Line #17 Main/MorePredatorsThanPrey


1	%%%
2	%%
3	%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Take care to put your example in its proper place in accordance with Administrivia/HowToAlphabetizeThings!
4	%%
5	%%%
6
7	->''"Going through my notes, I've realised that there are more predators than prey across this entire island by almost double. That's the opposite of how any ecosystem is supposed to work. I can't believe it took a ''Tyrannosaurus'' frolicking through the snow for me to see this. It's plain as day."''
8	-->-- '''Helena Walker''', ''VideoGame/ARKSurvivalEvolved''
9
10	In order to make an environment more hazardous, creators of fiction will often include aggressive predatory beasts that occur in far larger numbers than should be possible given the environmental conditions shown. In RealLife, the larger a creature is, the more energy in the form of food from a suitable source it must consume in order to both grow so large in the first place and to sustain itself on a daily basis. If it is very active it will need even more calories just to survive. As a general rule, 100 prey animals are required to sustain the presence of just one individual predator. Despite this, there will often be a veritable horde of wild, aggressive beasts that roam a desolate wasteland or almost lifeless underground tunnels without having prey to feed on and without attacking each other. Such beasts will often be [[SuperPersistentPredator absurdly persistent when encountering humans]], attacking them seemingly out of hunger that overcomes all sense of self-preservation. This occurs even if their fellows fall like flies around them, and most will never pause to gorge themselves on these fresh bodies that should appear a ready and far less risky food source to them. If they ''do'' pause to eat their own dead, [[MonstrousCannibalism it'll be played for horror, to make them seem even more ravenous]].
11
12	Such ecosystems do exist, usually where humans have not caused any impact: coral reefs in RealLife, when kept perfectly pristine, play this trope to a T, to the point that 85% of all biomass are sharks.
13
14	Common in post-apocalyptic fiction and on {{Death World}}s; in contrast to many (because the oceans are major exceptions) RealLife cases, large predators in these kinds of works seem to be less susceptible to the kind of events that should cause them to be severely depleted or go extinct than the smaller creatures they normally feed on. In fact, they often mutate into something far more powerful than their original form while at the same time getting by with ''less'' sustenance.
15
16	Some works might try to justify it either InUniverse or AllThereInTheManual, with the proper food sources simply being unseen.
17
18	Note that not everything that attacks humans need necessarily be carnivorous. Some larger herbivores like cape buffalo, rhinoceroses and [[AngryAngryHippos hippopotami]] are territorial and aggressively defensive. Many creatures will attack something they think is threatening their young.
19
20	The ecological equivalent to MoreCriminalsThanTargets, a very similar situation in fictional crime settings.
21
22	----
23	!!Examples:
24
25	[[foldercontrol]]
26
27	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
28	* The world outside of the walls in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' is considered a hellish environment due to the overwhelming abundance of the [[OurGiantsAreBigger Titans]], who only consume humans (with a [[SuperPersistentPredator single-minded persistence]]), but [[EatingOptional don't actually acquire nutrition from it]], meaning their vast numbers have been untroubled by a lack of prey for a century. We get an answer to this eventually: [[spoiler:[[WasOnceAMan namely, that the predators were the prey]]]].
29	* ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'':
30	** A bit of FridgeLogic can be applied if you stop and think about it: a [[OurGhoulsAreCreepier ghoul]] can survive on, at minimum, one adult human body every one-to-two months, and that's not taking into account "binge-eaters" like Rize. From what we see in the series, there are hundreds if not ''thousands'' of ghouls living in Tokyo alone, and have been for decades, or possibly even centuries. Even a basic amount of math means there should be ''thousands of people disappearing'' '' '''annually'''''. Not only is there somehow a perfectly stable and thriving city, but it seems that most people manage to live perfectly ordinary lives without ever encountering a ghoul; ghouls were very "out of sight, out of mind" for Kaneki before the first chapter. Yet by all logic, there shouldn't ''be'' a human population left at this point.
