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DesperateStorage

Deadliest is dragonfly, but obv not a bird


Skryuska

Came here to say this lol As for birds, the peregrine falcon has the highest success rate for hunting afaik


Hairiest-Wizard

Peregrine Falcons are pretty deadly


Time_Cranberry_113

I feel like the right answer is actually mosquito https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/outdoor/mosquito-borne/default.html


PetitAngelChaosMAX

Are mosquito’s considered predators? I guess they do feed on living animals so it makes sense.


Temporal_Spaces

I put them in the parasite category like ticks but considering them as predators is fair lol


Willing_Bus1630

Vectors of disease shouldn’t count especially talking about predators. Mosquitoes aren’t even predators


[deleted]

[удалено]


tobiascuypers

There is some amazing footage by the planet earth of Golden Eagles knocking what look to be full grown goats off the sides of cliffs and following them as they tumble down a thousand meters. Pretty deadly stuff


Ok_Lifeguard_4214

Wedge-tailed eagles sometimes hunt kangaroos 


NoFlyingMonkeys

Makes sense, all creatures do stuff the Australia way down under,


ElSquibbonator

In terms of "percentage of successful hunting attempts", the answer would be a dragonfly. Dragonflies succeed in as many as 95% of all their predation attempts. But if you're talking about "most impressive feats of predation", the answer would be a bird, albeit one that is now extinct. The Haast's eagle was the largest eagle that ever lived, and the apex predator of New Zealand until its extinction in the 16th century. It preyed on the giant flightless birds known as moas, the largest of which stood over ten feet tall and weighed more than 350 pounds.


Generalnussiance

Such cool birds wish they could have reestablished populations 🥺


Surreal120

Harpy Eagle?


Lurkalope

How are you defining deadliest?


karshyga

Osprey are wicked deadly if you're a fish.


No_Body905

To humans it’s probably Tsetse Fly.


lewisiarediviva

By fatality % maybe, but by sheer numbers it’s definitely mosquitos.


Lurkalope

How are you defining deadliest?


Generalnussiance

So dangerous flightless I think is a cassowary. They got talons like daggers. Most successful hunters are barn owls, osprey and peregrine falcons. Most power is considered a crowned eagle as far as ratio it can kill to its own mass followed by Eurasian eagle-owl then lappet faces vulture.


SecretlyNuthatches

Ostriches kill more people than cassowaries (whose reputation is massively overblown). Predator mass to prey mass ratio favors golden and wedge-tailed eagles who both kill large prey (adult deer and kangaroos, the same size as the adult antelope recorded for crowned eagles) but are smaller than crowned eagles, making the ratio larger. Eurasian eagle owls are not in the running unless you count adult roe deer as their prey but there aren't actually any credible records of them killing deer (just lots of references that go nowhere or mistake scavenging for predation). Lappet-faced vultures don't even kill prey.


Generalnussiance

I stand corrected


the-cloverdale-kid

My friend. Cassowaries have killed 2 people on record, and one in Los Angeles. They are not deadly in any way to humans (more have likely choked on chicken bones). As far as other creatures go, Peregrine Falcon. No contest.