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Scarface is a beast. As of a few weeks ago it was reported he was still mating with multiple females and still the dominant croc of his territory. Crocs have ridiculously strong jaws and don’t need teeth to crush prey. Most often they actually don’t even chew. Just swallow prey whole.
They're like geese, but then they eat a rock and roll around to destroy whatever they ate to help ease digestion since prey is eaten whole, usually, unless something falls off during the struggle.
Me, walking up to a group of people I don't know trying to break the ice with a fun fact: "hey guys, didja know there's a decent chance if you pick up a river rock in a tropical climate, that rock was up a crocodile's ass at some point? Cool, right?!"
Many animals do it apparently. I often see flocks of sparrows gulping down gravel on the road. There is even evidence of prehistoric animals like plesiosaurs doing it as gastroliths have been found in their stomach contents.
That head is just two solid slabs capable of crushing with a force well over 3,500+ psi, enough to shatter bone. The teeth are practically just for convenience.
Man I fuckin love Aussies. No matter how much you guys drink or gamble you always keep tabs on EVERY animal like they are your neighbours. Btw I love Niel the seal
Personally I prefer Brutus who lives in the Adelaide river. He one of the largest wild Crocs up there with Dominator who is his rival in the Adelaide river.
This is why as an Aussie who loves camping near rivers and the ocean, I only go so far up the side of Australia on holidays. As soon as we makes it to Croc territory, it's like "So heading south is feeling good".
There are 2 theories of how Brutus lost his arm. The first is when he fought and kill a bull shark a couple of decades ago. Which Brutus is known for eating bull sharks see pic. The other is a territory fight with Dominator
Close but Mo actually moved North from a river an hour south called the "Mowbray River" hence the name "Mo"! I had a few close encounters with Mo at his previous residence.
You're welcome :). Mo used to be the big croc you'd see from the highway bridge crossing the Mowbray river. I once saw him there with 5 other crocs all nearby which I thought was unusual as they're so territorial. Such impressive animals!
Unless it’s in regards to the legend himself “The Boss”. Known for having been struck by a train and living but also for having sired most of the cubs in Banff national park and for dominating his territory for almost two decades.
I wouldn't do that. He is "Scarface" after all. He would grab you, say "You wanna play rough, OK" and then death roll you until he is out of breath. So, ok, maybe it would be fine.
He can hold onto you and drag you underwater until you drown. And then just swallow you whole or if you are too large for his mouth he will tug you under some tree roots, rock or drag you into a patch of reed and let your body tenderize for a few days until your flesh starts falling off your bones. Then he won't even have to chew your flesh.
When I was in primary school in the Northern Territory, whenever they’d pull a croc out of a trap for relocation they’d bring it to school assembly so we could pet them.
In the wild, Australian saltwater crocodiles typically live 70 to 100 years, though captive individuals can surpass 110 years. Australia's most famous elder was Cassius, a massive wild-captured crocodile who lived at Green Island's Marineland Melanesia until his death at an estimated 110 to 120 years old.
Zoologists explain that crocs exhibit "negligible senescence," meaning their bodies don't suffer the typical physical decline that mammals experience as they age. In their golden years, senior saltwater crocodiles stay remarkably active... they can still swim, hunt prey, defend territory, and mate right up until near the end of their lives.
As for their teeth, crocs continuously replace them, shedding up to 4,000 teeth over a lifetime. However, zoological research shows that in extreme old age, this replacement process slows down or stops, leaving elderly crocs with missing teeth or a "gummy" mouth. Luckily, their immense bite force still lets them crush prey and feed easily.
Super cool. Nature keeps them dangerous up until their final moments. Imagine if people had that "negligible senescence" in their DNA. We'd have a bunch of 80 year olds walking around like Conquest out here. Prime athletes would still be able to do their thing well into their 50s and beyond. Imagine if Michael Jordan had "negligible senescence" or Mike Tyson. Cool stuff.
Super interesting. If they barely age and are still very active until near death, what is it then that does them over? Or is it that they’re only able to survive at near 100% capacity, and when they’re slightly below ‘optimal’, they immediately fail to compete and thus lack nutrient intake, creating a quick death spiral?
I'd assume that those few things that do seem to be affected by old age might not make much of a difference most of the time, but once in a while there would be a more difficult time period for a local or regional population when those few old age traits might make the difference whether the individual dies of lives on.
This chubby monster's teeth might not make a difference when there's enough food going around, but one bad season for crabs, fish or whatever this guy is still chomping on to stay alive and he's in trouble. Other crocs might have more options because they still have teeth and proper sight or whatever else old age takes from these guys. It's just that he has greater chances to die from the issues nature throws at them on a daily basis, there's only so much luck he can have until something brings him down.
