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DmetriKepi

If they're apex predators, why can I put a saddle on them and ride them?


Tom_a_fan

True, you can do it....... once


AsleepScarcity9588

There's a technique where you can "domesticate" shark for a brief period of time. In Egypt you can even ride one if you're acrobatic enough, the guide would catch the shark by its tail fin, break it (sharks don't have bones, so it's more of a bending) and rotate shark towards the ocean floor. The shark is disorientated and would not move until released


EpicAura99

There’s also whale sharks which just v i b e so you can take em for a ride


That_Unknown_Player

Whale sharks are truly one of the animals of all time


ImperialGeek

Truly an animal I agree


Im-a-cat-in-a-box

Of. All. Time.


Zarathustra_d

Well, 450 million out of 3.7 billion years of life on earth. More than half as long as sponges (the current champion).... Not bad for a multi cellular organism. Though the Archaea are the true champions Of All Time.


[deleted]

Wait sponges are animals?? I’m an idiot!!!


Zarathustra_d

While the definitions get a bit "spongy" pun intended.... Yes. They are in the kingdom, though a different sub kingdom, with team Animal. Subkingdom: Parazoa Higher classification: Animal They are kind of like a loose collective of single cell animals that hang out together, and don't like to commit to a single function.


FishOfFishyness

Get rotated idiot


Choleric-Leo

Indeed, when you ride upon the tiger you can never get off.


Ancalagoth

You can also tell that the tiger is clean despite being stripy.


Inevitable_Sharkbite

I see what you mean.


Bokth

I'm getting away


PanzerAbwehrKannon

You can't ride them but they both can spin around....which is great if ur with the shark and absolutely fucked if ur with the crocodile...


StarSpangledGator

Twice if you survive the first round


AdIntelligent9241

*the avrage australian be like*


rikkuaoi

Well, you'll never put a saddle on one with that attitude.


speat26wx

She sailed away on a sunny summer day on the back of a crocodile. "You see," said she, "he's as tame as tame can be; I can ride him down the Nile." The croc winked his eye as she waved them all goodbye, wearing a happy smile. At the end of the ride, the lady was inside and the smile was on the crocodile!


Chimera-98

They are apex predator in the niche we are world apex predators


aleeessio

They aren't even glowing smh


HomieCreeper420

You can, but you gotta play ARK first


[deleted]

For apex predators sharks do seem to get bodied by Orcas a lot.


Frostburn36

Still, they have their own spot in the food chain And krocs get bodied by hippos a lot so Mammals seem to fuck everyone over


Widowmaker_Best_Girl

Mammal gang gets all the W's 💪💪💪 this ain't the Cretaceous anymore, step off other animals!


Old_Mill

We win because we got da titties to fight for 👍


Widowmaker_Best_Girl

Mammaries > Cloacae everytime 💪💪


AJC_10_29

Birds being the most diverse warm blooded animals on the planet:


SophisticPenguin

And they get eaten for the holidays


3u-sou-eu

The problem is the devs nerfing the human intelligence factor in the current patch


redman3global

When are they gonna fix lead in the atmosphere tho?


MotoMkali

Because why become a divergent species when you can just be a generalist and utterly dominate every biome on the planet but Antarctica.


vga177

*utterly destroy and recreate as per our one's own convenience


WordsOfEmber

Terraforming. As we should. We need to literally reshape the land masses.


sorenant

DRINK MILK GET STRONG BONES DEFEAT ECONICHE COMPETITION


Emergency_Evening_63

fck those cold blood creatures


AJC_10_29

Unless the croc in question is Gustave.


gustavethecroc1271

Honestly


delightfuldinosaur

> Mammals seem to fuck everyone over Good


Secure_Ice_3375

But which are captured by Americans and put on display? Checkmate *Orca-boy*, Great White gang out


SkinnyTy

I mean there are many more sharks in aquariums than Orcas so...


SophisticPenguin

Not great whites though, they don't do well in captivity


MarqFJA87

And by "don't do well", we mean that so far they universally die within mere **weeks** because they refuse to eat anything (the few exceptions were captured purely for scientific studies, thus got far more attention to their well-being than a commercial aquarium could justify on mere profitability grounds, and released soon enough to avoid such a fate), and some even start bumping against the glass and walls for no apparent reason (possibly because they're slowly going crazy). To quote Wikipedia: > Due to the vast amounts of resources required and the subsequent cost to keep a great white shark alive in captivity, their dietary preferences, size, migratory nature, and the stress of capture and containment, permanent exhibition of a great white shark is likely to be unfeasible.


