Have you ever found yourself admiring the raw strength of animals? Sure, lions, elephants, and even whales might come to mind first. But strength takes many different forms in nature!
Animals use different types of strength to survive, thrive, and battle against human-driven catastrophes in their environments. So, all in all, they seem to perform feats that look downright impossible!
Come along and find out how strength shapes the lives of these 8 animals. You might even find a tiny contender lifting far above its weight class!
1. Grizzly Bear
Starting strong – literally – we all know about the Grizzly. I mean, you just can’t ignore the formidable champion! These bears are capable of lifting over 1000 pounds!
Imagine them casually tossing aside tree trunks like they’re nothing more than toothpicks! Pair that strength with a pair of razor-sharp claws, and you’ve got a wilderness warrior who would give Wolverine a run for his money.
2. Musk Ox
What’s tougher than the Arctic tundra? A Musk ox! These giants can pack a punch! They’re able to haul weights equal to a small car across an icy terrain! Woah! That’s almost 2000 pounds!
The strength is in full display during mating seasons. Males clash in head-butting battles that can be heard from miles away. It’s like the scene where Buu headbutts Vegeta in Dragon Ball! Causes cracks in the planet!
3. Tiger
Sure, tigers can’t lift as much as the Musk ox, but you know what they can do? They can carry more than half of that weight up a tree! That’s right! These murder machines can defy gravity with bulking!
Watching a tiger is terrifying, but it’s also graceful. There’s something truly elegant about the display of raw strength. Seeing them “risin’ up to the challenge of their rival” is certainly inspiring!
Just be glad you’re not in the eye of the tiger yourself!
4. Eagle
Eagles rule the skies when it comes to strength! Imagine lifting something as heavy as a couch and flying away with it! Yeah! That’s what eagles do – these birdies can carry prey up to four times their body weight. In flight! And I struggle to pick up my grocery bags sometimes!
Eagles are smart, though! They use this strength not to haul a full “couch” along for a flight. They use it to snatch fish or small mammals from the ground. A truly formidable predator – resourceful, and strong!
5. Gorilla
Now here is where I start marveling at raw, primal strength. Gorillas are strong, and they know it! These gentle giants use their power in the wild to break through dense vegetation, climb trees, and scare enemies into staying out of their way!
But how strong are they really? It can’t be THAT bad…right? Well, they can lift about 4400 pounds. Yep. Think of it as a human lifting a larger car. Are you amazed yet?
Luckily, gorillas are very hard to provoke, so you’re not very likely to face your doom if you somehow spot one in the wild. Their muscles are a STOP sign from a mile away!
6. Leafcutter Ant
Now let’s shrink down in size for a moment so we can appreciate our hardworking friends. The Leafcutter ant can carry a weight equal to its body weight times 50!
While the world debates over measurement systems, I’ll stick with my favorite: the trusty ‘human + vehicle’ scale. So, for a human, that would be like lifting a fully loaded truck! What’s more impressive is that they do this day in and day out.
I can understand gorillas – they have to organize the occasional theater performance to teach and delight. But ants? To them, that’s small-fry business! They powerlift every day!
7. Rhinoceros Beetle
Bigger than the Leafcutter ant, but stronger in comparison! If you could lift as much as these champions, you’d be able to lift a Boeing 737 airplane. Or 11 elephants if you don’t like my trusty scale! In other words, these critters power lift around 800 times their weight.
Like the Musk oxen, their strength isn’t there to make us feel bad for not lifting airplanes. Male rhino beetles need it to fend off rivals and fight for mates!
8. Dung Beetle
If you’re looking for the Saitama of the animal world, you’ve got your candidate. This little beetle can shove more than a thousand times their weight! Again, in the ‘human + vehicle’ scale, it’s like a person pushing up to 7 double-decker buses.
These tiny titans use all this strength to roll and bury dung. I mean, Sisyphus would be proud. They’re pushing whole dung boulders! And it isn’t a pointless task!