Some of the strongest animals on earth may shock you, as they can be as small as 1.2 inches long. When looking at the strength of the strongest animals on earth, the size of the animal is not necessarily a factor as much as the strength that they exude compared to their body weight. So, what are some of the strongest wild animals in the world?
12 of the strongest wild animals on earth include:
- The Grizzly Bear
- The Elephant
- The Tiger
- The Gorilla
- The Musk Ox
- The Anaconda
- The Saltwater Crocodile
- The Eagle
- The Leafcutter Ant
- The Dung Beatle
- The Rhinoceros Beetle
- The Hercules Beetle.
These wild animals are some of the most amazing creatures in the world, and their raw strength is absolutely outstanding. Let us look at some of these incredible wild animals and just how strong they really are.
The Strongest Big Animals On Earth
There are a lot of big animals on the earth, but not all of them are necessarily strong. Consider the giraffe; they are huge animals that are incredibly beautiful, but they are not actually considered all that strong.
The animals on these lists are considered some of the strongest animals on earth; let’s take a look at them.
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The Grizzly Bear
The grizzly bear is a massive animal, to begin with, but as we discussed before, big does not always mean strong.
So, is a grizzly bear strong? Or simply big?
Strong! The grizzly bear is an incredibly strong animal that can lift us to 500 kilograms – that is roughly 0.8 times their body weight.
Grizzly bears are not just strong, though; they are very intelligent animals who love and care deeply for their family members.
This is a beautiful quality in these big animals, but it can also be a dangerous thing; grizzly bears will attack and even fight until the death to save or protect one of their loved ones.
That can be a dangerous situation for someone who has accidentally gotten between a mother bear and her cub; there is no trying to explain to these animals that it was unintentional. They will simply go after you in an effort to protect their baby.
These bears may also use their strength in order to get food; sometimes, this can be at the disadvantage of humans.
Grizzly bears have a remarkable sense of smell, and they can smell food from miles away.
If you happen to be enjoying a picnic with some friends or family and your food is the food that these bears happen to smell, they may try and intimidate you (usually successfully!) out of your meal.
Bears are not mean animals by any means; they simply have a lot of strength and know how to use it.
The Elephant
Elephants are some of the most outstanding creatures on earth.
These beautiful animals are the largest existing land animal on earth; a newborn baby elephant can weigh up to 120 kilograms at birth! But are they strong?
Elephants are incredibly strong, but they are not just strong, as along with being the largest land animals to exist, in brute force, they are actually also the strongest land animals to exist.
Adult elephants can weigh up to 6,350 kilograms, and with all that weight is a whole lot of muscles because they can actually carry up to 9,000 kilograms!
That is the weight of roughly 130 adult male humans.
With all of that brute force and unbelievable strength, it is a great thing that elephants are naturally very kind animals.
Elephants are not only kind, but they are also gentle and caring and are very loving towards their family; they are even extremely loving towards people that they remember that have been kind to them.
The only time you will not want to be around these wild animals is if you have gotten yourself in-between an elephant and its baby.
These animals will charge at you with all their might to get to their baby again, and this will not end well for whoever or whatever is in the elephant’s path.
The Tiger
Tigers have become a symbol of strength in many countries and communities, and there is a very good reason why.
These beautiful animals are the largest members of the cat family; male tigers can weigh between 90 to 310 kilograms, and females can weigh between 60 to 170 kilograms.
These big cats can carry prey that weighs up to 550 kilograms up a 10-foot tree; that is more than twice their own body weight that they are dragging up a tree.
Being able to carry something twice your body weight is definitely impressive, and these big cats definitely have earned their stripes when it comes to being known for their strength.
Tigers are great hunters in many ways, and their strength helps them a lot; for example, tigers are incredible swimmers.
Their large muscles help them a whole lot when it comes to swimming as it is tricky to carry such a large body and all that wet fur through the water so quickly.
This means that not only can tigers hunt on land, but they can even hunt to a certain degree in the water, too, should they choose to.
The Gorilla
Gorillas are actually one of the closest living relatives to humans, sharing as much as 95% of the same DNA as us – except they are far more powerful, and their strength is far more impressive.
Gorillas can lift something that is as heavy as 2,000 kilograms, which is often over ten times their body weight!
These amazing animals are, in general, peaceful-natured animals. However, this is usually only when around their own environment and their family group.
When exposed to other animals, other gorillas, and even humans, that naturally peaceful animal can turn extremely violent very quickly.
Because of the strength that these large animals bear, if they become aggressive towards a human, the result will usually be fatal.
This is usually only the case in wild gorillas, though, and this reaction is completely fair; they do not know humans and may feel threatened or afraid by seeing a human approach them.
The Musk Ox
Have you ever heard the saying as strong as an ox? Well, it is no wonder that this has become a well-known saying when animals like the musk ox exist!
The musk ox is an incredible animal, and its strength is unbelievable – it has very rightfully earned its spot on the list of some of the world’s strongest wild animals.
These ox weigh on average between 180 to 410 kilograms, but they can carry or pull things that weigh up to 900 kilograms; that is up to 1.5 times their body weight.
Musk ox are usually peaceful animals and will very rarely become aggressive; even though they may not become aggressive often when they do, it can be very dangerous.
