Every time I picture an alligator biting me I’m like I bet I could wiggle out or like somehow overcome it, because their jaws look so long and flat - like how much strength could they have? Certainly not more than a lion.
Well.
bitey
Submitted 3 weeks ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to science_memes@mander.xyz
https://mander.xyz/pictrs/image/670a6bf4-2d32-40c3-b468-68a7437f950a.png
Comments
grrgyle@slrpnk.net 3 weeks ago
Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
The closing force is significantly higher than its opening force IIRC. If yp 9u can close its mouth without getting bitten it’s screwed.
phdepressed@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Didn’t like everyone watch Steve Irwin do this to massive crocs like all the time.
Mothra@mander.xyz 3 weeks ago
Just remember these guys can grip an animal the size of a horse with their jaws, overpower it, drag it to the water and rip it apart.
The_Che_Banana@beehaw.org 3 weeks ago
Salt water Crocs are not tiny. Some alligators are on the smallish side comparatively, but there are big gators out there too.
EldritchFeminity@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
Crocodiles are also one of those rare animals that don’t “age” in the traditional sense. Once they reach adulthood, they continue to get larger and larger until they eventually starve or their organs collapse under their own body weight. They don’t lose muscle mass or bone density or any of the usual issues we attribute to getting older.
Imagine having the build of a 25 year old at 100 and being 7+ft tall. That’s how crocodiles age.
grrgyle@slrpnk.net 3 weeks ago
Yeah I’ve never seen one in real life, so I feel like like I’m not grokking the sense of scale.
Kind of like seeing a horse or moose for the first time (guess my hemisphere lol).
starman2112@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
I got a bone to pick with this kind of diagram. Everyone likes to talk about how much better other animals are at things than us, but if you look at animals holistically, humans are really fuckin good at everything. Like yeah there’s a bunch of animals that are faster than us, a bunch of animals that bites stronger than us, a bunch of animals that are more muscular than us, but we’re consistently in like the top 10% overall
Finna make a version of this meme where it’s mice and rabbits
Zess@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
We also have better full-light vision than a lot of animals, even the ones with good dark vision.
lenuup@reddthat.com 3 weeks ago
And we have better night vision than most the animals that have better day-vision than us. Humans are like the Leatherman of animals. Universally capable of doing most things but not as good as something specialized for that task. Plus of course capable of coming up with ways to cheat
Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 3 weeks ago
Also like, we aren’t cursed to a life of suffering and early death if something takes a bite out of our leg, we can patch it up and get assistance from those around us to still live a good life.
starman2112@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Hell yeah, that’s what sets humans and non-humans apart: if part of our pack can’t survive on their own, we take on the burden of surviving for them. No other animal can survive a broken femur like humans can, and it’s not because we have some incredible healing factor. Whenever I’m on the verge of feeling despair, I think about that 15,000 year old broken femur
Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
It’s well understood and documented that humans are very OP.
weststadtgesicht@discuss.tchncs.de 3 weeks ago
All this picture says is basically “the bigger the jaw, the more biting force”. And then it compares animals with bigger jaws than humans
jumjummy@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Don’t forget about the human ability to literally chase an animal until it collapses with exhaustion. Humans are literally the monster from It Follows.
TriflingToad@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
compared to body mass lizards probably have us beat there too. I remember catching a lizard when I was little then running around the yard screaming because it latched onto my finger
It didn’t even hurt, I was just scared
Kolanaki@yiffit.net 3 weeks ago
I can eat way more than 700 fig Newtons. This is bullshit.
OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
Yeah but do you have the bite force to bite through all 700 at once?
Kolanaki@yiffit.net 3 weeks ago
I would think… They’re pretty soft.
TriflingToad@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
isolatedscotch@discuss.tchncs.de 3 weeks ago
Given:
Bite Force of T. rex: 45,000 Newtons
Jaw Closing Distance: Approximately 0.3 meters
Energy=Force×Distance=45,000N×0.3m=13,500Joules
Say we have a typical 10w led lightbulb, how much could it power it for?