31	** The ghouls ''themselves'' are victims of this from the CCG: since all of their weapons are [[HumanResources made from dead ghouls]], they must be fairly successful at [[HunterOfMonsters hunting and killing them]], yet, as stated, there's still ''hundreds'' in the city alone.
32	[[/folder]]
33
34	[[folder:Fan Works]]
35	* ''Fanfic/ThePalaververse'': One of the numerous unusual things about the DeathWorld that is Saddle Arabia is that seemingly every creature there is predatory or parasitic, and typically highly aggressive in the bargain.
36	[[/folder]]
37
38	[[folder:Film]]
39	* Almost every animal appearing in ''Film/SixtyFive'' is a carnivore, including theropods, pterosaurs and animals that look like [[AnachronismStew early archosaurs]] (namely ''Lagosuchus''). The only herbivores that appear are the remains of a dead hadrosaur and a juvenile, [[ArtisticLicensePaleontology bipedal]] ankylosaur.
40	* The whole point of ''Film/{{Daybreakers}}'' is that [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampires]] make up most of the population, and there are not enough humans to meet their needs. The only humans left are either [[PeopleFarms bred for special blood banks]], or rebels who try to avoid that.
41	* ''Franchise/KingKong'': [[LostWorld Skull Island]] tends to suffer from this.
42	** Carnivorous dinosaurs, other monstrous reptiles and giant insects are everywhere, and the only herbivores are Kong (who, in some versions, is rather an omnivore, as he eats people) who is TheLastOfHisKind (although in both ''Film/TheSonOfKong'' and ''Film/KingKongLives'', another specimen of Kong's species shows up), the ''Stegosaurus'' in the 1933 movie, and the ''Brontosaurus'' herd in the 2005 movie (the 1933 film's ''Brontosaurus'' is either carnivorous or simply hyper-aggressive, as it chases down and kills people).
43	** [[Film/KingKong2005 The 2005 remake]] is a bit better about this, showing some actual predator-prey relations such as the raptor-like ''Venatosaurus'' hunting giant brontosaurs, but there are still far more predators than prey. The worst offender is the ''Piranhadon'', a giant carnivorous freshwater fish that appears only in a DeletedScene. Despite being nearly the size of a blue whale, somehow it has survived all this time in a tiny mangrove swamp. The companion book fleshes out the environment further by explaining that the entire island is in a constant free-for-all over food, with a lot of the lower-level links in the food chain having specifically evolved to eat carrion, and more herbivores are described than what appears in the film. The island is also [[RegionalRedecoration gradually sinking]] and pushing the ecosystem into decline, which could account for the overabundance of predators; a similar spike happened during the Cretaceous period due to an overabundance of sick and dying herbivores, followed by a huge crash when prey was exhausted.
44	** ''Film/KongSkullIsland'' similarly [[ZigzaggingTrope zigzags]] it. On the one hand, giant gaurs are clearly shown to be herbivorous and to be a convenient food supply for the giant predators (sans Kong himself, who treats them more like friends or pets than prey) on Skull Island. On the other hand, it's still populated by an insane number of predaceous organisms from flocks of piranha-like leatherwings to giant daddy longleg spiders and swamp squid. Not to mention the hoards of hyper-carnivorous [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent Skullcrawlers]] dwelling just beneath the surface. In the latter case, it's established that the Skullcrawlers hibernate or lie dormant until aroused, at which point, they'll invade the surface on a massive feeding frenzy. Their periods of dormancy and Kong (and/or his kind's) ability to keep them in check for ages past are the only reason they haven't decimated Skull Island's already tenuous ecosystem.
45	* ''Film/PitchBlack'' occurs on a [[SingleBiomePlanet desert planet]], and one of the only two species the protagonists encounter are predators. They arrive to the surface in numbers that a desert biome couldn't possibly provide enough food for. To make things worse, the animals can only hunt in the dark, so their only opportunity to come to the surface for prey is one month in 22 years during an eclipse of the BinarySuns. However the world is littered with the skeletons of long-dead animals, some of which were massive, but has no current signs of life. It's strongly implied the unchecked predator population has rendered their surface prey extinct. Which also explains their rather [[SuperPersistentPredator keen interest]] in the humans. Eventually the creatures even begin turning on each other, apparently resorting to cannibalism to sate their hunger.