With how strong musk ox are, they can pose a very dangerous threat to humans if they are ever aggravated.
These ox are still wild animals at the end of the day, and even gentle wild animals can be very dangerous if they ever feel threatened.
The Anaconda
There is a reason so many people have a big snake phobia when snakes like the anaconda exist.
Anacondas on land are not very fast creatures, so the chances of you outrunning these wild animals are almost guaranteed.
However, their speed in the water is an entirely different story, and they are definitely a lot quicker when swimming.
The largest species of anaconda is the green anaconda, and they can weigh up to 250 kilograms – that is a huge snake.
The anaconda can squeeze prey up to its own body weight, usually around 250 kilograms, roughly equivalent to 4 adult human males.
The Saltwater Crocodile
Saltwater crocodiles are the largest known living reptiles in the world, and they have the strength to prove it.
These wild animals can weigh between 1,000 to 1,300 kilograms and can swim at speeds of up to 24 to 29 KPH; now that is what horror movies are made of, fast-swimming giants with huge jaws.
Their huge jaws are actually where most of their strength is found.
Saltwater crocodiles can slam their jaws shut with incredible force; it would be nearly impossible for anything that was in their mouth to be able to escape this trap.
A saltwater crocodile can shut its jaws with 3,700 psi (pounds per square inch; or 16,460 newtons if you prefer)
Just to give you some perspective, lions and tigers can only generate roughly 1,000 psi (or 4,450 newtons) with their jaws when attacking their prey.
The Harpy Eagle
The harpy eagle is actually considered to be the most powerful bird of prey in the world.
These eagles weigh between 4 to 9 kilograms, but they mostly prey on larger animals such as sloths and monkeys despite their small size.
The harpy eagle’s strength is very impressive, especially considering its size; the harpy eagle can hunt and prey on animals that weigh up to 14 kilograms. This is sometimes double the weight of the bird itself.
This eagle has large talons that are controlled by their incredibly strong muscles; they use these talons and their strength to swoop down on their prey and snatch them up quicker than they realize what is happening.
The harpy eagle’s talons use such a great force that they will usually crush their prey’s bones in this process.
The Strongest Small Animals On Earth
Although some of the large animals in the list above are incredible creatures and hold amazing amounts of strength, most of them cannot even hold a flame to the strength of the smaller animals listed below.
As crazy as it may seem that an elephant’s strength can be outdone by a beetle when you compare their body size to the amount of strength they can exude, there is almost no comparison.
The Leafcutter Ant
Yes, as wild as it may seem to see an ant on a list of the world’s strongest wild animals, you will shortly see why this animal has rightfully earned it’s place on this list.
The leafcutter ant can use it’s jaws to carry things up to the weight of 500 milligrams. This may not seem to be a very impressive weight compared to an elephant carrying 9,000 kilograms, but 500 milligrams is 50 times the bodyweight of this little ant.
That means that compared to the size of their bodies and the weight they can carry, the leafcutter ant is actually stronger than an elephant.
To put things into perspective for you, what the leafcutter ant does would be like an adult human lifting an entire truck using their teeth.
The Dung Beetle
The dung beetle has such an unfortunate name for such a miraculous creature. The dung beetle, believe it or not, is considered to be the strongest animal in the world – crazy to think about, really.
The dung beetle is already crowned as being the strongest insect in the world, but why is it also considered to be the strongest animal in the world too?
Well, the dung beetle, compared to its body weight, is considered to be the strongest animal in the world because of the fact that it can lift weight up to 1,141 times its body weight!
To put that into perspective for you, that is like an adult human pulling six, fully occupied, double-decker busses using nothing but their own strength.
That is a miraculous amount of weight for a tiny beetle to be able to exude; it really is no wonder why this animal is considered to be the strongest animal in the world. It is a well-deserved title.
The Rhinoceros Beetle
Beetles really seem to have impressive amounts of strength, which is why three different types of beetles have made their way onto this list.
The Rhinoceros beetle is another strong animal that can make moving heavy objects look like child’s play.
Rhinoceros beetles can move objects that weigh up to 850 times their body weight; again, let us put that into perspective.
If an elephant had the same strength as the Rhinoceros beetle does, it would be able to carry 850 other elephants on its back – that is one strong insect.
The Hercules Beetle
The final animal on our list today is the appropriately named Hercules beetle (seems like something the strongest animal on earth should have been named, but unfortunately, job titles are a thing.)
The Hercules beetle, similarly to the rhinoceros beetle, can also move items that are 850 times their own body weight.
These beetles can grow up to 7 inches long and can weigh up to 4 ounces, which means that these beetles can move items as heavy as 10.2 kilograms!
That is very impressive for a beetle that, all things considered, is not very large at all.
Conclusion
As you can see by the dung beetle being crowned as the strongest animal in the world, it is not the size of the animal that counts.
These strong, wild animals are truly amazing, and something beautiful to behold; getting to see any of these animals move weights so large compared to their body weight is an amazing sight.
Next time you are in the wild, whether it be camping or a safari game drive, remember to not only look up and around you to see strong animals like the tiger or the elephant, but to also look down to see animals like the ant and the dung beetle, you may be just as amazed.
