Prehistoric Giant Caiman Had Very Powerful Bite
Posted on March 3, 2015
Brazilian paleontologists have calculated the bite of Purussaurus brasiliensis, a bus-sized caiman that inhabited Brazil about 8 million years ago. The ancient caiman grew to a size of over 12 meters (40 feet) and weighed about 8.4 metric tons. The above image shows the comparison of the ancient caiman to Caiman latirostris, a broad-snouted caiman currently found in South America.
The scientists say the ancient caiman could generate sustained bite forces of 69,000 N (around 7 metric tons-force). BBC News reports that the scientists' calculations found Purussaurus had a bite twice as powerful as Tyrannosaurus Rex and 20 times as powerful as a great white shark.
A research paper about the crocodilian's bite force can be found here in PLoS One. The researchers say P. brasiliensis would have been a top predator.
Purussaurus was a very large croc. The fact that it had an extremely powerful bite would have made it all the more menacing. A post on Tetrapod Zoology has a good photograph of a life-sized reconstruction of Purussaurus standing next to a person as well as a drawing of the ancient creature standing next to a girl in a pink coat.