Crocodilians bite with the best

Crocodiles can kill with the strongest bite force measured for any living animal, according to a report published Mar. 14 in the open access journal PLoS ONE.

The authors of the study, led by Gregory M. Erickson of Florida State University, measured the bite forces, as well as tooth pressures, for mature adults from all 23 living crocodilian species, including crocodiles, alligators, caimans, and gharials. The strongest biter was a saltwater crocodile at 3,700 pounds. It also generated record setting pressures exceeding 360,000 pounds per square inch.

"Our study has allowed for a comprehensive understanding of the relationships between the anatomy, biomechanics, performance, and ecology among living and fossil crocodilians from which the secrets to their 85 million year success can be gleaned. Notably, the largest extinct crocodilians generated bite forces in excess of 23,000 pounds, values two-fold greater than T. rex."

The researchers found that bite force was correlated with body size, but showed surprisingly little correlation with tooth form, diet, jaw shape or jaw strength. Their results suggest that once crocodilians evolved their remarkable capacity for force-generation, further adaptive modifications involved changes in body size and the dentition to modify forces and pressures for different diets.

Citation: Erickson GM, Gignac PM, Steppan SJ, Lappin AK, Vliet KA, et al. (2012) Insights into the Ecology and Evolutionary Success of Crocodilians Revealed through Bite-Force and Tooth-Pressure Experimentation. PLoS ONE 7(3): e31781. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0031781

Financial Disclosure: This research was partially supported by a grant from the Committee for Research and Exploration of the National Geographic Society presented to GME, National Science Foundation grants, IOB-0623791/BIO326U-02 presented to AKL, EAR 04418649 and EAR 0959029 presented to GME, and DEB-0841447 to SJS, and finally research funds from the College of Arts and Sciences at FSU and Department of Biology at UF. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing Interest Statement: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Disclaimer: This press release refers to upcoming articles in PLoS ONE. The releases have been provided by the article authors and/or journal staff. Any opinions expressed in these are the personal views of the contributors, and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of PLoS. PLoS expressly disclaims any and all warranties and liability in connection with the information found in the release and article and your use of such information.

PLoS ONE is the first journal of primary research from all areas of science to employ a combination of peer review and post-publication rating and commenting, to maximize the impact of every report it publishes. PLoS ONE is published by the Public Library of Science (PLoS), the open-access publisher whose goal is to make the world's scientific and medical literature a public resource.

All works published in PLoS ONE are Open Access. Everything is immediately available—to read, download, redistribute, include in databases and otherwise use—without cost to anyone, anywhere, subject only to the condition that the original authors and source are properly attributed. For more information about PLoS ONE relevant to journalists, bloggers and press officers, including details of our press release process and our embargo policy, see the everyONE blog at http://everyone.plos.org/media.