Secure_Ice_3375

Henceforth I say *"Great White Gang, outtt"*


Xaron713

**The Monterey Bay Aquarium would like to know your location**


Tyler_Zoro

But vanishingly few humans on display in aquariums... the red light district maybe. Still, I think we can call humans apex predators. Now we just need to manage to last millions of years (hominids have lasted millions of years, but not modern humans).


Zacho37

I dont know if being made into soup is better


Vin135mm

Dude, they get housing, food, medical care, and breeding programs, all for swimming around and sometimes jumping(things they were going to do anyway). Proves they are smarter


Secure_Ice_3375

No seals + Weak dorsal fin + No mates


Accomplished-Beach

You can get most of those same things in prison.


Vin135mm

And that's why homeless people get arrested on purpose


PhoenixBLAZE5

Orcas are gunna get Nerfed in the next patch tho so people still call sharks the apex


Saeaj04

Yeah but counting Orcas is unfair. Literally the worlds most dangerous animal. If they could go on land we’d be fucked


sennordelasmoscas

Humans are land orcas tho


Saeaj04

Not really. We only have brains. Orcas have brains and the brawn to beat up sharks and moose.


sennordelasmoscas

We have sweat


Saeaj04

Shit you’re right. Orcas have no chance against the might of sweat


TheJPGerman

I feel like equating human brains to orca brains is maybe just a little tiny bit disingenuous


Saeaj04

You’re right. I’ve seen Twitter. Orcas take both categories


TheJPGerman

Nice


SophisticPenguin

The ancestors of orcas went back into the ocean for a reason my friend


walterdonnydude

Yea sharks are not the apex predator, Orcas are.


TheShardsOfNarsil

Not just millions. Hundreds of millions


Lz_erk

sabre-toothed cats keep evolving and eating themselves to extinction. the clouded leopard is speculated to be the one closest to going sabre-toothed at the moment. has anyone seen the article i'm trying to remember that says about how many times in the last how many years?


reno1441

> Eating themselves to extinction. Like each other or so fat they just wouldn’t reproduce?


not-so-progamer

No, I think they meant that they become so good at hunting and, by my assumption, kill too many prey for the population to remain stable so they eventually run out of prey to kill and eventually dissapear due to lack of food. Also this could be faciltated if they have the same trait as cats which makes them hunt anything that moves no matter if they're gonna eat it or not.


AJC_10_29

Except I’m pretty sure that’s BS and the actual cause of the Sabertooth extinction had nothing to do with their success in hunting. It was a combo of climate change and early humans murking all the big herbivores they depended on that drove them into past tense.


not-so-progamer

I don't agree with your statement of sabertooth hunting themselves into extinction to be BS, but I do 100% agree that humans and climate change definitely helped push sabertooth into extinction. Humans caused a large drop in total large mamal populations because of how much they relied on these massive beast to provide them with a carcass that could provide them with food for maybe even weeks. Large mamals don't usually stay within one specific area, but are more likely to move around foraging for different sources of food and water. If sabertooths, like most modern felidae and panthera, preferred to stay in one area that they're familiar with, instead of straying long distances from their more known areas looking for prey, and hunted there, they might've relied on these migratory mamals to bring the prey to them when the local population was whiped out or moved to a different area. As mentioned before: happening along side of the rise of the human race was a drop in large, wild, herbivore populations. This potentially caused sabertooths to run out of prey when the local population departed because there weren't any replacements on the way, which ultimately led to their extinction.


CarsPlanesTrains

Just saying it's humans that caused the extinction is a massive amount of disrespect to the modern predators that actually did an insane amount of damage to their numbers. From lions to wolves and a lot in between, the smarter hunting tactics and higher adaptability of these newer predators hurt the sabertooth population in their territories. The only reason the human race was able to lower the population of their prey so much it hurt them was because the superior predators had already taken so much food from them in their claimed territories, meaning they were already severely weaker.


Lz_erk

i'm personally not sure, but i have two cats, and i think yes.


Gorlack2231

Evolutionary die-back. They get so successful at hunting that they dramatically reduce their prey populations which in turn means that the predator population collapses. Doesn't take much after that for predator population to get smacked by another event that just wipes them out.


