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A certain evil genius wishes to create his own army of super-killers to wreak havoc. He has a base in the jungle, and wishes to make a super-predator that will defend him (not to replace the predator at the top of the food chain). What should be the characteristics of an animal that is the ultimate predator? Characteristics would be the physical description: How big is it, does it have claws, what poison can it use (if it uses a poison). The evil scientist wishes to create the ultimate predator (for animals, not humans). I know humans are the ultimate predators, but I wish for a animal (not a human).

  • The evil scientist has created this animal to defend him in the jungle. Assume that humans will never find his base. This creature should be effective in harming/killing other creatures even if it means forfeiting its own life.
  • It is engineered only to kill, it does not have to thrive in a particular environment. It job is to harm other animals. It hunts every animal except humans.
  • While an animal may be adapted to hunting one type of animal and bad at hunting another, this creature does not have to hunt everything, it should just be dangerous.
  • It hunts in the jungle area, and in isolation (not in packs).
  • I want animals, not some super-bacteria! It should not be smaller than a cat at the very least, and not bigger than a buffalo.

Note: It should be realistic (that is, it can't have poison that kills anything instantly, but you can bend the rules a little, like acidic blood) and it should be dangerous, I am not looking for a replacement in the food chain or anything.

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    $\begingroup$ Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. $\endgroup$
    – HDE 226868
    Jul 26, 2016 at 13:58
  • $\begingroup$ @XandarTheZenon : It should not be larger than a buffaloes, (max size) and should not be smaller than a cat (min size). So no T-Rex, or a super-wasp. $\endgroup$ Aug 11, 2016 at 4:25
  • $\begingroup$ I just meant to point out that you said smaller than a cat but not bigger than a buffalo. $\endgroup$ Aug 11, 2016 at 4:30
  • $\begingroup$ @XandarTheZenon : yes, thats what I meant. People will come up with the idea of a super-small creature (bacteria or something) which is what I do not want. And check the last point, I mentioned this "It should not be smaller than a cat at the very least, and not bigger than a buffalo." $\endgroup$ Aug 11, 2016 at 4:33

10 Answers 10

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The predator you're looking for is going to greatly resemble a tiger. Tigers are already the kings of the jungle, and with a few improvements they could become even deadlier.

For one thing, you could enhance their hearing, smell, and eyesight to phenomenal levels. That is a surefire way of making them a force to be reckoned with.

Of course sharp senses are useless unless the creature is intelligent enough to put them to good use. Enhance your creation's cunning ever so slightly and watch it become exponentially more dangerous than your average jungle cat as it ambushes hunters, and other, bigger creatures.

However, tigers, while dangerous, are not showstoppers. Why is that? Well, for one thing, like most large predators, they spend a lot of their time resting. Make that less of a requirement for your pet monster. Perhaps make it a little blood-thirsty as well - killing for fun rather than food is a good way to ensure that true havok will ensue.

Last but not least, you can enhance this creature's deadliness with a venom of some sort, and enhance it's survivability by not only allowing it to quickly heal wounds (basically a requirement for any solitary predator facing a lot of competition or enemies), or even sport armored scales, or spikes on its tough hide.

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    $\begingroup$ Disagree: while fast, tigers are big and can be easily spotted, even from a small group of humans. Eventually a firearm will kill the animal. $\endgroup$ Jul 26, 2016 at 6:12
  • $\begingroup$ @Noldor130884 Humans don't roam the area. the OP specified that. $\endgroup$ Jul 26, 2016 at 7:51
  • $\begingroup$ Oopsy! Forgot that! $\endgroup$ Jul 26, 2016 at 10:56
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    $\begingroup$ So, you are suggesting a mix between wolverine (famous for their strength, aggressive behaviour and active hunting) and a tiger? $\endgroup$ Feb 6, 2017 at 12:18
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Wasps with neurotoxin.

They attack in small groups of 5-6, every time you're stung you receive a small dose of paralytic neurotoxin, the wasps also mark you with pheromones so they can track you if you run away. Once the paralysis takes effect (they'll sting you several more times to be sure) they'll make a pheromone trail back to the hive (the corpse of their last victim) and then the hive swarms to your location.

Hopefully you've suffocated before they start burrowing, eating and laying eggs.