46	* In ''Film/ReignOfFire'', the entire non-microbial population of the world seems to be humans and non-cannibalistic [[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragons]] the size of whales. However, the dragons are shown to start eating each other later in the movie. Also lampshaded, as it's stated that the dragons will eventually start to starve and go back into hibernation, which is apparently what happened the first time around with the dinosaurs.
47	* ''Film/TheSilence2019'': The vesps, before swarming to the surface world, lived in an isolated cavern for millions of years. What a several thousands-strong swarm of ravenous meat-eaters was eating while stuck in an environment known for generally only being home to small numbers of minuscule animals, and [[spoiler:what they were doing to reproduce when they need to lay their eggs in large, freshly killed carcasses]], is anyone's guess.
48	[[/folder]]
49
50	[[folder:Literature]]
51	* ''Literature/{{Blindsight}}'' has an interesting quasi-example in the case of [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampires]] -- the human population couldn't expand fast enough to support a population of vampires, so vampires evolved the ability to [[RegularlyScheduledEvil enter long-term hibernation in between feeding periods]] so that the human population would have a chance to replenish itself.
52	* The titular planet in ''Literature/{{Deathworld}}'' seems to have this problem of more predators than prey, and the predators are super-adaptive, adjusting to everything the humans throw at them. Then Jason goes exploring and finds that it's only that bad near the one city; there's a more even balance out where the forest-based humans live, where the humans are willing to live and let live. Turns out, all those predators aren't an ''eco''system; [[spoiler:they're the planet's ''immune system'']], doing exactly what such systems try to do to invaders.
53	* {{Lampshade\|Hanging}}d in ''Literature/TheLostWorld1995'', as the characters actually ask why the island has more predators than the prey should be able to support. [[ArtisticLicenseBiology The stated justification being that prions from the sheep-based feed they were given caused most animals to die young and be scavenged by the predators]]. The characters note that this system is doomed to collapse extremely quickly, both due to said carrion being a rapidly depleting resource and because the predators are infected now.
54	* In ''Literature/TheLurkingFear'', the mutated deformed cannibals number in the dozens, if not hundreds, while their abode is rather isolated and the number of people who fall victim to them is small. However, it's hinted that they have no problem with preying on each other...
55	* Both {{lampshade\|Hanging}}d and {{justified\|Trope}} in ''Literature/Metro2033''. The Surface is rife with nothing but predatory mutants, many of whom prey on each other as often as they do the humans who venture up there. Their existence is purely a byproduct of the nuclear and biological bombings of Moscow during WorldWarIII. The narration describes them as existing outside of Darwin's laws, subject only to life's inherent desire to survive.
56	* ''Literature/MortalEngines'' combines this with ArtisticLicenceEconomics to make a truly strange example involving ''{{mobile cit\|y}}ies'', of all things. Granted, it's a plot point in the books that such an ecosystem is on the verge of dying out and only originated in the first place thanks to an apocalyptic war causing such extensive and still-ongoing environmental damage that the survivors of humanity had essentially been forced into a nomadic lifestyle coupled with an invasion by an army that can only be described as "Mongols in caravans".
57	* In the underground ecosystem of the ''Literature/{{Railsea}}'', herbivores are stated to be a small, unhappy minority. [[EverythingTryingToKillYou Everything else tries to eat everything else]], including people who touch the open dirt between the rails for any longer than a split second. This is {{Hand Wave}}d as the result of ancient humans polluting the soil with all sorts of nasty chemical runoff, causing animals to mutate into huge and vicious new forms.
58	* Nearly all animals in the Forest of ''Literature/SeptimusHeap'' are carnivorous (or man-eating). Other animals almost never mentioned.
59	* In ''Literature/TheToughGuideToFantasyland'', this is used as a key piece of evidence for the theory that fantasy worlds' ecosystems have been recently ravaged (another is the way piles of refuse around oppressed peasants' huts don't just rot away.) The conclusion reached is that the systems are re-establishing themselves with humans at the bottom, and everything will be fine.