Time= Power/Energy=13,500J / 10W=1,350 seconds, or approximately 22 and a half minutes with a single T-Rex chomp, assuming 100% conversion efficiency
qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website 3 weeks ago
Fun fact, the (rough) conversion efficiency of calories to mechanical joules in the human body (separate from the mechanical to electrical you’re referring to) is about 25% — but this is about the same factor as going from calories to joules! So, for a human to put out 13.5 kJ of energy would require about 13.5 food calories (kilocalories).
Potatisen@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
To break the largest human bone, the thigh bone, an estimated force of 4,000 newtons is needed. However, the amount of force required to break a bone depends on how the force is applied.
-Random internet source
BreadOven@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Highly depends on the dog.
MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
Our ancestors had more bite force. It wasn’t needed anymore.
Riffraffintheroom@hexbear.net 3 weeks ago
Newton has some weak ass jaws.
MeowZedong@lemmygrad.ml 3 weeks ago
Never skip jaw day.
huquad@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
Bite pressure would be a more interesting comparison IMO. Of course a Trex is gonna have a massive bite force because it’s dominated by size.
P00ptart@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
It’s also got some trick jaws, it’s not 100% from size alone. Like dunkleosteus, which had a novel jaw that amplified the force.
huquad@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
Fair enough, from my very limited research (Chicago museum has an exhibit about this exact thing), some animals use a 4-bar linkage to maximize force. I think Trex was among them.
dylanmorgan@slrpnk.net 3 weeks ago
How is this calculated? Presumably you could directly measure all but the T-Rex and pliosaur, but how are those bits forces calculated?
MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
I’m no BiteForceologist but I was assume they compare muscle size, muscle attachment points, and mechanical advantage of extant creatures and then apply that data to fossils. So not 100% accurate, but not just guessing randomly.
phdepressed@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
For the extant creatures you give them something they want to bite on and stick a measurement thing inside of that.
For extinct creatures see other comment. You compare anatomy and do math.
whyNotSquirrel@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Soooo it’s not the number of this guy they can eat?
frickineh@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Man, we gotta pump those numbers up. Get our bite force on the next level.
OlinOfTheHillPeople@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
pewgar_seemsimandroid@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
so to bite harder i need crocs and seasalt, ok ok ok.
Mango@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Lion is still trying SO hard!
TriflingToad@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
alternatively it looks like someone just bit him haha
BoxedFenders@hexbear.net 3 weeks ago
There’s no way a human’s bite is only 30% less than a dog’s. Our jaws have shitty leverage to chomp down hard.
PotatoesFall@discuss.tchncs.de 3 weeks ago
We are omnivores and do a lot of chewing. Dogs don’t really chew, just rip.
Some great apes that have more raw plants in their diet even have a bony ridge on their skull that the jaw muscles attach to.
Our jaws actually have great leverage, our molars are very close to where the jaw muscle attaches.
Flocklesscrow@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
Not all dogs are the same, of course. Some dog breeds can bite closer to 1400 newton, which is higher than wolves. We selectively breed them for chomp strength.
Draconic_NEO@mander.xyz 3 weeks ago
It’s averaged out, the real values are in a range, they just took the average between them.
KazuchijouNo@lemy.lol 3 weeks ago
I bet chihuahuas are bringing down the average
electric_nan@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
Did they run out of old tons or something?
AAA@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
Forgot the bite force of Russian trolls and Chinese paid actors on any topic remotely concerning Ukraine or Chinese politics, and how the west is actually the bad guys.
Unlimited bite force.
TriflingToad@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
>goes to unrelated community
>complains about people posting in unrelated communities
You really showed them
intensely_human@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
Me, I can only do about four or five of those cookies at a time
JamesStallion@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
But it’s not a cookie! It’s a Newton!
jaggedrobotpubes@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
No fuckin chance a dog has 25% of the bite force of a lion.
Ma10gan@slrpnk.net 3 weeks ago
So Isaac Newton had only 1/700th the bite force of a normal human? Pathetic.
YtA4QCam2A9j7EfTgHrH@infosec.pub 3 weeks ago
Probably due to all the mercury and shit he was playing with as an alchemist