The average human can bite down with a 120 pound force.
According to Scientific American, a ten-pound bite requires a forty-pound contraction of the human jaw muscles. That is because the jaws are built on the principle of a pair of tongs. The power is applied near the joint, while the work is performed at the opposite extremity of the jaw levers.
A new study says that crocodiles may be the world's champion chompers, killing with the greatest bite force ever directly measured for living animals. Saltwater crocodiles slammed their jaws shut with 3,700 pounds per square inch (psi), or 16,460 newtons, of bite force.
Based on National Geographic’s Dr. Brady Barr’s bite pressure tests, here are the bite forces of many different creatures:
- Domestic dogs: 320 lbs
- Wild dogs: 310 lbs
- Lions: 600 lbs
- White sharks: 600 lbs
- Hyenas: 1000 lbs
- Snapping turtles: 1000 lbs
- Crocodiles: 2500 lbs
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