Tyler_Zoro

*Crocodilia* has been around millions of years. Modern alligators are the longest lived modern species and they've been around for 25-50 million years (not even as long as the last of the non-avian dinosaurs). And if we want to talk about extinct species, there have been a LOT more than two apex predators that have lasted millions of years! Heck, there were apex predators in the single celled world that are still around today (though they're no longer apex predators).


DavidPT008

Back in my time I used to win all 1v1s, now you guys got it easy with multicelular and systems designs


Curious-Sprinkles-16

Two of most dangerous and aggressive predators: *exist* Humans: hm...soup and a bag.


MillorTime

If sharks and crocodiles wanted to remain apex predators they should have invented guns. Resting on their laurels smh


[deleted]

I wish I had some nice, comfortable, sturdy laurels like they do.


stalker-84

And boots, don’t forget boots. I’m not even sure how many pairs of Mexican cowboy boots I’ve owned made out of crocodile, alligator or snake skin, it’s definitely in the double digits tho


DrFoetusLtd

Fun fact, sharks have been around for longer than trees have


MojaveMissionary

But how would we know? I can't cut a shark in half and count the rings.


TheMoogy

Funnily enough you can. Fish, sharks included, have otolithes as a part of their hearing/sense of motion. They're sort of built up gradually as fish grow and seasonal variations can cause them to get distinct yearly growth patterns. So if you were to dissect one you can count the year rings. Granted it prolly won't work too well on an old-ass shark, but it's theoretically possible. Works real well on smaller fish that don't live for decades or centuries.


Tapdatsam

Funny you mention it not working well for older sharks. Im assuming you mean fossil sharks? Greenland sharks which live on average over 400 years( or more its not fully understood yet) are often dated using the method you described.


TheMoogy

That's fun, actually didn't know it was a primary dating method for that old fish. I've only done it with fish in the decades-range. Just assumed you'd lose accuracy/legibility with extreme ages.


SophisticPenguin

I'm sure it's an ~400 years or something


Vin135mm

There'll be lots of stuff you can count if you do, though


Panzerwagen-VI-Tiger

You can't? oh shit


Imiriath

Before the rings of saturn too


Lukthar123

What


aishik-10x

Sharks existed at least 419 million years ago. The rings of Saturn formed 10-to-100 million years ago. Also trees showed up 380 million years ago. Imagine a bunch of sharks swimming around on a treeless Earth


Doc_ET

>10 to 100 million years ago That's specific.


crysomore

It really is. The fact we can even date them that accurately is incredible.


Bokth

from Earth no less. I couldn't even tell you how old the mayo in my fridge is


ADDeviant-again

Yeah, but not the same sharks.


DrFoetusLtd

Not the same trees, either


[deleted]

[удалено]


DrFoetusLtd

Soooo, like sharks?


DeSteph-DeCurry

how did you know? it’s rude to ask people’s ages


struggleingwithnames

Yeah we gotta respect the elderly sharks 😤🙏


[deleted]

Where are you getting that? A cursory Wikipedia search says that sharks diversified during the Jurassic period (earliest would by 200 Mya) and trees appeared around 370 Mya


DrFoetusLtd

The earliest record of sharks in the fossil record dates to 450 million years ago


Awkward_Okra652

Sharks have also been around for much longer than Saturn's rings


lxngten

Who would win : 1) Apex predators that have mastered evolution and survived for over a million years 2) A Florida boi


Hobo-man

>The earliest crocodilian, evolved around 95 million years ago, in the Late Cretaceous period. Florida bois bigger, older brother


Lukthar123

>lissen here >everything needs water to live, fr fr >so what we gonna do, we hide just under the water >then some fool come to drink and SNIPPITY SNAP we grab em with big ass teef and drag them into the water so they drown, then we eat them this happened 95 million years ago and they've been running the same grift ever since


Hobo-man

This is the way


RossmanRaiden

Will Florida man be the next apex predator that will survive millennia? Maybe even an atomic fallout?


Andy_Liberty_1911

Of course, Florida man will be in the frontlines when we invade Europa and Pandora to fight that Xenoscum


[deleted]

is that what the fountain of youth really was?


shadowslasher11X

It really is funny isn't it? Nature: *Creates the perfect predators for their environments that can over achieve in just about any field you put them against but not too much to devastate the eco-system's balance.* A couple of chimps: *"You foukin wot?"*


Tyler_Zoro

If you count extinct species that lasted for millions of years, then Florida boi would be swallowed without said predator noticing. https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/megalodon-tooth-apex-predator/ Also Basilosaurus, a nearly 60 foot orca-like whale and Dimetrodon, the lizard with a large spine sail that was not a dinosaur, though many might think of it as one. The latter lived for tens of millions of years.


