Did you know there is an animal that has a bite so strong it can cut through metal wire?
How about one that can lift the equivalent of six double-decker buses?
Stay tuned as we unveil our contenders for the strongest animals on Earth!
10.
Grizzly Bear
Also known as the American brown bear, the Grizzly Bear is a species of bear that lives
and inhabits North America.
The average female weighs 130 to 180 kg or 290 to 400 lbs and male weighs between 180
and 360 kg or 400 to 790 lbs.
These omnivorous creatures feed on berries, plant roots, small mammals, fish, and will
sometimes scavenge others’ prey.
Their habitat ranges throughout the western United States, and down into Mexico.
What grizzlies are known for though is their short temper.
Grizzlies have been known to attack humans without provocation.
There has even been evidence that a grizzly took on a full-grown moose!
That’s 700 kg or 1,543 lbs of moose!
Grizzlies can lift over 500 kg or about 1,100 lbs, which is about 0.8 times their own body
weight, making them the most aggressive and strongest bear on Earth.
9.
Shire Horse
Holding world records for the largest horse and the tallest horse is the shire.
While it can be easily confused with the more well-known Clydesdale, this British breed
of draught horse is known for its great capacity for weight pulling.
It is said they are descendants of the “great horse” that was able to carry men in full
armor that often weighed as much as 400 lbs.
Shire horses measure roughly 17 hands or about 68 inches tall and weigh as much as 900kg
- that’s 2,000 lbs!
The largest horse in history was thought to be a shire named “Mammoth.”
He was born in 1848, stood 21.2 hands high, and weighed about 3,300 lbs.
Shire horses are renowned for their strength for pulling and were often employed with breweries.
They can lift twice their own body weight, and it’s been speculated that one shire
can lift 33,000 lbs or 15 tonnes one foot into the air in one minute.
Fun fact, that’s where the term “horsepower” came from.
8.
Gorilla
Coming in at number 8 is the gorilla.
The two species of gorillas known as mountain gorillas and lowland gorillas are herbivores
and feed mostly on leaves, stems, pith (the spongy white part of the fruit rind), shoots,
and other fruits.
These mammals are the largest primates on Earth and live both in the dense forests of
the lowland swamps and in the tall mountain forests of Africa.
There are some interesting differences between the two species, the most prominent being
the amount of hair each species has.
The mountain gorilla has more hair than it’s lowland cousin, and it also has a darker color.
Mountain gorillas are also known to have a broader chest than the lowland - more than
likely to help it maneuver through its dense and often rocky terrain.
They can weigh between 181 kg or 400 lbs and 227 kg or 500 lbs and share about 98% of their
genetic code with humans.
That’s impressive!
But what is more impressive is the amount a gorilla can lift.
Some studies have shown that silverbacks can lift up to 2,000 kg or 2 tonnes.
That’s nearly 8 times their body weight!
7.
Blue Whale
The world’s largest animal is the blue whale.
They can grow to be over 100 feet, and weigh as much as 150 tonnes.
Blue whales are found in every ocean on the planet and have been known to eat as much
as 40 tonnes or 400,000 krill - small shrimp-like creatures - in one day.
Blue whales have made our list due to the sheer muscle strength they generate.
The two groups of muscles they use to swim are the epaxial muscles for the upstroke and
the hypaxial muscles that power the downstroke.
By measuring a cross-section of these two muscles, scientists are able to measure the
ratio of force per unit area of muscle or “muscle stress.”
One whale weighing a mass of 70,800 kg - that’s about 70 tonnes - was able to produce a maximum
force of 60 kilonewtons, and that’s considered a small whale.
A blue whale’s jaw will open to nearly 90 degrees as it is eating, which slows it down
from about 9 miles per hour to about 3 miles per hour.
6.
Black Piranha
While piranhas get a bad reputation in the cinema for being malicious frenzied eaters,
the truth is further than you think.
These omnivorous fish live primarily in the South American rivers, lakes, and reservoirs
and rarely feast on unsuspecting swimmers.
They have triangular teeth, much like sharks, that are serrated.
The jaws of a black piranha are one of the strongest in the world.
Scientists have put this fish to the bite test and found that the bite force of the
black piranha is around 70 newtons.
That’s a force that is more than 30 times the small fish’s body weight.
That’s more than a great white!
Scientists use pounds per square inch or PSI and a measurement called newtons, the force
needed to move 1 kilogram 1 meter per second, to measure the bite force of various animals.
Megapiranha paranensis, an early ancestor to the modern piranha, had an estimated bite
force that ranged between 1,240 and 4,749 newtons.
The fish itself was only about 10 kg or 22 lbs - that means its bite force was roughly
50 times the animal’s body weight.
That means, pound for pound, these ancient fish were able to bite with more force than
even the megalodon shark.
5.
