When it comes to pure, raw power in the natural world, the debate over which creature is the strongest animal is a heated one. Some animals have long been considered the fiercest, the largest, or the most terrifying, but strength combines all these qualities and more.
True strength in the animal kingdom is mostly physical, but many animals surprise you with their unexpected power. Animals can do astonishing and surprising things that often amaze humans. Whether carnivore or herbivore, big or small, aquatic or land creatures, strength shows in how they live, hunt, and survive. Some can be dangerous, while others are much more modest.
From tiny insects that can carry twice their weight to apex predators with terrifying bite forces to the largest animals alive today, the natural world is full of powerful creatures capable of feats of strength we can hardly imagine. Get ready for some surprises on this list because in the animal kingdom, strength isn’t just about raw power; it’s about claiming and keeping the top spot.
#1 Grizzly Bear
The grizzly bear easily earns its spot among the strongest animals on Earth thanks to its towering, muscular build. Adult male grizzly bears are able to lift objects weighing over half a ton, and have such powerful arms that they can break the bones of large prey with a single paw swipe.
Some grizzly bears have even been observed flipping 700-pound boulders over while foraging for food! They’re also capable of flipping cars and dumpsters.
On top of their brute force strength, grizzly bears also have a bite force of 1,160 to 1,200 PSI, which is stronger than that of a jaguar. It also has the second-strongest bite of any bear, second only to polar bears.
Image source: r/megafaunarewilding
#2 Dung Beetle
It may be small, but the dung beetle is actually one of the strongest animals in the world. It’s a pound-for-pound powerhouse capable of pulling loads over 1,100 times its body weight, which is equivalent to a human hauling six double-decker buses at once. Their strength comes in very handy for rolling dung for sustenance.
Dung beetles are capable of lifting and moving such large loads because of their tough, powerful exoskeletons and specialized muscles in their legs.
Ants may be touted as the miniature bodybuilders of the insect kingdom, but leafcutter ants can only lift about 50 times their weight. Dung beetles vastly outrank them in strength, despite not being much bigger in size.
Image source: r/insects
#3 African Bush Elephant
It’s the largest land animal in the world, and also one of the strongest. The African bush elephant is capable of carrying 9,000 kilograms and uprooting full-grown trees with their insanely powerful trunks. Their skulls are also large and heavy, giving them extra force to use when fighting.
They aren’t “traditional” predators in the way that tigers and lions are, but African bush elephants are so large that they cannot be preyed upon by other animals. They’re capable of defending themselves and, with their size alone, killing attackers.
The extinct woolly mammoth is the closest animal comparable to the adult elephant, and though elephants don’t fight as often as mammoths used to, they’re considered to be more aggressive when exerting their strength.
Image source: r/powerscales
#4 White Rhino
The white rhino is one of the strongest and scariest land animals on Earth. It has a body mass exceeding 5,000 pounds, with thick, armor-like skin and remarkable strength in its legs. It can charge at 30mph and ram through dense brush with around 8,000 pounds of force.
Its neck and shoulder strength allow it to flip objects many times its size, including vehicles, and its jaw strength allows it to severely injure and kill prey with ease.
They’re not as large as African elephants, but white rhinos can hold their own in a fight thanks to their superior speed and large, sharp teeth.
Image source: r/Awwducational
#5 Polar Bear
Polar bears are, hands-down, the mightiest animals in the Arctic, and also one of the strongest land animals in the whole world. They’re natural predators and walking tanks of pure muscle, capable of pulling 600-pound seals out of holes with their paws alone. They also have powerful bites that can cut through 1,200 pounds.
They’re the largest carnivores currently on land, and their bodies are packed with plenty of strength to enable them to hunt prey, break through ice, and tear other animals apart with their teeth or paws.
Black bears are also colossal predators, but polar bears are significantly more muscular, often weighing 600 pounds more, and can drag prey weighing almost ten times what a black bear can.
Image source: karthz / Instagram
#6 Saltwater Crocodile
Many people consider the saltwater crocodile to be the second strongest animal in the world, second only to the African elephant. But this snappy predator takes the crown for the strongest bite force ever recorded: 3,700 PSI, roughly double that of a great white shark.
The saltwater crocodile’s jaw strength alone can crush turtle shells, break buffalo bones, and even chew through shark skulls. Their tails are also very muscular, propelling them through water at almost 20mph to pursue prey and allowing them to strike other animals hard enough to break their legs.