60	* The Tribe of Rushing Water came across this issue in ''Literature/WarriorCats''. It turns out that they lived in ''too'' comfortable an area. They weren't dying nearly as much as their forest-dwelling peers, so soon the area was overpopulated with cats. This led to the tribe splitting up.
61	[[/folder]]
62
63	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
64	* ''Series/{{Primeval}}'': [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-zagged]] when the other sides of the time Anomalies are seen. The Silurian desert seems to have many more 25-foot-long carnivorous scorpions than it does ''[==]'''three'''-feet-long'' millipedes, and there are absolutely no other lifeforms in sight for miles.[[note]]The latter part makes sense, since non-aquatic life in the Silurian was almost-entirely coastal.[[/note]] Likewise, the Cretaceous pine forest which Connor and Abby spend a year in seems to be inhabited almost exclusively by various flesh-eating theropods (including one of the largest theropods of all time), and the only apparent source of protein is the fish-inhabited waterfall. The series' best example of a solid ecosystem that averts this trope is probably the arid Permian lands behind the very first Anomaly: it's home to a couple of meat-eating Gorgonopsids and an entire herd of herbivorous ''Scutosaurus'' to keep those Gorgonopsids fed.
65	* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' manages to {{invert\|edTrope}} this trope in "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E15TheTroubleWithTribbles The Trouble with Tribbles]]"; the titular species lives on a DeathWorld, and their defense mechanism is to [[ExplosiveBreeder reproduce a lot]]. The plot involves the crew dealing with the ''prey'' instead of the predators.
66	[[/folder]]
67
68	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
69	* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'':
70	** Creator/GaryGygax recognized that ''D&D'' had this problem and tried to justify it in the 1st Edition ''Dungeon Master's Guide''.
71	--->So many of the monsters are large predators that it is difficult to justify their existence in proximity to one another. [snip] Here are some suggestions. Certain vegetation grows very rapidly in the world -- roots or tubers, a grass-like plant, or grain. [[MultipurposeMonoculturedCrop One or more of such crops support many]] rabbits or herd animals or wild pigs or people or whatever you like! The vegetation springs up due to a nutrient in the soil (possibly some element unknown in the mundane world) and possibly due to the radiation of the sun as well. A species or two of herbivores that grow rapidly, breed prolifically, and need but scant nutriment is also suggested.
72	** Early ''D&D'' also had climate-appropriate herbivores on its random encounter tables. If they were removed it was presumably trimming, there not being much one can do with camels aside from staring at them. On the other hand, getting in the way of a herd of bison is all sorts of exciting.
73	** Justified in the lower planes -- most fiends don't need to eat at all and seek prey ForTheEvulz, so an infernal environment could have HungryJungle with nothing but predators.
74	* ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}: Dungeon Fantasy'' averts this trope, advising [=GMs=] to give some consideration to the balance between predators and prey in an ecosystem.
75	* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'':
76	** The imbalance of Red mana on the shard of Jund means that almost every creature is a predator of some sort, with the lower end being occupied by small but poisonous lizards, goblins, and fungal mutants, and the top of the food chain being reigned over by dragons. This is represented mechanically by the [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=174968 Devour ability]], which allows you to make a large creature even larger when you cast it by feeding it with other creatures you control, several of which were [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=376519 designed for just such a fate]]. The ecosystem of Jund is so vicious and efficient that undead do not exist despite the powerful Black mana on the shard because no corpse lasts long enough to become undead.
77	** The neighboring shard of Grixis is an even nastier example of this trope. Cut off from green and white mana, Grixis has no sources of new life, no way of adding energy to the system. Everything is forced to try and feed off and parasitize everything else, fighting over the dwindling and irreplaceable reserves of ''vis''.
78	** In New Phyrexia the Praetor Vorinclex fetishises predation to such an extent that all organisms compleated into Green-aligned phyrexians are now predators. Herbivores get hooves replaced by claws, species with no sharp teeth get loads of them, all adaptations redundant to kill are removed. This is semi-justified in that Phyrexians really are just a parody of biological life and technically don't need the food chain to operate, but they are also insane [[TheSocialDarwinist social darwinists]] who probably wouldn't care about that detail.