Tasmanian Devil
The Tasmanian devil is the largest carnivorous marsupial in the world.
They are only found on the island state of Tasmania and are incredibly irritable.
Looks like Looney Toons wasn’t too far off with their character Taz.
Tasmanian devils are now only found on the small island state of Tasmania, as they have
been completely extinct in Australia for thousands of years.
This is most likely due to the introduction of the dingo.
Weighing only 8 kg or 18 lbs, their unusually large heads carry a jaw that can open 75 to
80 degrees and deliver a bite force of 553 newtons.
That’s strong enough to bite through thick metal wire.
They primarily eat carrion, so these massive jaws are perfect for biting through bone and
thick meats.
While their bite force might not be the strongest on the planet, Tasmanian devils have one of
the highest bite force ratios in the world making it, pound for pound, the strongest
marsupial on Earth.
4.
Saltwater Crocodile
Coming in at number 4 is the world’s largest reptile and one of the oldest, the saltwater
crocodile.
These massive creatures can grow to be over 6 meters or 18 feet and weigh over 1,000 kg
or 2,200 lbs.
Also known as “salties,” saltwater crocodiles don’t just live in salt waters; they’re
just as happy in freshwater.
Though, it is not uncommon to see a saltie in open ocean waters.
Their territory spans from India, Thailand, the Philippines, Australia and have been known
to be found in odd places such as the Sea of Japan.
Salties can swim anywhere between 15 and 18 mph or 24 to 29 km per hour but usually take
the slow path at around 2 or 3 mph or 3.2 to 4.8 km per hour.
While being explosively fast in the water, most saltwater crocodiles prefer to be basking
in the sun or just float along during the day.
This lethargy allows them to conserve energy when food sources are in low supply.
They have been around and on the top of the food chain since the time dinosaurs roamed
the Earth, first appearing around 12 and 16 million years ago.
Salties have been noted as the most aggressive of the normally docile crocodile species and
have been held responsible for dozens of human attacks every year.
They have teeth up to 5 inches long and massive jaws that can produce a bite force of 16,460
newtons - that’s about 3,700 PSI - making it the strongest bite of any creature on Earth.
3.
Ants
Ants have long been known for their strength and hardiness, but what’s surprising about
these little creatures is just how strong they are.
Leafcutter ants are any of 47 species of leaf chewing ants, and next to humans they form
the largest and most complex animal society on Earth, with one nest containing up to 10
million individuals.
Leafcutters will take part of the plant back to their nest and add it to their actual food
source, fungi.
They take the parts of the leaf, sometimes weighing up to 50 times their own weight,
clean them, chew them, and add the chewed bits to their fungus garden.
Another feat of strength belongs to the weaver ant.
These ants are known for their ability to create massive nests high in the trees in
tropical locations.
These strong creatures have been known to be able to hold up to 100 times their own
body weights!
They need that strength to pull the large leaves together to create those large nests.
Weavers have also been known to link together to create bridges for other ants to carry
their larvae into the nests.
This makes ants some of the strongest animals on Earth.
2.
Rhinoceros Beetle
The rhinoceros beetle, or dynastinae, are part of the scarab beetle family and are found
primarily in tropical forests.
The males have a distinctive horn that grows away from the body, and some species, like
the Hercules Beetle, have a second set of horns that grow vertically and resemble large
pincers.
Rhinoceros beetles use these horns to dig themselves into leaf litter and soil to escape
predators.
They will also use these horns to fight other males for feeding grounds and potential mates.
Some species, such as the coconut rhinoceros beetle, are known to be invasive and harmful
to the environment.
These beetles were accidentally introduced into tropical climates such as Hawaii and
have been reported as a danger to the pineapple, coconut, and banana trees.
The infestation has grown so much that the United Nations put a fund together with the
goal of eradicating the rhinoceros beetle and related insects in the South Pacific.
Growing to be about 6 inches or 15cm, they are one of the largest beetles in the world.
They weigh upwards of 3.5 oz and can lift 850 times their own weight.
That’s the equivalent of an average human being lifting 9 and a half elephants.
1.
The Dung Beetle
The dung beetle is another member of the scarab family and are known for, well, dung.
They eat, breed, and live within large balls of animal waste.
These beetles are able to orient themselves by the sun, and one species, the African dung
beetle, is the only known species to navigate by the Milky Way.
Some males will wait for some other males to create a ball and battle over the pile.
They will use their back legs to push the balls into a hole in the ground that it and
its mate have made where they bury it and grow a family.
Using their powerful back legs, they are able to push 1,141 times their own body weight.
That’s the equivalent of an average person pulling 6 double-decker buses full of people!
This makes the dung beetle, ounce per ounce, the strongest animal on planet Earth.
Do you agree with our list?
Let us know why or why not in the comments below or add your own favorite strong animal!
And, as always, thanks for watching!