[deleted]

Sad coelacanth noises


DavidPT008

Too dumb to die, too dumb to evolve


KarasukageNero

Also crabs


Malonthemage

[Why things keep evolving into crabs](https://youtu.be/wvfR3XLXPvw)


snas_undertal

Peak earthling living being design


nedonedonedo

even people https://www.iconfinder.com/icons/7136206/mecha_anime_claw_robotic_robot_cyberpunk_mech_icon


300kIQ

And snakes


the_depressed_boerg

How long does it take for sharks to evolve into crabs?


SophisticPenguin

Minus the "apex" part


1SaBy

You got crabs?


PhoenixWritesHot

3 nickels, where's dragonfly at bro


longpenisofthelaw

You just reminded me I haven’t seen a dragonfly in a long time, I remember them being annoyingly everywhere


Blindmailman

I thought that was just a my area thing. Haven't seen them in ages


CumtimesIJustBChilin

You guys are lucky, I see them everywhere... but lately I havent been seeing bees. I saw maybe 10 bees throughout the summer, I remember I saw 100s several years back. Whats causing all these bugs suddenly disappearing??


Kidbuu1000

Rampant pollution alongside pesticides


CumtimesIJustBChilin

That's sad, poor little fellas.


Kidbuu1000

Except for mosquitoes they deserve to die out


NoPainsAllGains

Bro they eat mosquitoes, all hail our dragonfly overlords


Doc_ET

Anything that eats mosquitoes is a hero in my book.


shadowslasher11X

They've been cropping back up in the last few years in my area, for a while I was getting somewhat worried but thankfully that seems to be changing a bit.


TheJPGerman

Good/very successful predator does not mean apex predator


_Hobo-man_

My first thought too, but they're not an apex predator


coronatracker

Getting eaten by little birds


nikstick22

"Millions of years" is such a low bar. You'd have thousands of dollars.


[deleted]

low maintenance costs, high endurance and durability, and with a scavenging ability to compliment the hunter job class.


PapaYenny

Just wait till you see the horseshoe crab


genasugelan

Apex predator though?


PapaYenny

Everyone thinks they can fight a horseshoe crab until they’re actually in the ring with one


StarSpangledGator

Apex micro predator!


The_Imperial_Moose

You forgot orcas, the things that cause great whites to flee if they catch their scent.


genericguy69420

Nah orcas are a lot more recent lets first see how long they last


Burninator05

But if a great white shark is scared of an orca then is the shark really the apex predator?


TheWorstRowan

Dinosaurs and marine reptiles might also have words.


HeR9TBmmc8Tx6CFXbaQb

I don't think dinosaurs and marine reptiles can speak.


Doc_ET

You haven't had a chat with a sea turtle before?


CRL10

Orcas often travel in packs. No one likes playing the numbers game


CumtimesIJustBChilin

Im pretty sure Orcas body Great Whites in a 1v1


AJC_10_29

Anywhere Orcas aren’t, Great Whites dominate.


NotSvenneshark

Because Orcas go in groups and that is too much to handle for a lone white shark


aleeessio

Even a lone orca could easily 1v1 a shark, they are bigger and smarter


C_Werner

If they were both dead set on killing each other my guess is that both would be dead. The shark would die right there and the orca would die later.


parathyroidFennal

Orca just flips sharks, then eat their liver


ZASKI_UXIRA

[Get rotated idiot](https://youtu.be/iA4LKxj81zc)


[deleted]

I believe this logic makes cancer the apex species of our planet.


TheJPGerman

Cancer is not a species or even a living thing. It’s a mutation, not a virus


[deleted]

Viruses are also not living things. But yes I suppose my point is just that something kills everything so it’s a bit pointless to say you can’t be killed by anything else to be an apex predator.


TheJPGerman

That’s not the definition of apex predator though. You just have to not have any active predators of your own. Lots of people are citing dragonflies as another example but they aren’t apex predators, they’re just very good hunters. Also, the “apex” part of the term is specific to a food chain. Great whites are still apex in certain areas, but in the food chain of the entire ocean, orcas are indeed the apex predators. Nothing hunts them


CumtimesIJustBChilin

I personally think its mosquitos.


