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Are dolphins on the top of the food chain? I thought they were predated by whales and sharks?

JoeAltmaier 11y ago
...and Japanese dog food companies.
junto 11y ago
True, but but the great white shark is also hunted by killer whales, but I think you would probably consider the great white shark to be at the to of the food chain. Humans don't fair too well against a number of large predators either all things being equal. Let's rephrase it to be "pretty much the pinnacle of the food chain".
- JoeAltmaier 11y ago
  Asimov wrote an article about that myth - that humans were some poor vulnerable mammal through history, using its wits to survive against apex predators. Turns out, through history, humans were apex predators. We don't live in the ocean; sharks and whales are not preying upon us. In other ecosystems, humans rarely if ever met other apex predators. We were the top of the heap historically in almost every environment we occupied. Pretty much. That said, I remember reading recently about 6 or 8 human skeletons being found in a saber-toothed tiger den, 80,000 years old, being excavated somewhere.
  - marcosdumay 11y ago
    If you mean Homo Sapiens, yes, we've been apex predators for all our history. Now if you mean hominids, no, for most of our history he've been prey. Even for a while after the Homo gender appeared.
- dalke 11y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolphin#Natural_threats https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolphin#Natural_threats > Except for humans (discussed below), dolphins have few natural enemies. Some species or specific populations have none, making them apex predators. For most of the smaller species of dolphins, only a few of the larger sharks, such as the bull shark, dusky shark, tiger shark and great white shark, are a potential risk, especially for calves.[117] Some of the larger dolphin species, especially orcas (killer whales), may also prey on smaller dolphins, but this seems rare. Thus, the answer to 'Are dolphins on the top of the food chain?' is 'which species of dolphin?'
lectrick 11y ago
Humans are also predated on by sharks (and lions and tigers and bears, oh my!)

...and Japanese dog food companies.

junto 11y ago

True, but but the great white shark is also hunted by killer whales, but I think you would probably consider the great white shark to be at the to of the food chain. Humans don't fair too well against a number of large predators either all things being equal. Let's rephrase it to be "pretty much the pinnacle of the food chain".

JoeAltmaier 11y ago
Asimov wrote an article about that myth - that humans were some poor vulnerable mammal through history, using its wits to survive against apex predators. Turns out, through history, humans were apex predators. We don't live in the ocean; sharks and whales are not preying upon us. In other ecosystems, humans rarely if ever met other apex predators. We were the top of the heap historically in almost every environment we occupied. Pretty much. That said, I remember reading recently about 6 or 8 human skeletons being found in a saber-toothed tiger den, 80,000 years old, being excavated somewhere.
- marcosdumay 11y ago
  If you mean Homo Sapiens, yes, we've been apex predators for all our history. Now if you mean hominids, no, for most of our history he've been prey. Even for a while after the Homo gender appeared.
dalke 11y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolphin#Natural_threats https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolphin#Natural_threats > Except for humans (discussed below), dolphins have few natural enemies. Some species or specific populations have none, making them apex predators. For most of the smaller species of dolphins, only a few of the larger sharks, such as the bull shark, dusky shark, tiger shark and great white shark, are a potential risk, especially for calves.[117] Some of the larger dolphin species, especially orcas (killer whales), may also prey on smaller dolphins, but this seems rare. Thus, the answer to 'Are dolphins on the top of the food chain?' is 'which species of dolphin?'

lectrick 11y ago

Humans are also predated on by sharks (and lions and tigers and bears, oh my!)