79	* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' has Catachan, a DeathWorld where all animal species (and most plants) are carnivorous predators. This includes ''mobile'' Venus Fly Traps big enough to eat an adult human, centipedes the size of trains, and the Catachan Barking Toad, an amphibian that releases corrosive toxins when startled with a blast radius of ''one kilometer'' (killing itself in the process).
80	[[/folder]]
81
82	[[folder:Video Games]]
83	* In ''VideoGame/ArkSurvivalEvolved'', this trope is one of the things that tips off Helena Walker that [[spoiler:the Island is an artificial and actively maintained environment]].
84	* Played to extremes in the ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'' games, because ''there are no prey animals'' on Pandora. Everything on the planet is an ExtremeOmnivore, and gleefully feeds on everything else on the planet. The closest thing you get to prey on Pandora is [[PunyEarthlings humanity]], [[HumansAreWarriors who is just as capable of slaughtering and eating them]].
85	* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'': The amount of prey animals required to nourish the wolf packs and [[BearsAreBadNews bears]] the Inquisitor will encounter in the same (relatively) small areas of territory would strip the environment bare and cause rapid environmental collapse. There's even a gigantic dinosaur-sized "Great Bear" found in the Emerald Graves and Emprise du Lion that, while much less common than the other predatory enemies in the game, is still far too abundant for a macropredator of its caliber thanks to the nature of the game's enemy respawn system. Naturally, ''all'' of these are unrelentingly aggressive to the Inquisitor and crew to an unrealistic degree, but it's suggested in passing that their aggression is due to corruption from [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demons]] and the open rifts. Alternatively, they could have come from the Fade, since it's possible to summon animals from there.
86	* ''VideoGame/DragonsDogma'': There are not nearly enough rabbits and deer to support the many wolves you fight, which is probably why all the wolves are so emaciated and eager to attack you in the first place.
87	* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'':
88	** Played straight in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', although a couple of comments and world details imply that there ''are'' more types of prey roaming Vvardenfell, the vast majority of wildlife you encounter on Vvardenfell and Solstheim are hostile predators.
89	** Averted in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]''. For every bear, sabercat and wolf pack you come across, you see a lot more deer and rabbits. Whether mammoths are preyed on is unsure, what with [[OurGiantsAreBigger giants]] keeping and protecting them as livestock. Though given that no predators seem to hunt in packs, it's unlikely anything that would try to prey on a stray mammoth would actually succeed in taking it down.
90	** In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsOnline'', the Clockwork City's "wildlife" only consists of scavengers and predators. The in-game explanation for it is that there's very little actual plant life in the City (the trees, grass etc. are all metal imitations), and the "animals" are actually {{Magitek}} cyborgs (fabricants) or outright robots (like skeevatons or brasslisks) that only exist because the City is meant to be a simulacrum of Tamriel, and Tamriel has animals, so Seht put some in.
91	* The ''Franchise/{{Fallout}}'' series of games has numerous examples of this: nuclear war and subsequent collapse of society has left most of the world a barren desolate wasteland with deadly radiation occurring here and there. Despite the fact that there is little prey for them, giant versions of real critters like scorpions or even flies run around, seemingly attacking only the player character and never any other creatures.
92	** In ''VideoGame/Fallout3'', monsters of different species will fight each other, up to and including Albino Radscorpions killing Super Mutant Behemoths if they spawn near each other. On the other hand, the number of predators seems proportional to the player character's level -- Giant Mole Rats seem to die out around level 15. This also happens in random encounters in the previous titles -- it's possible to run into a group of wolves fighting with some radscorpions, for example. It just doesn't happen as often because the games don't feature an open sandbox world and the various predatory critters tend to have specific parts of the map that they'll be encountered in -- you won't run into both mole rats and Deathclaws in the same area, for example.