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    $\begingroup$ "It should not be smaller than a cat at the very least" $\endgroup$
    – Jasper
    Jul 26, 2016 at 10:13
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    $\begingroup$ The entire swarm could be considered a single superorganism given that neither the drones nor queen are capable of being a viable species without the other, and by mass this superorganism could be larger than a cat. $\endgroup$
    – Cognisant
    Jul 27, 2016 at 2:53
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  1. Fast - Raw speed is useful to outrun enemies
  2. Agile - Ability to maneuver and change course
  3. Use of its environment - This can be camouflage, ability to climb in a forest, ability to swim in a river, etc. Depends on the environment of the creature.
  4. Endurance - It needs to outlast what it can't outrun
  5. Tracking - It needs to be able to find and hunt down its targets. Specifically smell and hearing
  6. Senses - It needs to be adept at detecting motion. Heat vision might be a big advantage, but might also be too exotic for your tastes. Hearing can also be a big boon. Arctic foxes (for example) can use hearing to hear mice through several feet of snow.
  7. Ability to maul - Teeth and claws. Ideal if it also has strong muscles in its neck allowing it to snap the neck of a creature it grabs hold of the head of (similar to what wolves do for small prey).
  8. Ability to hang on - For larger creatures it'd be useful if its claws allowed it to hold on for a longer fight.
  9. Intelligence - Look into crows. Yes, they're not predators, but they're surprisingly intelligent, while still being very much creatures.
  10. Poison/Venom resistant - If any of its main prey is poisonous or has venom the creature should resist these things.
  11. Venom - Might not hurt to have venom of its own, especially something that very quickly paralyzes targets, allowing the animal to kill. Look into scorpions.

As for size, I'd suggest that of our own beast-like incredible predators, the Siberian (Amur) tiger. In fact likely the Siberian tiger is a good starting point for all of its traits, and work in your improvements from there. Note the tail used for balance, the body built for speed, agility, and raw power, having both teeth and claws, etc.

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Some kind of hornet is your best bet.

Because a hive is not a single mass, it's very difficult even for a large animal (lion, elephant) to kill.

By having a hive, you can have an entire area watched all at once (instead of a single animal prowling around).

By having a hive, you can defend against multiple enemies (lets say an army of ants, a couple of jaguars, and some angry birds all attacking at once).

Flying—can defend against flying enemies.

Poison is strong against big animals. The hornets' own size, number, and ferocity makes them also strong against other insects/spiders, etc.

The only reason hornets aren't currently used for defense is getting them to attack your enemies and not you. But these babies are engineered, so either your scientist himself can be the hive mind hub, giving either general feelings or even exact commands, or they can be made with instincts of protecting Dr. CrayCray as if he were the hive/queen.

But this breaks the rules!

Size—If you really want something bigger than a cat, you could upsize the hornets, but that would be less effective than keeping them small and difficult to target.

Number—You wanted a lone animal, well I'd consider the hive moving as a single unit. You also mention the animal might be dying in its attempts to protect the scientist. In this case, you definitely want a hive. A single animal that dies will no longer provide any protection. A moment of silence for Dr. CrayCray.

Fun add-ons

These guys are already great. But if you like over-the-top, nope-nope, honey-get-back-in-the-car action:

Poison/acid blood—As you mentioned. This would be cool, because an animal might try to kill some of the hornets by biting/eating them. Then half their mouth falls off, or swells up, or something.

Explosive acid blood—Similar to the above, but when the hornet feels threatened, it self-destructs in a small cloud of acid, likely blinding and really hurting the attacker.

Scyther blade-arms—They already have a super stinger, and a pretty scary mouth. Now lets make their arms little razor blades for maximum ouchy.

Protective orbit—This one's just to look cool. When they sense danger, about half the hive start to orbit around the scientist, like a little atom cloud. When he walks around, the orbiting hornets move with him. Makes for great cinema.

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  • $\begingroup$ This is a well-reasoned answer! Great job! $\endgroup$
    – Alendyias
    Jan 14, 2021 at 20:45
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I would suggest dogs.

Granted, they're pack animals - but there's a reason to disregard that rule at least a little. Your mad scientist wants the animal to defend him - and as the primary rule, I would think it has precedence over other rules. There are very few critters we can trust to do this! Solitary hunters will not only probably not defend someone, he's likely to be breakfast unless he can defend himself against the critter - always, at all times, and in all situations... and any weakness he can reliably exploit, will weaken the animal down from super-predator. A couple other answers mention tigers, this would be the reason to say no to them.

