27 Animals With No Natural Enemies (With Pictures)

Some animals have no natural enemies. They are at the very top of the food chain. These animals often live longer as they will die of old age.

We also call these animals “Apex Predators“. That means “top predator”.

Let’s take a look at these winners in the grand who-eats-who game of nature!

Animals With No Natural Predators

Do all animals have predators?

No.

In this article, we focus on the predators at the very top of the food chain. These animals can sleep anywhere they like because nobody dares to attack them. Even when they sleep.

Other animals need to think carefully about where they sleep.

But not these guys.

1) Lion

The Lion is probably the animal we mostly refer to as an “Apex Predator”.

Most of the animals would find at the top of the food chain are huge. We are not surprised to find the lion up here because it is a huge predator.

Lions are majestic and you will often find them sleeping out in the open landscape.

It doesn’t have to hide because no one dares to hunt it.

2) Saltwater Crocodile

The saltwater crocodile is the biggest of all reptiles. And they are really huge.

They can get up to 23 feet in length (7 meters)!

They are typically found around Southeast Asia, Northern Australia, and by the coast of India.

They can eat large animals such as Emu, Kangaroos, Buffalos, Tigers, Horses, etc.

3) Gray Wolf

The Grey wolves live in North America and it can be up to 100 pounds (45 kilograms).

4) Tiger Shark

Tiger sharks are huge they will be up to 16 feet (5 meters) and they hunt whatever they like in the waters of the Pacific islands.

It is gotten the name from the characteristics stripes down the body which looks a bit like the Tigers patterns on the back.

It is a furious and deadly hunter and it primarily hunts at night (alone!).

5) Cachalot Whale

The Cachalot Whale is the biggest of all predators we have with teeth.

The males can get up to 52 feet in length (16 meters) so no wonder they don’t have any predators hunting them.

6) Bald Eagle

The Bald Eagle is another animal of the Arctic areas of Canada and Alaska.

They are huge birds with an impressive wingspan of more than 7 feet (213 cm). But the speed they can reach is even more impressive. When they are diving down to prey on an animal they can reach a top speed off of almost 100 mph (161 km/h).

7) Cougar

The cougar is also known as the Puma. It’s a mountain lion that lives in the southern Andes of South America.

There’s a good reason we named a car after this predator. It can run as fast as 50 mph (80 km/h). So most mammals won’t stand a chance whenever the Cougar decides to set after them!

8) Dhole

The Dhole is also known as the Indian Wild Dog and it is a rather big dog-sized creature that lives around India and China. The head looks almost like a fox.

The Dholes hunt in the morning when the other animals are waking up. But they will also eventually show nocturnal behavior if it hasn’t gotten enough food.

9) Grizzly Bear

You probably know the Grizzly Bear. It’s a very famous brown bear that lives in North America.

Just like most of the other animals in this article, it probably doesn’t come as a surprise that the Grizzlies have no natural enemies.

The Bears will go into hibernation during the fall and they won’t wake up until spring. You can read a lot more here about how the Grizzly Bears manage to survive 6 months without food (!) during the hibernation.

10) Jaguar

The Jaguar is one of the coolest looking cats.

It’s a big wild cat which we find in the Southwestern United States and Mexico. It is almost an endangered species according to the IUCN list.

11) Komodo Dragon

Komodo’s are the biggest lizards we have.

They have a split tongue like a snake but it looks a lot more like a huge lizard.

They are extremely dangerous and they only live in a few islands around the Komodo Island. You can read a lot more about the amazing Komodos in this article.

12) Great Horned Owl

This is one of the smallest animals in this article.

You wouldn’t think such a small animal wouldn’t have any natural enemies at all. Goodness seems to be the case for the Great Horned Owl.

It’s about 22 inches tall (55 cm) and it primarily feeds on rabbits and hares.

Owls are amazing at camouflaging themselves. This Horned Owl matches well with the tree.

You can read more about the best animals when it comes to camouflage. There are some REALLY impressive masters of disguise that are hard to find when they don’t want to be found! That’s a neat trick among predators in order to surprise their prey.

It is also commonly used for animals to avoid getting eaten.

13) Polar Bear

Polar bears are lonely riders. They prefer to live in solitude except for the breeding seasons.

They are huge and very robust animals that live around the Arctic tundra. They feed on fish they catch in the water and they can also occasionally catch a seal.

Just like the other animals in this article, the polar bear has no enemies. You can read more about the amazing Polar Bears and 40 other Arctic animals in this article.

14) Reticulated Python

The reticulated pythons are a special type of pipe and we only finding South Asia.

It is the longest snake we have and it also wins the prize is the longest reptile. Only a few other snakes are heavier than this mighty monster.

It can weigh as much as 350 pounds (158 kilograms) and it can eat huge animals such as deer and pigs. They always swallow the prey whole.

15) Whale Shark

The whale shark is the filter-feeding shark. This means that it simply opens up its giant mouth and the fish will swim directly into its mouth.

It will normally eat small animals such as fish eggs, plankton, crabs, squids etc.

But you don’t have to fear this huge predator because it is not dangerous to humans. This is why you will often see images and videos of people swimming among these giant monsters of the sea.

16) Snow Leopard

The snow leopards are found in the mountains of central and south Asia.

They are

Snow leopards are really pretty good their white fur. You can read more about the Snow Fox (which also have the same type of fur) in this article about all the fascinating Arctic animals.

17) Killer Whale

Killer whales are beautiful and they are deadly.

They are typically found around the Arctic tundra and they are the biggest member of the dolphin family. It is intelligent and it can live for as long as 29 years (in captivity).

They are very smart animals and they are often used in shows because they can do amazing tricks (much like dolphins).

18) Tiger

The tiger is also considered top of the food chain.

But actually, it can be caught and eaten by the Saltwater Crocodile which we looked at above. But as we only find the Saltwater Crocodile in a few areas of the world, generally, the Tiger has no natural enemies.

This is true for the tigers of the Savannah in Africa.

Other animals with no natural enemies

There are more animals who never have to look out for other predators.

These include:

American Alligator
American Crocodile
Nile Crocodile
Kodiak Bear
Anomalocaris

Do Elephants And Hippos Have Natural Enemies?

The full-grown elephants no natural enemies. But the smaller calves can often be attacked by lions or even crocodiles.

But what about Hippos, do they have any natural enemies? They seem like huge predators themselves but the young hippos can often be attacked by a group of Hyenas.

But nobody dares to attack a fully-grown Hippo because it is huge and the skin is almost impossible to penetrate.

So as we can see, the babies of even the biggest mammals can become the victim of the predators.

Special Island With No Natural Predators

Outside the southern coast of Australia, we find a small island called Bald Island.

This small island is famous for being an island with almost no natural predators. Biologists and Zoologists have transported several endangered species to this island in order to give them the very best odds of surviving.

When you are placed on an island with no predators you have a much better chance of breeding and staying alive.

On this island, we find some really interesting animals:

Gilbert’s Potoroo’s
These are tiny rat-like kangaroos that are endangered. They are probably the worlds most endangered mammal. We thought they were completely extinct until some people discovered a few specimens in 1994. Now there are probably around 80 in total.
Noisy Scrub Birds
This is one of the rarest birds in all of Australia. So they are kept at this island in order to give them the best conditions for breeding.
Quokkas
These animals are also small kangaroo-like creatures like the Wallabies and Wallaroos.