93	** There is a reason for this. Since being irradiated heals mutant creatures, it can safely be assumed that they're radiotrophic (like the real-life [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiotrophic_fungus radiotrophic fungus]] found at Chernobyl). They don't need to worry about living in a low-biomass environment like the desert because they get most of their energy from background radiation, which they're in no danger of running out of anytime soon.
94	* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'': The world of Gran Pulse is awash with dangerous predator-type animals, and the smaller number of herbivores includes the dinosaur/tortoise Adamantoises, which are big enough to step on anything which tries to eat them.
95	* ''VideoGame/HalfLife'':
96	** Most Xen wildlife in ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'' is carnivorous. Headcrabs, at least, are confirmed in ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' to be omnivorous. And you have to wonder what those several billion ocean leeches in the sequel are eating to sustain their population...
97	** Actually averted in ''[[VideoGame/HalfLifeOpposingForce Opposing Force]]''. Shock Troopers are herbivores. You can find the plants they get their fruit from scattered around the facility, and can even use a baby tadpole Shock Trooper as a weapon by having it launch exploding acidic balls. How do you reload it? Feed it more fruit.
98	* In ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'', on Telos, there are Cannocks (and Bounty Hunters), which are at the very least hostile and omnivorous, but no "peaceful" or herbivorous creatures. If you point this out to Bao-Dur, he reminds you that the planet's being {{terraform}}ed and the cannocks were introduced to control herbivore numbers. Then [[MegaCorp Czerka Corp]] hijacked the project, released too many cannocks and sent the ecosystem down the tubes. [[DeathWorld Dxun]] has no such excuse, though.
99	* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'': Every living being in the Dark World and Lorule in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast A Link to the Past]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds A Link Between Worlds]]'' is some sort of monster out for blood, making you wonder what the heck they actually feed on. It's also a case of MoreCriminalsThanTargets (in both worlds), so how either remain somewhat stable is unknown.
100	* ''Franchise/MassEffect'':
101	** The [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Krogan]] homeworld of Tuchanka. Even before the planet was consumed by nuclear war, it was a lush jungle world described as an "evolutionary crucible" of carnivorous and omnivorous life, including [[ManEatingPlant plant analogues]]. The Krogan themselves were actually a ''prey'' species. Even with the surface now a mix of barren ashy deserts, radioactive salt flats, and alkaline seas, there's still such an abundance of predators that anyone visiting the planet is warned not to travel beyond guarded areas.
102	** In ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'', there's an insane amount of continuously reappearing macropredators like adhi and fiends and very few prey species. It might be partially justified by the late revelation that [[spoiler:the wildlife of Andromeda was largely bioengineered by [[{{Precursors}} the Jardann]] like the angara were and dispersed across each of the habitable planets to create ecosystems]], which also explains why every planet on Andromeda has the same types of wildlife. However, it still doesn't explain why these predators are found in such absurd abundance unless their vast numbers are consequences of the ecological havoc caused by the Scourge -- however, the Scourge happened many centuries ago, by which time the ecosystem ''should'' have collapsed due to the lack of plant-eaters. The best explanation is that these species are adaptable omnivores that also fill plant-eating niches and are aggressive towards the player out of hunger and desperation due to their depleted food sources.
103	* ''VideoGame/Metro2033'' has a very strange ecology at work. The surface world has been in the grip of nuclear winter for twenty years, nothing grows there, and the air is toxic. The remnants of humanity hide out in old metro stations where the only food sources are domesticated pigs and cultivated mushrooms. The tunnels between the stations are typically infested with hideous mutants that 1) are mostly larger than humans and also faster and stronger, 2) constantly attack humans in order to eat them, 3) never seem to attack each other, despite the fact that there is more meat on their fellows than on humans. A particularly silly example is how the winged beasts called demons will swoop down on human prey that is capable of shooting at it, but leave the far more numerous nosalises (who only have their claws and teeth) alone, even ignoring the bodies of the ones you have already killed.
104	* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' isn't a perfect example, since you ''do'' see herbivores and you ''do'' see predators eating each other, but the food chain still seems pretty unbalanced. What are all these giant monsters eating?
