Wednesday 6 February 2019

zoology - Reference for the bite force for Nile Crocodile


The (maximal) bite force of the Nile Crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) is estimated around 22,000 Newton (refer to YouTube interview with Ofer Kobi, a crocodile conservation ranger and croc farm owner, time 7:50-8:00, Hebrew , where he estimates the bite force as above 2 metric tons). However, I didn't find a proper reference for this. Dr. Gregory Erickson measured the bite forces of a 5.2 meters long Saltwater Crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) and obtained a value of about 16,000+ Newton and estimated a 6.7 meters long Saltwater Crocodile can exert a bite twice as strong (about 34,000 Newton). See Paper by Gregory Erickson et al. Interesting to note that Erickson measured small Nile Crocodile (total body length < 3 meters) so it does not represent the bite force of a full adult big crocodile.


Remarks on units of force:



1 Newton = 1 kg * 1 meter / sec^2


$1 \ \mathrm{Newton} = \frac{\mathrm{kg} \times \mathrm{meter}}{\mathrm{second}^2}$


1 Newton = 0.224808943 lbf = 0.225 lbf (pound-force)


10,000 Newton is approximately 1 tonne-force (1 tonne = 1 metric ton = 1000 kg)



Answer



Here is a video by Brady Barr (video in YouTube) measuring 5000 lbf for an adult Nile Crocodile. This is equivalent to 22.24 kN (more than 2.2 tonnes of force). This result is also refered here (Getty Images).


Nile Crocodile, image from Wikipedia Source: Gianfranco Gori, Wikipedia


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