Predators

Never get between a predator and its prey — unless you’re a gutsy scientist with a generous life insurance policy. Here is the latest news and findings on creatures that hunt, kill, and make Shark Week the best week.

Related Topics: Biodiversity, Polar Bears, Sharks, Tigers

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A reticulated python (Python reticulatus), like the one pictured here, is likely the python species that killed and swallowed a woman in Indonesia.

Missing woman’s body discovered in the stomach of 22-foot-long python in Indonesia

By Joanna Thompson last updated

A 54-year-old woman in Indonesia was killed and eaten by a massive python

A sampling square in the den, before surface collection and excavation.

Human skull fragments found in massive boneyard in hyenas’ lava tube cave

By Mindy Weisberger last updated

In the Umm Jirsan lava tube, the longest such structure in Saudi Arabia, scientists discovered piles bones belonging to animals that hyenas devoured there for thousands of years.

A heron likely regretted eating an eel after it burst out in midair.

Alien-like photo shows eel dangling out of heron's stomach in midair

By Laura Geggel last updated

The eel probably thought "not today" as it burrowed out of the heron's stomach.

A small-banded kukri snake with its head inserted through the right side of the abdomen of an Asian black-spotted toad, in order to extract and eat the organs. Tissue of a collapsed lung (above, left), and possibly fat tissue, is covered by clear liquid that foams as it mixes with air bubbles from the lung. The upper part of the front leg is likewise covered by foaming blood, mixed with air bubbles from the collapsed lung.

Snakes disembowel toads and feast on the living animal's organs one by one

By Mindy Weisberger last updated

For the first time, scientists have observed snakes disemboweling toads to dine on their organs.

Bruce the hyena shares a tender moment with a friend.

5 reasons hyenas like Harley Quinn's 'Bruce' are amazing

By Mindy Weisberger published

Harley Quinn has a hyena friend in the movie "Birds of Prey," but even without supervillain sidekicks, hyenas are super-awesome.

Pliosaurs were apex predators in Jurassic oceans.

Remains of a Massive Jurassic 'Sea Monster' Found in a Polish Cornfield

By Mindy Weisberger last updated

Paleontologists in Poland unearthed the jaws and teeth of a pliosaur, an ancient marine reptile with a bite more powerful than that of T. rex.

The reptile's long tail is visible, but most of the crocodile's body is hidden under the bulk of the elephant that crushed it to death.

Dead Elephant Found Lying on Top of a Squashed Crocodile. What Happened?

By Mindy Weisberger published

An elephant's seemingly final act after it was attacked by a crocodile was to collapse on top of the reptile, crushing the would-be predator.

Look Out, Songbirds — Baby Sharks Want to Eat You

By Mindy Weisberger published

This is the first evidence of sharks eating terrestrial birds.

'Phantom' Predator's Speedy Dance of Death Is Both Graceful and Creepy

By Mindy Weisberger published

Fearsome yet tiny creatures have one of the fastest strikes in the animal kingdom.

Tropical Spiders Cause 'Surprising Amount of Death,' Hunting Opossums, Frogs and More

By Mindy Weisberger published

In the Amazon lowlands, spiders as big as dinner plates dine on opossums.

Mountain lions

In Photos: Elusive Mountain Lions Come Out of Hiding

By Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher published

There is no animal across the Americas that has been given more names than the hemisphere's dominant hunting cat often known as the mountain lion. Here's a look at the evasive predator.

This Creepy Hole-Fish Is So Excited to Eat Literally Anything

By Rafi Letzter published

Which unfortunate animal will wander too close to this ugly burrow fish's horrible mouth first?

alligator-02

Watch a Tied-Up Alligator Knock a Man Out With Its Hard, Reptilian Skull

By Rafi Letzter published

Everybody has a plan until they get head-butted by an alligator.

Meet Kim, the First Spider to Jump on Demand

By Mindy Weisberger last updated

A female jumping spider went to great lengths in a leaping experiment.

This is an artist's reconstruction of Llanocetus denticrenatus, an ancient whale with teeth.

This Huge, Ancient Whale Would Have Ripped You to Shreds

By Rafi Letzter published

Llanocetus denticrenatus lived about 34 million years ago. It was big. It was an early ancestor of modern humpbacks and blue whales. And it had teeth.

Making the Case ― Again ― for Saving Imperiled Species (Op-Ed)

By David Steen published

Extinction is not a good thing. Why are people still arguing about this?

'Kleptopredator' Found: Sea Slug Attacks After Prey Has Eaten

By Mindy Weisberger published

A colorful sea slug feasts on microscopic marine creatures called zooplankton, but it captures more of them in a gulp by using a middleman.

Sinosauropteryx illustration

Dinosaur with Raccoon-Like Mask Hid in Broad Daylight

By Laura Geggel published

A jaguar ambushes a giant jacare caiman high up on the Three Brothers River in the Pantanal in Mato Grosso, Brazil, on Sept. 26, 2017.

Jaguar v. Caiman Death Battle Photographed in Brazil

By Stephanie Pappas published

With a skull-piercing bite, a jaguar makes a caiman into a meal.

A jaguar ambushes a giant jacare caiman high up on the Three Brothers River in the Pantanal in Mato Grosso, Brazil, on Sept. 26, 2017.

In Photos: A Jaguar Takes Down a Caiman in Brazil

By Stephanie Pappas published

A jaguar ambushes a giant jacare caiman high up on the Three Brothers River in the Pantanal in Mato Grosso, Brazil, on Sept. 26, 2017.