrugged him off (violently) until he died of his injuries. ``` ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-the-most-dominant-animal-1-on-1/695195/29 "2014-08-12T15:23:15Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > ``` > I thought the polar bear was just about an invincible killing machine until I saw one go up against a pack of elephant seals in a documentary. The poor polar bear couldn't even make a dent in their hides -- they just shrugged him off (violently) until he died of his injuries. > > ``` Sure that wasn’t walruses? I don’t think polar bears encounter elephant seals much in the wild, there’s not a lot (if any) normal range overlap. Bears do attack walrus (and can badly lose) fairly often though, and I’ve watched a BBC documentary which included a group of walrus defending themselves successfully against a polar bear, leaving him badly injured. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-the-most-dominant-animal-1-on-1/695195/30 "2014-08-12T15:31:30Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > Sure that wasn’t walruses? I don’t think polar bears encounter elephant seals much in the wild, there’s not a lot (if any) normal range overlap. Could have been. All I remember is big ugly masses of extremely tough blubber putting the hurt onto a polar bear. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-the-most-dominant-animal-1-on-1/695195/31 "2014-08-12T15:34:36Z")
Frankly, I think the best way to do this would be to make different classes and talk about them in that context. It doesn’t make sense to compare anything that lives in the ocean to anything that doesn’t. Similarly with the whole croc vs. lion issue, there just isn’t a way to control for their advantages or disadvantages based on terrain. I’d be quite confident a lion would win on dry land and a croc would win in swamp land. So I’m thinking something along the lines of: Plains (American, Africa, Asia), Jungle/Swamp, Ocean. Maybe some weight or other special classses could be considered, like Insects, Poison/Venom, etc. Then I’d say, after finding the king of each class, rather than having them fight, we figure out who is most dominant in their own domain. I think this would give us more interesting matches. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-the-most-dominant-animal-1-on-1/695195/32 "2014-08-12T15:37:06Z")
I’ll take my cue from [Merlin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sword_in_the_Stone_%28film%29#Plot) and say “the right virus.” ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-the-most-dominant-animal-1-on-1/695195/33 "2014-08-12T20:45:17Z")
Are virus considered “animal” ? ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-the-most-dominant-animal-1-on-1/695195/34 "2014-08-12T21:08:56Z")
Batman, if he’s… Ah, forget it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-the-most-dominant-animal-1-on-1/695195.md?page=1)