Quote Originally Posted by Rater202 View Post
Hippos are honorary apex predators.

Steve Irwin was afraid of them. Given that he'd just walk up and touch big cats, crocodilians, venmous snakes, and the like without fear, that's very telling.

Beyond that... I mean, while the average hippo eats a ostly plant based diet they are omnivorous and have been onversed eating animals. Hippos have also been observed attacking and killing other animals, and its' logical to conclude that if a hippo bites a crocodile the **** in half that it might come back to eat the carcass later if it's hungry enough so they do techncially meet the loose definition of a predator, so...
Imean, none of that makes it an apex predator. They just make thr hippo a fierce animal. If you want to argue "Steve Irwin was afraid of it" as a criteria for apex predator, you're certainly free to lobby the general scientific community for that.

Which is all just a diversion from the fact that "no natural predators" doesn't necessitate "apex predator". You're creating your own dream ultimate life form. Why make it a predator if you don't need it to be? Again, manatees.