Apex Predators: The World's Deadliest Hunters, Past and Present

Gr 1–4—By definition, apex predators are the biggest and the "baddest," the rulers of their ecosystem. Jenkins provides a thrilling overview of these top hunters, from prehistory to the present day, in this illustrated collection that concludes with an "Apex Predator Face-Off." The parade begins with currently existing animals and continues backward, in huge leaps through land, sea, and air, from 11,000 years ago to more than 500 million. Extinct players include the T. rex, which could bite off 500 pounds of flesh at once, and the tylosaurus, a 50-foot marine reptile that ate whatever dared to venture into its waters, including other dinosaurs. Jenkins covers contemporary creatures, such as the agile fossa of Madagascar, the giant freshwater ray of Southeast Asia, and the great white shark. His signature illustrations deftly portray the power and movement of the animals featured. Scale drawings that compare each subject to a human only further the terror. The final spread matches up extinct and still-living challengers—the extinct beast wins every time. However, Jenkins has one last trick up his sleeve: the deadliest predator ever is indeed just regular old humans.