So dogs, long domesticated and quite easy to work with, would be a viable possibility. The scientist could choose between breeds for the best fit for his location (terrain and temperature), and likely predators, and further modify the creatures if needed (perhaps venom?) - if the pack can face or fight any creature, than something like venom would make sure it doesn't survive easily. Even without venom, they might be able to fight and scare off many animals by claiming territory.

Otherwise, perhaps domestic cats might form the basis for a possible solution, if the requirement against pack animals is set in stone.

Again, while many larger cats are fierce predators which would need little modification - they are solitary, can't really be trained (not like dogs, anyway) and would turn on your scientist at their convenience. Lions are one possible exception to the antisocial status of larger cats - but as pride animals, they're right back to breaking the solitary rule. The tamable heritage of domestic cats would probably outweigh their smaller size - and perhaps they can't be trained, but they can be taught. Your scientist might try increasing their size (midsize will let it hunt large prey, but any larger and it might threaten your scientist), or adding venom - or indeed poison, since their opponent is then still dead if it preys on them. Having venom will help the cat take out not only its own prey, but will injure or kill any animal it fights in self-defense as long as it can achieve one good bite.

If the cats are properly socialized and well treated, they may face off against animals many times their size (big dogs, possibly even a bear) to protect their "own" - including their human, their claimed territory, or their fellows. They may coexist as a group in the base (make sure your scientist claims the position of boss cat, to minimize infighting) or possibly when facing off larger threats (like said tigers), yet will still hunt alone. Also, cats do not kill only to eat - they will often kill more than they need, for sport or to 'offer' their people. That kind of prey drive will certainly help keep them fighting and killing different kinds of animals near the base.

(note: I recommend adding venom to an already formidable creature rather than using one already venomous for the same reason I discourage tigers - most won't defend, and are a risk to, your mad scientist. Most animals go either/or for venom or fighting, because either form of being dangerous is expensive... but if you're engineering an animal anyway might as well stack advantages. So, when adding venom - first, your animal should be immune to its own venom, or it will not be useful. And your mad scientist should both build up a resistance/immunity and have an antivenom. Also, venom doesn't guarantee a kill - some percentage of bites will be dry, it takes time for the venom to work, it takes time to renew the venom, and some animals will be able to resist based on compatibility or body size. What it will do is increase your creature's success, since other animals who get dosed will be weakened by the venom (and the bite), leaving it vulnerable to your creature's other weapons (claws and fangs) with the added bonus of leaving an animal that survived and escaped weakened and vulnerable to death by other causes. Extra note, make the poison fangs the same or smaller than other teeth, the better to not break off. As a secondary weapon, it's not a problem if it doesn't activate except during a solid bite)

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You need an animal with great control of electromagnetic waves, shape doesn't matter much ... All you need is an organ for this feature.

With magnetic waves your ultimate predator will be able to do various things I will list them from the cheapest in energy cost to the most powerful and hard to obtain abilities :

  • Shoot bullet waves with potential to perforate flesh and bone

  • Electrocute foes with potential to kill or paralyze

  • Deaf/blind foes

  • Become invisible to single foes, cause them to see everything but you

  • Cause foes to fall asleep

  • Destroy internal organs of other animals, cause them to explode from the inside

All those abilities can be used at range, the distance depends on the power and type of electromagnetic organ,but you could technically obtain enough organs for all the abilities above if you want.

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  • $\begingroup$ Wait, @user22398, how can magnetic waves become bullets, act upon the senses, cause someone to go night-night, or destroy internal organs? I would suggest you add links to your sources. $\endgroup$
    – Alendyias
    Jan 14, 2021 at 20:42
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Giant venomous tiger pitbull

Start with a dog. Why a dog in particular? Remember, we want a companion animal. Not only does it need to be loyal enough to not turn on its master, it has to have enough endurance to keep up while traveling. While big cats are great predators, they are not as reliable as dogs and they tend to sleep a lot. It's probably a lot easier to pack extra physical capabilities onto Man's Best Friend than to try and breed new complex social behaviors into a tiger or bear, let alone an insect.

