What is the best fisher in the animal kingdom?

By YPB Team

Judged on catching fish, not on looking good doing it. That distinction moves at least one famous name a long way down.

  1. Orca — ranked #11
    Orca
    Hunts in coordinated pods and teaches herring-herding techniques between generations.
    1000pts
  2. Osprey — ranked #22
    Osprey
    A fish specialist with reversible outer toes and a strike success rate above one in four.
    927pts
  3. African Fish Eagle — ranked #33
    African Fish Eagle
    The voice of Africa's lakes, and a close relative of the bald eagle with the same habits.
    877pts
  4. Fishing Cat — ranked #44
    Fishing Cat
    A South Asian wild cat with partly webbed feet that dives after fish.
    800pts
  5. Grizzly Bear — ranked #55
    Grizzly Bear
    Stands in a waterfall and takes salmon out of the air during the run.
    600pts
  6. Sea Otter — ranked #66
    Sea Otter
    Carries a favourite rock in an armpit pouch to break open shellfish.
    600pts
  7. Great Blue Heron — ranked #77
    Great Blue Heron
    Stands motionless for minutes, then spears with a strike faster than the eye follows.
    600pts
  8. Common Bottlenose Dolphin — ranked #88
    Common Bottlenose Dolphin
    Uses mud-ring feeding, beach-stranding and cooperation with human fishermen in Brazil.
    466pts
  9. Common Kingfisher — ranked #99
    Common Kingfisher
    Dives from a perch and corrects for water refraction before it hits the surface.
    466pts
  10. Great Cormorant — ranked #1010
    Great Cormorant
    Swims down after fish; trained cormorants have fished Japanese and Chinese rivers for centuries.
    466pts
  11. Northern Gannet — ranked #1111
    Northern Gannet
    Folds its wings and enters the water at a hundred kilometres an hour.
    466pts
  12. Bald Eagle — ranked #1212
    Bald Eagle
    Catches its own fish, and also waits for an osprey to catch one first.
    300pts
  13. Brown Pelican — ranked #1313
    Brown Pelican
    The only pelican that plunge-dives, hitting the water from up to twenty metres.
    300pts
  14. Archerfish — ranked #1414
    Archerfish
    Shoots a jet of water to knock insects off overhanging leaves, adjusting for refraction.
    300pts
  15. Humpback Whale — ranked #1515
    Humpback Whale
    Blows a spiral of bubbles to trap a whole school, then swallows it in one lunge.
    300pts

Comments

Ospreys catch the fish. Bald eagles sometimes wait for them to finish and take it, which is how this list gets awkward: https://youpick.best/articles/bald-eagle-ranked-many-ways

YP
ypb-team
·4h ago·
0/1000