Here's How A T-Rex Bite Compares To A Lion's Bite

May 2024 ยท 2 minute read

In 2013, Guinness World Records reported that the biggest living cat is a male liger by the name of Hercules that is a comparatively paltry 922 pounds and 3.33 meters (131 inches) long. As such, it's beyond entirely unfair to compare a Tyrannosaurus rex's bite strength to that of a lion. Still, it's an incredible testament to just how powerful and imposing this extraordinary creature was.

In 2012, Dr. Karl Bates, a biomechanics researcher of the University of Liverpool, estimated that the Tyrannosaurus rex had a bite force of up to 60,000 newtons, per BBC News. Per Dino Pit, this was determined by computer modeling of the creature's biology and makes the bite the strongest of any known land animal ever. Specifically, it is 3.5 times stronger than the bite of a great white shark, leaving lions far behind. 

In fact, a study published in 2021 suggests that a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex could match a big cat's bite strength. Jack Tseng of the University of California Museum of Paleontology created a proxy Tyrannosaurus rex tooth and tested it against bone, per CNET. Through calculations based on fossil data (including a vital one from a young dinosaur that had itself been bitten), it was determined that even a young T-rex could out-bite a grown lion or tiger, with a bite force of approximately 5,600 newtons. As reported by National Geographic, lions, tigers, and hyenas bite with a force of around 4,450 newtons.

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