105	** At least in ''[[VideoGame/MonsterHunterWorld World]]'', this is averted, where there are a number of prey animals scattered about. Additionally, with previous games, a number of the powerful monsters are, in fact, ''herbivores''. Diabolos in particular is merely a very territorial and aggressive plant eater that could kill foolish or desperate carnivores trying to prey on it, providing food for scavengers. As for predators hunting other ones, only a small amount of monsters are known to actually do that, meaning they're more opportunistic and prey on weakened monsters rather than actively hunt them.
106	** This can also be explained away by the fact hunters actively search out their targets, meaning the large amounts of carnivores are seen not because they have inherently high populations, but because they are specifically chosen and sought out. Furthermore, you are placed on a map with only their target and occasional invaders in terms of large monsters (''[[VideoGame/MonsterHunterWorld World]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/MonsterHunterRise Rise]]'' include two other large monsters on the map whether counted as invaders or not, and unless specifically required by the quest it cannot be the same species) whilst multiple small monsters (herbivores or carnivores) spawn on the map at any time, showing they aren't nearly as common as their prey.
107	* In ''VideoGame/PathOfExile'', Wraeclast is infested with huge numbers of predators and a local expert notes their number and ferocity would have rendered it barren long ago if not for its unnatural fecundity, hypothesizing the existence of a being that desires death on a massive scale.
108	* Every last enemy in ''VideoGame/{{Pikmin}}'' is seemingly a predator to pikmin and pikmin alone. No enemy will ever try to eat another enemy, ever. Taking things even further, some enemies will go out of their way to kill pikmin but not eat them without displaying similarly territorial behavior towards other nearby wildlife. A possible explanation is that most of these enemies actually ''are'' herbivores, but view pikmin as plants. The territorial species like wollywogs might attack pikmin because they're a novel and invasive presence in their environment and they haven't acclimated to them.
109	* Averted in ''VideoGame/TheSapling''. Predators will never outnumber prey unless players do so deliberately, and the population will eventually stabilize to more realistic levels once left to its own devices.
110	* ''VideoGame/SkullIslandRiseOfKong'': Standard for Skull Island, but exaggerated even further. Every single animal Kong encounters is a vicious carnivore, without exception, unlike every other version which at least showed ''some'' herbivores existing.
111	* ''VideoGame/{{Subnautica}}'''s world, and some of its biomes in particular, can seem rather top-heavy, what with the [[KrakenAndLeviathan massive leviathan-class predators]] roaming around and a general lack of variety when it comes to prey creatures and especially herbivores. Subaquatic biomes ''are'' known for being quite like this, however, so there is some justification. And around half of the leviathan-class predators are actually filter-feeders that consume plankton... the Ghost Leviathans in particular are dangerous because they're incredibly territorial, not because they're trying to eat you.
112	* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' has some serious cases of this; a good example is the Hillsbrad Foothills. There's bears, yeti and giant spiders all over the place, but no major herbivorous beasts to feed them. There's a lot of areas like this. Most zones have "critters" which are small creatures (usually herbivores) that players cannot gain [[RandomDrop loot]] or [[ExperiencePoints experience]] from. One may think that critters are an intentional aversion of this trope (predatory beasts can occasionally be seen killing them), but they are never present in anywhere near large enough numbers to feed the [[RespawningEnemies vast hordes]] of predators which populate many zones.
113	[[/folder]]
114
115	[[folder:Webcomics]]
116	* ''Webcomic/DanAndMabsFurryAdventures'': A FourthWallMailSlot session states that [[http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_510.php Furrae's vampires went extinct long ago for exactly this reason]] -- [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demons]], [[SuccubiAndIncubi cubi]], undead that ''aren't'' [[WeaksauceWeakness sensitive to daylight]], and [[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragons]] are all more effective predators competing for the same food source.
117	* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'': On Alternia, everything is considered unsuspecting prey by everything else.
118	[[/folder]]
119
120	[[folder:Web Originals]]
121	* The setting of ''Felarya'' has a huge variety of predators, including giant predators that are over 100 feet tall (it is a setting themed around [[ConsumingPassion vore]], after all). Herbivores do exist as well, such as the duiker, but the vast majority of life forms are carnivorous.