Alligators are known for being muscular and strong, but they’d easily lose a fight to a saltwater crocodile, which is far more aggressive and has the power to back it up.
Image source: r/natureismetal
#7 Silverback Gorilla
Gorillas are the largest living primates, with the silverbacks ruling over the others in terms of strength. A male silverback gorilla’s upper body strength is roughly ten times that of the average human, allowing it to lift up to 800 kg, break large tree branches, and fight off attackers.
Silverback gorillas also need strong teeth to eat, and they use them to attack prey or other gorillas that challenge them. Their bites are actually more powerful than those of a lion.
Surprisingly, gorillas are known to be significantly stronger than wolves, so a silverback would likely win a one-on-one fight with ease using its strength alone to land critical hits, despite the wolf’s sharper teeth and better agility.
Image source: r/powerscales
#8 Blue Whale
Due to its watery habitat, the blue whale has never competed against the other strongest animals in a fight, but it retains the crown for the largest body ever known to exist. Its massive build can weigh up to 200 tons, and its muscular tail can accelerate in bursts up to 20mph.
A blue whale’s heart alone weighs as much as a small car, but it’s also capable of breaching the water, showcasing its incredible ability to lift its own weight for short periods of time.
The blue whale is so powerful that many experts believe it would have a strength advantage over the extinct megalodon shark, which it now outsizes and could potentially kill with one single blow.
Image source: r/NatureIsFuckingLit
#9 Bison
The bison, North America’s largest land mammal, is a powerhouse of pure muscle, with adult males weighing over 2,000 pounds. Its bulk is primarily in its neck and shoulders, allowing it to use all of its weight and ram into rivals and even flip them over. They combine their strength with their sharp horns to batter and potentially kill opponents.
Bison can charge at up to 40mph, often challenging other males to brutal head-to-head battles and using their weight to their advantage. Their thick bones and large heads protect them from impact, and their strong shoulder humps help them to push through heavy snowdrifts.
They’re similar to the Arctic musk ox, but bison are bigger and stronger, with a fighting style that allows them to out-muscle other bovids and overpower them, so they would easily win in a fight.
Image source: r/Awwducational
#10 Rhinoceros Beetle
It’s one of the coolest-looking and most terrifying bugs in existence, and the rhinoceros beetle is also one of the strongest when it comes to lifting abilities versus physical size. Rhinoceros beetles can carry objects 850 times their own body weight, and carry up to 100 times their weight on their backs.
Like the dung beetle, it has a durable exoskeleton engineered for maximum leverage, plus tiny horn-like projections that help it fight off rivals, like its namesake mammal.
Its strength is what makes it such a fierce competitor for the strongest animal title because, though it isn’t as quick as creatures like the praying mantis, its armored bulk and defensive build allow it to easily overpower much swifter creatures.
Image source: r/NatureIsFuckingLit
#11 Tiger
Tigers may seem like an obvious choice for the world’s strongest animal thanks to their powerful bodies and predatory capabilities, but many assume that lions are the strongest big cats. It’s actually tigers who take that crown. Tigers can drag twice their body weight and take down far larger animals, like water buffalo.
Their powerful hind legs provide most of their power, and tigers use them to leap up to 25 feet in a single bound. A tiger’s jaw can also bite down with a force of up to 1,500 PSI, which is enough to crush the bones and skulls of its prey. Sometimes, they use their claws to disembowel prey in one swipe.
On top of outranking lions in strength, tigers also make quick work of leopards and cheetahs in fights because they’re stronger and quicker, so they can pounce at opponents and knock them down with their paws alone.
Image source: r/natureismetal
#12 Hippopotamus
Tiny, adorable animal Moo Deng might have made hippos a viral sensation in the past year, but her full-grown family members are the ones to watch out for. The docile-looking hippopotamus is slow but uses its weight to its advantage, allowing it to bite down with up to 1,800 PSI. That’s enough brute force to crush a crocodile or snap a small boat in half.
When you combine a hippo’s aggressive bite with its 4,000-pound body and the muscles in its neck and legs, it suddenly becomes a very unsavory predator. Most adult hippos weigh as much as a car, yet they can run at up to 30mph. They’re herbivores, but they use their strong teeth when threatened.
It might struggle with agility on land, but hippos dominate water-based fighting, and their tusks are made of a stronger material than that of rhino horns, allowing them to hold their own against other large animals and fight it out for the title of “strongest”.
Image source: r/Awwducational
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