User blog comment:Lord Loss/Monster Hunter Theory... Blog/@comment-74.193.207.108-20120915182353/@comment-4212769-20120916164244

I wouldn't make a ranking of predators as this isn't very reliable as even a Great Jaggi can kill a weakened apex predator or apex predators when fight with each other have still chances to kill the other even though it may be ranked below.

It's all ordered in food chains and the tiers of those chains.

So the lowest tier are the plants as they normally don't eat anything organic/living.

Then the herbivores that eat the plants obviously. These include the Herbivore monster class, and in this case Diablos and Dobo Sub (don't know if this is true but I think it is). I would say in this tier "geovores" would be in this group, too.

Then the animals eating small animals (low-tier predators) but can still be prey to others. This would include Qurupeco and Barroth in this case. Great Jaggi would be in here, too but would have a quite special position as it hunts in packs and comparably bigger prey.

Then the up-tier that are stronger than other predators and can overcome low-tier predators with ease. Though those are still competed by the apex predators and would lose most fights probably or are even occasionally hunted by them. In this case it would be Rathian (though that's quite close), Barioth Subspecies (though it can be seen as apex predator, too) and Hapurubokka.

Last but surely not least the apex predators that are on the top and have no animals that would hunt on them but other apex predators though only if those are starving. In this case they are Tigrex, Tigrex Subspecies and Barioth Subspecies (like I said can be seen as both).

Deviljho is an animal that I wouldn't call an apex predator. Of course it can overcome most monsters but it has no "true", fixed food chain as it is a nomad. It appears and disappears again on the food chains so it cannot keep it up.

Another special case is Tigrex (and assumable Tigrex Subspecies) as it normally doesn't hunt in the Sandy Plains but in the Tundra (Volcano). It only hunts in the Sandy Plains when food is scarce or it got attacked by another monster (or hunter). So it's normally not an apex predator in the Sandy Plains but it is one in the Tundra (Volcano).