The largest ever recorded canine tooth for a hippo comes in at a whopping 122cm! 3. With the largest mouth and the largest teeth of any land mammal, a hippo’s canine teeth typically measure 71cm, and are continually growing. Hippo bite force used for: Defence against apex predators, or attacking/defending against other hippos With one powerful bite to the back of the skull, they can take down animals up to four times their own weight. Jaguar bite force is used for: Cutting through the armoured skin of a crocodile, shells of turtles and tortoises, and crushing boneĪs opportunistic hunters, jaguars will prey on just about anything. Jaguar (1,500psi) © Getty Imagesĭistribution: Southwestern USA, Central America, South America This means they can grow up to a whopping 50,000 teeth in a lifetime! No wonder shark teeth are so common in the fossil record. A shark’s mouth works like a conveyor belt: as an old tooth, close to the edge of the jaw, falls out, a tooth from the row behind moves forward to replace it. Bull shark (1,350psi) © Getty Imagesĭistribution: Warm coastal areas, rivers and lakes worldwideīull shark bite force is used for: A widely varied diet, from oysters and turtles to baby hippos and other sharksĪ bull shark has more teeth than other species of shark, up to 350 teeth at any one time. They use their powerful jaws to strip bark, first from the tree, then for trees like the Milicia, to separate the outer bark (which is discarded) from the sweet inner bark. Gorilla bite force is used for: Chewing hard branches and tearing bark off treesĭespite their powerful bite, gorillas are largely vegetarian. But polar bears aren’t picky, they’ll also scavenge carcasses, or munch on other mammals, vegetation, birds and eggs. Their large canine teeth can grow up to 5cm, which they use for their Arctic prey, mainly ringed and bearded seals. They’re also the only bear species to be considered as marine mammals. Polar bear bite force is used for: Chomping through the thick blubber of Arctic animalsĪmong the bears (Ursidae), polar bears have the strongest bite. As well as their massive size and razor-sharp claws, they have a bite that’s strong enough to crush a bowling ball… or a human skull, without flinching. There’s a reason that hikers are told to avoid grizzlies when at all possible. Grizzly bear bite force is used for: Ripping into animal flesh, breaking the bones of large prey Thanks to highly concentrated hydrochloric acid in their stomach, they can even digest bone. Along with their strong jaws and broad molars, these doglike carnivorous mammals ensure no part of the carcass goes to waste. Hyenas have conical-shaped premolars, specialised teeth for breaking and crushing bone. Hyena bite force is used for: Grinding down bones to get at the tasty marrow Here are the top 10 animals with the world's most fearsome chompers: 10. So, who has the most powerful jaws? Of all animals alive on Earth today, the Nile crocodile has the strongest bite, at 5,000psi (or 3,4473,787 newtons per square meter). However, as this has not yet been directly measured from a living specimen, we’ve not included it in our round-up of the animals with the strongest bite. Researchers have used computer models based on multiple X-ray images generated by a computerised tomography (CT) scanner of shark skulls, to estimate the bite force of a great white shark ( Carcharodon carcharias).ĭepending on the size of the shark, the team, led by Prof Steve Wroe, estimated a bite force of nearly 4,000psi, putting the Great White firmly in second position for the strongest bite force. In other words, the pressure that the animal exerts on its food, or unlucky prey. More accurately, it is pound force per square inch, as it’s the pressure from a one pound force, applied to an area of one square inch (6.5 square centimetres). Because the force in a muscle depends on how much it’s stretched, an animal’s bite force depends on the size of what it’s biting, a study from Brown University finds.īite force is measured in pounds per square inch, psi. The bite force of an animal is largely dependent on jaw muscles, as well as jawbone and surface area of the teeth – but it also depends on the size of their lunch. Top 10: Which animals have the strongest bite?
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |