What animal has the strongest recorded bite force?

The saltwater crocodile has the strongest recorded bite force of any living animal.

In a landmark crocodilian study, researchers measured a bite of about 16,414 newtons, or 3,689 pounds-force, from a saltwater crocodile. The measurement exceeded the previous record from an American alligator and remains the benchmark for the strongest bite directly measured in a living animal.

The species’ massive jaw-closing muscles are packed into a broad skull, allowing it to clamp down with extraordinary power. By contrast, crocodilians have comparatively weak muscles for opening their jaws, which is why a closed crocodile mouth can be restrained more easily than many people expect.

The Nile crocodile and American alligator are also formidable biters, and very large individuals can produce enormous forces. Great white shark bite figures are often estimates or model-based calculations rather than directly comparable measurements. Extinct animals such as Deinosuchus may have had stronger bites, but those values are inferred from fossils, not recorded from a living specimen.