Which carnivore has the strongest bite

Of the living species tested, its bite ranked number three at , a BFQ that represented about pounds of biting pressure. Who Has the Strongest Bite of All?

But the devil is put in the shade by an extinct carnivorous species. Can you guess which one? If you said saber-toothed cat, you would be going for the obvious, but you would be wrong. That extinct cat, renowned for fangs up to 7 inches long, was all tooth and no chomp: It was capable of a pound bite force, bone crushing by any standards, but when adjusted for size, yielding a score of only 78—solidly in the underperforming category.

Apparently, with those massive canines, the sabertooth could rely on finesse rather than force. A Bite for the Record Books The top scorer among the extinct species tested, as well as the top scorer of all, was the marsupial lion, which, being a marsupial, was in fact not really a lion or even a cat. One of the most formidable Australian meat eaters, this stocky creature averaged about pounds and was the only marsupial to be armed with retractable claws, like those of cats.

It also bore on each front foot a thumb that was semi-opposable, meaning the animal could actually grab hold of its prey. This creature may at times have stood upright on hind legs and tail, in the manner of a kangaroo.

Its jaws bristled with sharp, heavy dentition with which it could deliver a bite of pounds, for a BFQ of —a substantial 13 points greater than that of the Tasmanian devil. The marsupial lion went extinct more than 40, years ago. Donate Today.

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Record measurements from hunting records are supposedly a total length of nearly 3. Another notably outsized male lion, which was shot near Mount Kenya, weighed in at kg lb. Related: 20 amazing lion facts. The Brown Bear is the largest terrestrial carnivoran. The largest subspecies, the Kodiak bear Ursus arctos middendorffi , rivals the polar bear as the largest member of the bear family.

Other subspecies include the Grizzly bear Ursus arctos horribilis , Kamchatka brown bear Ursus arctos beringianus , Alaska brown bear Ursus arctos alascensis , Dall Island brown bear Ursus arctos dalli , Peninsular brown bear Ursus arctos gyas , Ursus arctos sitkensis, and Stikine brown bear Ursus arctos stikeenensis.

The size range for Kodiak bear females sows is from to kg to lb and for males boars is to kg to 1, lb. Mature males average kg 1,, lb over the course of the year and can weigh up to kg 1, lb at peak times.

Related: Amazing Kodiak bear facts. The tiger Panthera tigris is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to 3. It has also the most powerful jaw of all felids and the second overall of all carnivore land mammals. In the wild, tigers mostly feed on large and medium-sized animals, preferring native ungulates weighing at least 90 kg lb.

They also prey on other predators, including dogs, leopards, pythons, sloth bears, and crocodiles. Related: 20 amazing tiger facts. The Polar bear has the strongest jaw of all carnivore land mammals. It is a very large bear, approximately the same size as the omnivorous Kodiak bear. A boar adult male weighs around — kg —1, lb , while a sow adult female is about half that size. It is the most carnivorous member of the bear family, and throughout most of its range, its diet primarily consists of ringed Pusa hispida and bearded seals Erignathus barbatus.

They are also scavengers, occasionally feed carcasses of the whales. Unlike grizzly bears, polar bears are not territorial. Although stereotyped as being voraciously aggressive, they are normally cautious in confrontations, and often choose to escape rather than fight. Satiated polar bears rarely attack humans unless severely provoked.

However, due to their lack of prior human interaction, hungry polar bears are extremely unpredictable, fearless towards people, and are known to kill and sometimes eat humans. Many attacks by brown bears are the result of surprising the animal, which is not the case with the polar bear.

Whereas brown bears often maul a person and then leave, polar bear attacks are more likely to be predatory and are almost always fatal. However, due to the very small human population around the Arctic, such attacks are rare.

Related: 20 amazing Polar Bear facts. But, in fact, it has the most powerful bite force in all land mammals. They are among the largest living land mammals, being only smaller than elephants and some rhinoceroses. Adult hippos average 1, kg 3, lb and 1, kg 2, lb for males and females respectively. Very large males can reach 2, kg 4, lb and exceptional males weighing 2, kg 5, lb and 3, kg 7, lb have been reported.

They have exceptionally big and strong jaws, and large, very sharp teeth. The bite force of an adult female has been measured as 8, newtons 1, lbf. For comparison, lions have an average bite force of Note that it was a female, male hippos are much more powerful, but they are too aggressive to be tested!

The dingo Canis lupus dingo is a wild dog found in Australia. Its exact ancestry is debated, but dingoes are generally believed to be descended from semi-domesticated dogs from East or South Asia, which returned to a wild lifestyle when introduced to Australia. Both dingo and dog are classified as subspecies of Canis lupus in Mammal Species of the World. Some examples include felids, dolphins , eagles , snakes , marlin, and most sharks.

Every species in the Felidae family, including the domesticated cat, is a hypercarnivore in its natural state. The study is a theoretical study, and not an empirical study. It is most applicable to the anterior-most portion of the jaw, where the caniniform teeth are located… Consequently, and because morphology of the canines has long been considered a significant predictor of predatory behaviour in mammalian carnivores … we have largely restricted our discussion to estimates of force for static bites at the canines.

That is, the authors estimate the bite force at the front of the mouth based on a simple lever assumption. For a hunting animal this would be the bite force of the initial chomp, disregarding the extra impact due to the speed of jaw closure. Humans, for instance, when trying to crack a nut with their teeth, will position the teeth into the back of the mouth and crush it between the molars, rather than trying to crack it by biting with the front incisors or the canines.

Videos of small mustalids stoats, weasels, mink attacking much larger prey than themselves e. Hi David! Thanks for the comment. The list and the study which the list above is based on include only carnivore land mammals.

Hippos have albeit rarely been filmed eating carrion, usually close to the water. There are other reports of meat-eating, and even cannibalism and predation. It is all wrong…. And panda, lion,tiger and polar bear are no match for it in case of bite force…. Your email address will not be published. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Skip to content Home » Animals » Top 22 most powerful bite forces in carnivore land mammals.

Cheetah Acinonyx jubatus BFQ, see notes 1: A Greenland Dog. Photo by sannse — Photo taken by sannse Original: en. African wild dog. Photo by Charles J. Snow Leopard. Photo: Panthera. Giant Otter. Photo: Wikipedia. Gray Wolf. Puma concolor Cougar. Photo: Wikimedia. Striped Hyena. Photo: wikiwand. In , a team of Australian scientists led by Steve Wroe used sophisticated computer modeling based on multiple x-ray images of shark skulls to estimate that a foot great white shark can produce nearly 4, PSI of bite force.

Because bite strength in sharks is highly dependent on size; the much more common to foot great whites would pack considerably less punch than a similarly sized croc. Volunteers, anyone? With tusks that can grow two feet long, a mouth that opens degrees, and a bite that can crush a whole watermelon like a grape, hippos likely have the strongest jaws of any herbivore on the planet.

Territorial and potentially aggressive, hippos are particularly hostile to crocodiles and are said to be capable of biting a foot croc in half. The bite force of females have been measured at 1, PSI; males have reportedly proven too aggressive to test.

The largest cat in the Americas is also the strongest biter of any wild feline. It not so much the teeth, but the massive neck and jaw muscles that give the gorilla one of the most powerful bites in the primate kingdom. Long, sharp canines seen in mature males are mostly for display. Unlike most bears, whose teeth are designed to handle both flora and fauna, polar bears are exclusively meat eaters—hypercarnivore is the term.