Top 3 Animal Predators – Born Hunters

Have you ever wondered how in the wild to survive the day and not be eaten. Often relying on your senses, instincts, tactics, the perception of sound, strong muscles or speed is not enough. Sometimes really need to have some luck.
A successful hunter is one who has good tactics and has a great deal of resistance. Here we will explore some successful hunters and their hunting strategy. Each of them used one of his superpower to reach the prey.
Get to know the skills of an golden eagle, serval and sea otter – best animal predators.

Golden Eagle – hunter high in the sky
Eagles are differentiated from other birds of prey at a significantly stronger muscles. Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) is one of the largest birds of prey. The majestic flight and royal look justify the name “King of Birds” which deservedly carries. They hunts with courage, daring and brave.

The size of the adult animals varies and ranges from 66 to 100 cm in length while the wingspan is between 150 and 240 cm. They have large and curved beaks, adapted for tearing flesh and have strong muscles. Females are larger than males which is a characteristic for daily birds of prey.

They are extremely powerful and fast birds. They can fly at speeds up to 241 km/h. In the hunt they rely on his speed and sharp vision. Their eyesight is sharp because they have large pupils which ensure minimal dissipation of light which enables spotting prey from a long distance.

Their eyesight is eight times sharper than human. Their menu consists of mice, rabbits, foxes, martens, goats, sheep the other birds. They can also attack the deer, domestic sheep or goat. When hunting there is division of labor. One prosecute prey while others wait in ambush. The claws are used for catching and carrying prey but beaks for tearing flesh.

Maybe you would like to know How does a Kingfisher bird hunt

Serval – hunter in ambush
Serval (Leptailurus serval) is a medium-sized African cat. Females reach a weight of 7-12 kg, while males are larger and heavier 9-18 kg. The length is 59-92 cm (without the tail) and the height is 54 to 66 cm. It is strong and slender animal with a short tail which does not exceed a length of 38 cm.

On his head, which is small in comparison to the body are large oval ears placed near each other enabling them to find their favorite prey – small rodents that are hidden in the tall grass. In each ear is 30 muscles that allow their rotation.

They live in savannas where there are plenty of water. Prefer areas of high grass and bushes near the stream, so do not live in semi-deserts and dry steppes. They are mostly nocturnal animals. They are quite skilled hunters. The head is held above the grass and listen for the movement of potential prey. They can even locate prey moving underground. Stealthily approaching prey and then make big and sudden jumps.

Serval is agile cat. As a result of significant elongation of the metatarsal bones in the foot at a serval have evolved in relation to the body, very long legs, enabling them to easily walk through the tall grass.

You can check more about Jaguars and Tigers

Sea otter – born hunter under water
Sea otter (Enhydra lutris) is the largest member of the family Mustelidae, where there are also river otters, ferrets, badgers, weasels and others. On the other hand, it is the smallest marine mammal in North America. They have a number of adaptation to cold.

Sea otters are great swimmers who rarely come ashore. Rest and sleep are also performed in water by wrapped in seaweed sailing on his back. Staying in the water with only 1-10 degrees Celsius must admit is not at all pleasant, especially when the body does not have insulating layer of fat that have other marine mammals.

In this case, to maintain the temperature of the body is responsible fur. Sea otters have the densest fur in the animal world, with about 400,000 hairs per cm2, while humans have only 20,000 hair on the entire head; try to compare these facts.

Fur consist of two layers, water-resistant layer of the longer hair and a thicker layer of short hair. In the fur is an insulating layer of air, which is a good thermal insulator. For this reason a lot of time is spent for maintaining the fur, clean it, disentangling the knots, removes loose fur part… When the fur is clean it is completely waterproof which is an important reason for health.

Every day must eat the food in an amount equal to 20-30% of their weight in order to maintain a high metabolism that will counteract the loss of heat in cold water. They feed on clams, crabs, starfish, sea urchins, snails, and with about 40 other marine organisms. For breaking the shells they often use the stone and they are one of the few animals that use tools for hunting and feeding. Dives up to 37m in depth in order to find food. Diving takes about 1 minute and the longest recorded is 4 minutes.