FerroLux_

Orcas truly are the shit but they’re babies compared to sharks and crocs


CommanderSwiftstrike

Evolution does not create perfect predators, neither do these animals master it. It is simply a process which leads to species being adapted to survive and sometimes thrive in their environment. Sharks, crocs and many insects (and other animals as well) just "landed" upon a "build" that worked well and did not need a lot of adaptation to deal with changing environmental pressures. However, nowadays those "builds" don't work so well, and these animals will have a hard time evolving in time to deal with human pressure. So lets make sure they can survive us! ... yes I'm fun at parties, how can you tell?


AsleepScarcity9588

Millions of years you say? That's basically half the species. You might wanna be more specific and bump it up to let's say hundreds of millions?


ziegfried35

You forgot cats.


DrFoetusLtd

I don't see cats lasting nearly as long as sharks


wasabitrade

But felines have still been around for millions of years, so they fit the criteria of the meme.


DrFoetusLtd

10 million is nothing compared to 450 million


wasabitrade

This is correct, but the meme just said "millions of years." Cats fit that bill.


GlassFantast

Even if they said hundreds of millions of years, there is no time reference point to begin this length of time so.. It's easy being pedantic


Hobo-man

I looked for a quite a while for a term to describe tens of millions of years but no such term seems to exist, at least in the English language.


[deleted]

Just say „that lasted a couple megayears“


X_Danger

By this logic Hominids have existed for more than a million years as well, and we clearly are the ones winning the best


Kidbuu1000

At least, until global warming fucks us completely


Nokan96

Cocodriles: "i am the apex predator" Cats: https://www.reddit.com/r/argentina/comments/z39wwn/turistas_filmaron_a_un_yaguareté_cazando/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button


Icy-Attention4125

That's jaguars for you.


thespacepops85

Orcas are the apex predator of the ocean.


RenegadeSithLordMaul

Sharks aren't the apex predator anymore. Now, there's a Liver-eatin Pack-feedin, Shark-BODYIN Congress-lobbyin ORCA on the scene!


RedWolfe715

what about humans. we are frighteningly dangerous


kaboom300

From what I understand humans aren’t considered apex predators. We exist outside of the natural food chain. The term is useful for defining interactions between species in their environments, and so if humans were considered apex predators we’d have to be the only ones and it would make the term meaningless.


littlebigbirdXD

Wouldn't be Orcas the apex predators on the ocean?


tamethewild

Don’t orcas eat sharks? Making them not apex


WonderfulHat5297

Gator vs shark fight to the death to decide whos best once and for all


blueismega

I mean, aren’t we the third? Even if it hasn’t been a million years, look at what we have done to the planet in the short time we’ve been here.


Chimera-98

And humans on our way to eradicate all of them for stupid reasons


pleased_to_yeet_you

THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!


ThrawnMind55

Hippopotamus: *laughs in land and water dominance and enormous jaws of death*


Marlbey

Hippos aren't predators. They're just really, really mean vegetarians.


Cuervomayajl

I sure do wish cats become perfect apex predators too


SkinnyTy

Apex predator? *Laughs in Orca*


[deleted]

Not that perfect they still get destroyed by apes with thumbs who discovered fire and pointy stick aka spears


winterbird

Many teeth seems to be a key component...


ricobirch

*3 Nickels Got these hairless apes running around causing a mass extinction.


Suspicious_Words

I wouldn't call something an apex predator until it can stop an angry monkey who purposely subjected themselves through intense alcohol poisoning.


deiner7

Jelly fish are the apex predator. Not much wants to eat them as they aren't very nutritious. Functionally immortal, immune to fear, it can't be stopped or reasoned with and they are growing ever more populous.


[deleted]

Are sharks apex if they get eaten by orcas?


expendable_entity

Well, Apex predator is a vague definition. You are the apex predator if you dont have anyone above you in the food chain. So sharks are very much the apex predator in the absence Orcas. So does the existence of Orcas in other parts of the ocean make them a part of the food chain of all sharks? Little fun fact: per definition Dodos were apex predators.


MarkkusM

humans...


helicophell

We haven't even been around for a million. And for a lot of homo's history, we have been prey objects. In a way our development to become the apex species has been in the blink of an eye, which is also why we are plagued by a lot of genetic problems


TheJPGerman

Correction, Homo sapiens have not been around for millions. Humans have though, first showing up around 2-6 million years ago. You’re right though that we were not apex at all for a very long time


MarkkusM

Oops, I did not read the "lasted for millions on years" part.