122	[[/folder]]
123
124	[[folder:Real Life]]
125	* In the world-famous [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Brea_Tar_Pits La Brea Tar Pits]], instead of the usual 1 predator for every 10 prey animals, the exact opposite ratio appears -- wolves, predatory cats, bears and raptorial birds outnumber all other animals by a wide margin.
126	** This is generally thought to be an artifact of the processes that trapped animals there to begin with. Most likely, a prey animal or two would get stuck in the asphalt and be unable to escape. Most prey animals know to stay away from dead and dying animals, while predators are drawn to them and would get stuck in the tar while trying to get to the meat, attracting more predators in turn.
127	** Similarly, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kem_Kem_Beds Kem Kem Beds]] in Africa (sometimes referred to as "a predator's paradise") is a notable example. This is where the ''Spinosaurus'' came from, and it was rivaled by many other large carnivores, including other dinosaurs, crocodiles and pterosaurs. The ''only'' confirmed plant eaters from the entire formation are two indeterminate sauropods. Apparently, the reason this environment was able to sustain so many carnivores is because of the plentiful amount of fish in the area, which made up the basis of the food chain. Some carnivores (''Spinosaurus'', crocodiles, pterosaurs) could sustain themselves on the fish alone, while others (''Carcharodontosaurus'', ''Sauroniops'', ''Deltadromeus'') ate crocodiles, pterosaurs, carrion and even each other.
128	* In Antarctica, there aren't many, if any, plants to eat. As a result, the few animals that thrive there are mostly carnivorous or piscivorous.
129	* It has been found that many healthy tropical reef systems follow this trope. There are far more predators roaming the waters than there are grazers that they feed on; in fact, there five times as many apex predators as ''everything else combined''. How does this system remain stable? Simple. The smaller fish breed like crazy and the carnivores keep eating them! Of course, the base of this food pyramid are eating microscopic organisms that are both photosynthetic, like plants, and yet capable of moving and feeding like animals. Depending how you look at it, the things that feed on this base layer are both herbivores and predators. Even then, however, the vast majority (89%) of the biomass is at the very top of the food web.
130	* Much of the ocean floor is home to more ''scavengers'' than prey. Since the ocean floor is too dark for plants, there are naturally no herbivores either. The base of the food web is the dead organic matter that sinks from the water above.
131	* Most cities have far more people (we're opportunistic omnivores, pack-hunting apex predators, and megafauna), housecats (obligate carnivores), and domestic dogs (pack-hunting carnivorous megafauna) than the local environment can support. The only way large cities work is by constantly importing food, and most other urban wildlife feeds on human food scraps and waste. The exceptions are communities small enough for the locals to feed themselves from the nearby countryside and/or through fishing.
132	* The difficulty in maintaining this trope is one of the arguments used ''against'' the existence of the Loch Ness Monster. The waters of Loch Ness are extremely dark, which means there is not much plant life in the loch. The loch therefore cannot support a great number of fish that feed on those plants, and thus not many larger fish to feed on the plant-eaters. Of course, this is assuming that the animal -- if it exists -- eats fish.
133	* If you count ''parasites'' as predators, this trope becomes almost universal. It requires a large population of deer to sustain a small population of wolves, but a single deer (or wolf) can support ''thousands'' of external and internal parasites. Humans and the domestic animals we protect from infestation are the rare exceptions, and only in parts of the world sufficiently affluent to ensure good sanitation, proper hygiene, preventative medical care, and safe food and drinking water.
134	* "Bottleneck" locales that roving prey animals must visit periodically, such as desert waterholes or cliffside rookeries on isolated islands, can ''look'' like this trope, with whole mobs of predators ganging up to ambush and/or harry whatever sorely-outnumbered prey may be forced to drop by. In this case, sampling bias is to blame, as far greater numbers of prey than predators are actually dependent upon such locations: the prey just spends most of their time foraging elsewhere, unlike the predators which can sit and wait for lunch to arrive.
135	[[/folder]]

Context Main / MorePredatorsThanPrey