From there, you'll want to pack on extra traits to make them better fighters. Size is obvious, there are already dog breeds the size of horses out there. Breed them for aggression, good hearing (to notice when an enemy is sneaking up on you), and maybe giving them locking or crushing jaws for good measure. Basically a giant pit bull.

Depending on how flexible your genetic engineering capabilities are, adding retractable, cat-like claws would be great. This would allow it to use multiple weapons at once, increasing its versatility in combat. It can now slash and dodge as well as it can bite and hold on. Plus, it can now climb trees!

For the really big creatures (hippos and elephants are dangerous!), you'll want some kind of venom. Slowing down and disorienting the target quickly is more important than killing it quickly, to neutralize the threat before it can harm you, so a potent neurotoxin is probably your best bet. Pack it with the same stuff they put in elephant tranquilizer darts.

Flight isn't important (no idea how you'd give a creature like this flight anyway) since no flying animal is a serious threat to humans anyway.

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Any predator with the ability to interfere with brainwaves. Thus conflicting targets that there is not a threat until the last moment. This ability renders all self-defence instincts useless.

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    $\begingroup$ Hallucinogenic neurotoxin wasps :D $\endgroup$
    – Cognisant
    Jul 26, 2016 at 2:46
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This may well break your 'not human' rule in spirit if not in fact but have you considered the grate Apes as a starting point?

A gorilla is already quite formidable and social enough to have a believable desire to protect the scientist. They have hands and therefore the ability to use tools plus a reasonable size brain to allow for basic problem solving when confronted by an unusual situation. They can also operate in different terrain types apart from perhaps large bodies of water.

You have the potential for them to co-operate with others of their kind to overcome anything too large or armored for them to take on singly.

You can give them venom and fangs if you like to make them more carnivore in nature and obviously dangerous.

The problem being that by the time you have a more intelligent ape able to co-operate and use tools and with basic communication you are not far away from just using single minded humans really.

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You need creature similar to the alien Moorwen from the film 'Outlander'.

  • Tall: This creature will have 2 meters of similar to gorilla but more bigger.

  • Skin: The skin can by more hard with bony protuberances this will make the creature more resistant to others predators, also can be Fire-retardant and water resistant this will be good for the adaptation of this creature to the water like the swimsuit of the professional swimmers.

  • Bioluminescence: This creature can use bioluminescence to attract prey and also for communication with others predators of the same species.

  • Sight: This creature don't have a very good daytime vision, but it makes up for it with good night vision.

  • Smell: This creature can have a perfect smell sense for detect prey at distant distances.

  • Forked tongue: tongue with the same sensor of the snakes, this with the smell can supply they daytime vision.

  • Strength: Pure muscle, athletic body and ready for combat. Great resistance and a force capable of bending a metal plate at one punch.

  • Intelligence: This creature will have a great intelligence, with capability for make ambush or a strategic plan for hunt, also this predator will be loyal to him owner like war dogs.

  • Tail: The tail is a very important item because this will be used like the monkeys or for balance the weight when the creature run like leopards, also can be used for make attacks like a whip.

More information about Moorven here: http://aliens.wikia.com/wiki/Moorwen

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    $\begingroup$ This is borderline a link-only answer, as if the link ever becomes invalid for any reason or the contents of the linked page changes, this answer will lose much of its value. It would be better if you incorporate some more detail into the answer itself, such that the answer stands more on its own and explains what these creatures are like and why they are a good fit for the OP's needs, with the link provided for further reference. Compare Are answers solely referencing novels/movies/etc. okay? on Worldbuilding Meta. $\endgroup$
    – user
    Feb 3, 2017 at 11:48
  • $\begingroup$ Welcome to the site Gawey. Awesome as Outlander is this doesn't really answer the question and is more of a comment. Check out the help center for guidance on writing good questions and answers. $\endgroup$
    – James
    Feb 3, 2017 at 15:18
  • $\begingroup$ Is better now guys? $\endgroup$
    – Gawey
    Feb 6, 2017 at 9:29
  • $\begingroup$ Honestly, if you want an "Ultimate predator" give Homo Sapiens some prep-time, they have causes a mass extinction event all by themselves. They can warm the entire planet, causing even more devastating natural disasters. And they have guns, yep, there pretty cool. $\endgroup$
    – JelliPapi
    Sep 24, 2021 at 20:36

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