Animal Planet - Predators of the Forest

At the very center of the rain forest food web sit the top, or apex, predators. In most rainforests, these central slots are held by the big cats—tigers, leopards and jaguars—the big snakes, the big crocodilians and the largest birds of prey.


The African wild dog is a predatory canine found across much of southern and central Africa.

The lion is a large feline of central, southern, and eastern Africa, as well as the Gir Forest in India. It is Africa's apex predator.

The Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard and the apex predator of Komodo.

The largest surviving carnivorous marsupial, the Tasmanian devil, is both a scavenger and a fierce predator.

The tiger is the largest apex predator of South Asia and Southeast Asia, and is also the largest living member of the cat family. It resides in countries on the continent of Asia such as India, Bangladesh, Nepal, China, Korea and Russia.

African golden cat (Caracal aurata)
African rock python (Python sebae)
American black bear (Ursus americanus)
Andean cat (Leopardus jacobita)
Argentine black and white tegu (Salvator merianae)
Asian golden cat (Catopuma temminckii)
Asian water monitor (Varanus salvator)
Bay cat (Catopuma badia)
Black-headed bushmaster (Lachesis melanocephala)
Blood python (Python curtus)
Bornean clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi)
Brown bear (Ursus arctos)
Burmese python (Python bivittatus)
Caracal (Caracal caracal)
Cat (Felis catus)
Central American bushmaster (Lachesis stenophrys)
Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus)
Chinese mountain cat (Felis bieti)
Clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa)
Colocolo (Leopardus colocolo)
Cougar (Puma concolor)
Coyote (Canis latrans)
Crocodile (crocodylinae)
Crocodile monitor (Varanus salvadorii)
Culpeo[note 1] (Lycalopex culpaeus)
Diamond python (Morelia spilota spilota)
Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis)
Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx)
Ferret (Mustela potorius furo)
Fisher (Martes pennanti)
Fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus)
Flat-headed cat (Prionailurus planiceps)
Fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox)
Geoffroy's cat (Leopardus geoffroyi)
Gray wolf[note 2] (Canis lupus)
Green anaconda (Eunectes murinus)
Honey badger (Mellivora capensis)
Human[note 3] (Homo sapiens)
Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus)
Inland taipan (Oxyuranus microlepidotus)
Iriomote cat (Prionailurus iriomotensis)
Island fox (Urocyon littoralis)
Jaguar (Panthera onca)
Jaguarundi (Puma yagouaroundi)
Jungle cat (Felis chaus)
Kodkod (Leopardus guigna)
Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis)
Lace monitor (Varanus varius)
Least weasel (Mustela nivalis)
Leopard (Panthera pardus)
Leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis)
Lion (Panthera leo)
Long-tailed weasel (Mustela frenata)
Maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus)
Marbled cat (Pardofelis marmorata)
Margay (Leopardus weidii)
Mulga snake (Pseudechis australis)
Nile monitor (Varanus niloticus)
Ocelot (Leopardus pardalis)
Oncilla (Leopardus tigrinus)
Pallas's cat (Otocolobus manul)
Pampas cat (Leopardus pajeros)
Perentie (Varanus giganteus)
Red fox (Vulpes vulpes)
Red-Tailed Boa