Among the many most spectacular bodily attributes wild animals carry to bear of their battle for survival is the power to easily chomp down exhausting. Not surprisingly, in relation to what animal has the strongest chew power, nature’s strongest jaws usually belong to apex predators who sit comfortably atop the meals chain. However gathering exhausting information on their chew power generally is a decidedly dangerous proposition. Researchers have used various strategies, from direct measurement to pc software program modeling, to estimate the forces at work in nature’s chew membership. Expressed as PSI (pound-force per sq. inch, a strain of one-pound of power utilized to a floor space of 1 sq. inch), right here’s how a number of the strongest animal bites within the wild stack up.
Animal Chew Power by Species
- Saltwater crocodile – 3,700 psi
- Nice white shark – 4,000 psi
- Hippopotamus – 1,800 psi
- Jaguar – 1,500 psi
- Gorilla – 1,300 psi
- Polar bear – 1,200 psi
- Noticed hyena – 1,000 psi
- Bengal tiger – 1,050 psi
- Grizzly bear – 975 psi
- African lion – 650 psi
1. Saltwater Crocodile
Crocodile Chew Power: 3,700 PSI
What animal has the strongest chew power ever recorded? The saltwater crocodile. Dr. Gregory Erickson, professor of anatomy and paleobiology at Florida State College and curator of the college’s Organic Science Museum, performed a 10-year examine to scientifically measure jaw energy in all 23 crocodile species. Erickson and his staff positioned a specifically designed bite-force transducer—which he likens to “an costly toilet scale” wrapped in “protecting layers of bullhide”—between the jaws of a number of crocodile specimens. The very best studying, 3,700 PSI, was registered by a 17-foot saltwater croc. “It’s the strongest chew power ever recorded,” Erickson says, “beating a 2,980-PSI worth for a 13-foot wild American alligator.”
Notably, the staff’s information permits projections of bite-force energy in now-extinct crocodiles discovered within the fossil file, together with 40-footers estimated to have been able to producing 23,000 kilos of power. That surpasses estimates for Tyrannosaurus rex, which Erickson estimated, in a 2017 examine, most likely had a chew power round 8,000 PSI.
“For those who can bench press a pickup truck, you’ll be able to escape a croc’s jaws,” Erickson says. In any other case, “It’s a one-way road between the enamel and the abdomen of a giant croc.”
2. Nice White Shark
Nice White Shark Chew Power: 4,000 PSI
Why is that this one in second place if the PSI is greater? We’ll get to that in a sec. However first, in 2008, a staff of Australian scientists led by Steve Wroe used subtle pc modeling based mostly on a number of x-ray pictures of shark skulls to estimate {that a} 21-foot nice white shark can produce almost 4,000 PSI of chew power. As a result of shark chew power is extremely depending on measurement; the far more frequent 11- to 15-foot nice whites would pack significantly much less punch than a equally sized croc, which subsequently belongs within the No. 1 slot. Additionally, Wroe’s projections, not like Erickson’s findings, haven’t been immediately measured in area checks Volunteers, anybody?
3. Hippopotamus
Hippopotamus Chew Power: 1,800 PSI
With tusks that may develop 2 ft lengthy, a mouth that opens 180 levels, and a chew that may crush a complete watermelon like a grape, hippos probably have the strongest jaws of any herbivore on the planet. Territorial and doubtlessly aggressive, hippos are notably hostile to crocodiles and are mentioned to be able to biting a 10-foot croc in half. The chew power of females has been measured at 1,800 PSI; males have reportedly confirmed too aggressive to check.
4. Jaguar
Jaguar Chew Power: 1,500 PSI
The biggest cat within the Americas can be the strongest biter of any wild feline. Not like all different cats, which principally go for the throat to dispatch their prey, the jaguar kills by biting its sufferer’s cranium and is able to puncturing a turtle’s shell with its enamel.
5. Gorilla
Gorilla Chew Power: 1,300 PSI
It not a lot the enamel, however the huge neck and jaw muscle tissues that give the gorilla one of many strongest chew forces within the primate kingdom. They’re herbivores, sure, however their weight loss plan contains a lot harder stuff than bananas: The gorilla’s sturdy molars permit them chew heavy shoots, bark, nuts, tubers, and different fibrous meals. Lengthy, sharp canines seen in mature males are principally for show.
6. Polar Bear
Polar Bear Chew Power: 1,200 PSI
Not like most bears, whose enamel are designed to deal with each wildlife, polar bears are completely meat-eaters—hypercarnivore is the time period. Consequently, their chew is properly tailored to coping with the sort of prey they encounter within the Arctic: thick-skinned, heavily-feathered, or, sometimes, North Face-clad. Polar bears are mentioned to be the one mammal that actively hunts people.
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7. Noticed Hyena
Noticed Hyena Chew Power: 1,100 PSI
Hyenas are expert hunters that always make their very own kills, however their large jaw energy additionally permits these African mammals to profitably scavenge carcasses different predators depart behind. Twin-purpose enamel permit them to shear flesh and crush bone, and huge jaw muscle tissues mixed with a singular arched construction that protects the cranium towards the forces generated by their very own chew makes hyenas notably environment friendly scavengers: When a hyena pack descends on a kill, there are not often any leftovers.
8. Bengal Tiger
Bengal Tiger Chew Power: 1,050 PSI
Boasting the longest canine enamel (2.5 to three inches) of all cats, Bengal tigers current a fearsome show; in addition they have the chew power to again it up, delivering greater than a thousand pounds-per-square-inch of strain—virtually twice as a lot chew power because the king of the jungle.
9. Grizzly Bear
Grizzly Bear Chew Power: 975 PSI
Mythologized for his or her purported potential to decapitate a moose with a single swipe of their huge paws, grizzlies even have one of many extra fearsome units of choppers within the wild. Medical doctors in bear nation have developed antibiotic cocktails to struggle the deep-tissue bacterial infections that survivors of grizzly bites usually face. Their chew power is claimed to be sturdy sufficient to crush a bowling ball.
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10. Lion
Lion Chew Power: 650 PSI
Lions have a chew power of solely 650 PSI, which isn’t a lot stronger than the hardest-biting home canine, the English mastiff (550 PSI). However lions are social creatures that hunt in teams and eat their kill the place it falls, which can reduce the necessity for particular person jaw energy, some researchers have hypothesized. By comparability, people exert a chew power of round 160 PSI after we clamp down—adequate to energy by way of a troublesome steak sandwich, however nowhere close to sufficient for bringing a wildebeest to bay.
