KILLER INSTINCT

Step into the wild - if you dare - with JD Savage to discover how nature's ultimate predators use astonishing skills and cunning tactics to catch prey and dominate their domains.

A tiger’s striped coat blends into the surrounding jungle as the muscular big cat prepares to pounce. In the ocean, an orca coordinates with its pod (group) to outsmart its prey. In the sky, a peregrine falcon, a soaring solo slayer, suddenly dives from dizzying heights at over 200 miles per hour to strike an unsuspecting bird in mid air. These are some of the animal kingdom’s top predators, and each has a unique set of skills and strategies to bring down their prey. Predators are any animals that hunt and kill another species for food. None kill for thrills, it’s simply a matter of survival.

The food chain starts with plants and tiny creatures that small animals eat. These, in turn, become meals for larger carnivores (meat-eaters). At the very top of the chain are the apex predators. These are nature’s ultimate hunters – the creatures that have no natural enemies. Their unmatched hunting skills mean that they rule their habitats. If you’re a small, vulnerable animal you would be keen to avoid them.

Here’s the bad news, though. Apex predators are almost everywhere – in hot deserts, icy polar climates, rainforests, lakes and oceans, on mountain tops and even underground. Badgers are the UK’s largest land predators, mostly burrowing into the ground to catch creatures that live below the surface – a menu that may include several hundred earthworms a night.

Super-senses

Apex predators have their own specially adapted senses that are practically superpowers. Tigers and leopards have superior night vision for hunting under cover of darkness, while badgers use their superior sense of smell to target prey.