Plural of predator; animals that hunt and eat other animals, or people who exploit or harm others.
From Latin 'praedator' (plunderer, one who preys), derived from 'praeda' (prey, plunder). The word came from the concept of taking prey for food or plunder.
Apex predators shape entire ecosystems even when they're rare—remove predators and prey populations explode, starve, and collapse! This is why reintroducing wolves to Yellowstone completely transformed the landscape, showing that these 'scary' animals are actually ecosystem architects.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.