6 Animals with The Strongest Bite
2. Jaguar
“If you had to choose, you’d want to be bitten by a jaguar, not a lion or a tiger,” Adam Hartstone-Rose, of the University of South Carolina, told Discover Wildlife.
Jaguars are only about a third as strong as tigers, but what they lack in braun, they make up for in teeth placement. The arrangement of their fangs makes it possible to deliver a 1,300 PSI bite to prey, piercing thick hide, and even skulls.
“Pound for pound, jaguars pack a stronger punch,” Hartstone-Rose continues. “The strength of the jaguar’s bite is due to the arrangement of its jaw muscles, which, relative to weight, are slightly stronger than those of other cats. In addition – also relative to weight – its jaws are slightly shorter, which increases the leverage for biting.”
A jaguar has one of the strongest bites in the world, compared to its body weight.
1. Saltwater Crocodile
Lions, hyenas and bears may prove worthy opponents in our battle of the bite, but when it comes to the rightful title of strongest jaw in the world, the saltwater crocodile has little competition.
A test performed by Paleobiologist Gregory M. Erickson and his colleagues in 2012 found that this particular species of croc even out chomps its freshwater cousins, with an astounding 3,700 PSI bite.
That’s almost 25 times the average human’s strongest bite.
The researchers based their findings on a study of 23 living crocodilian species, National Geographic reports. The first study of its kind, they are hoping this new information sheds some light on what the jaw strength of massive ancient dinosaurs may have been.
“We tested several 17-foot [5-meter] saltwater crocs,” Erickson said. “If you scale the results up to 20-footers, you get estimates of 7,700 pounds [34,250 newtons], which is the low end of T. rex bite-force estimates. So, if you want to see what T. Rex bite force looks like, go look at one of these crocs.”
Watch the saltwater croc in action in the video below!
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