And if anyone is curious like I was… The saltwater crocodile holds the strongest directly recorded bite force of any living animal at 3,700 PSI (pounds per square inch) or about 16,414 Newtons.
He still lives in the wild in the Daintree Rainforest, still kills and eats wild pigs and other large prey, and only this year (2026) managed to fight off the challenges of a large young male who came into his territory, to the extent that the younger male no longer attacks him or tries to dominate him; so no, he is still very much an apex predator in a natural setting… :)
The saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) has the strongest directly recorded bite force of any living animal, measured at 3,700 pounds per square inch (PSI) (about 16,460 newtons. His jaws are still going strong though.
Force and pressure aren't the same thing and there isn't a conversion between PSI and Newtons. Pressure is force divided by area, so you would need to know the area to know how much force you need to get a certain pressure.
Most media that talks about how hard animals can bite is so physics-illiterate that it's not even wrong, it's complete nonsense. I wouldn't trust anything unless it's specifically about how they measured it.
Not sure why you're being down voted. It's something I always wondered too. Why do they specify bite force in terms of pressure and not just force?
For puncture and penetrations, I guess the sharpness matters, so perhaps pressure is a reasonable metric in some way, but isn't force just a better metric to enable comparisons? And we can make our own judgement based on our estimate of sharpness of teeth.
Went to Port Douglas for a holiday in October 2024, saw Scarface while on a river cruise. This is what the tour guide was saying, the bite force alone will crush and kill prey so no need for teeth. Because of his size, he can still defend his part of the river and they don’t generally use their teeth for fighting. Size advantage and bashing opponents with their heads is how they win. He has about 6 or 8 girlfriends and during mating season, he non stop patrols the river all the time to get rid of challengers. The day before we went on the boat, he took on a male right in the middle of the river.
When we saw him, it was crazy just how big they get. Took this photo of him, his tail bent to the right and just past the leafy bit sticking out of the water.
Not that I’m into animals being devoured but I would really be interested in how a take down takes place 🤔 absolutely insane. The amount of resilience life on this planet has is wild.
The crocodile waits, fully submerged in the water, close to and facing, the riverbank; as animals come down to the river to drink, the crocodile launches itself at them, using its massive tail to provide the propulsion; it grabs its prey with its jaws (crocodiles have the strongest bite force of any creature) and drags it back into the river, where it sinks down under the water and performs a “death-roll” whereby it rolls over and over and over again until its prey drowns and stops moving; once its prey is dead, the crocodile tears off the limbs and eats whatever it can, then it takes whatever is left to its “meat safe” which may be a fallen log, a ledge under a submerged rock etc., and he pushes its dead prey into it so that it can’t move anywhere; then he leaves it for a few days until it starts to soften up, making it nice and tender, and easier to eat; especially handy for an old fellow who doesn’t have any teeth left, but still has one of the strongest bites of any creature alive on the planet…
(crocodiles have the strongest bite force of any creature)
Measured/confirmed bite force*
There are other animals such as The Great White Shark and Orcas, that are contenders for the title, but they just haven't measured it, so it's only theoretical as of right now.
Talking about a “meat safe” with a name like that is definitely a choice 😂 I’ve read conflicting things about crocs storing food but nonetheless, the topic is very interesting.
Don’t forget that we are specifically talking about Australian Saltwater Crocodiles here, so very different from others around the world, and Australian Salties are known for their use of “meat safes” unlike most other species. :)
Very rarely; if they can (if its prey is small enough), then the croc will eat its prey straight away, as they prefer to eat their prey fresh; it’s really only the largest crocodiles that drag down the really large prey, and then they will tear off the limbs (legs etc.) by grabbing them in their mouth and rolling around until the limb tears off, and then eat them; if they can’t eat the body, that’s when they may stick them into their safe for a few days to soften up a bit, but they usually wait by the “safe” to protect it, and because they are the larger crocodiles, most others in the area won’t want to risk getting badly injured by trying to steal from it.
He gets them when they start drinking at the riverbank, drags them underwater, holds them in his mouth (he has the strongest bite force of any animal) and drowns them in the river…
Crocodile teeth are just for added grip. A croc that big has plenty of grip without its teeth. And they’re smart enough to adapt.
They just grab a hold of animals and death roll until they go to pieces that can be swallowed whole.
Losing teeth is a bigger problems for animals that need to cut and chew. Elephants starve to death once they’re old enough to have no teeth left for example.
How bad would a salt water croc fuck you up without teeth? Their jaws are still strong AF so I imagine they're still able to mess you up & could definitely still get you with a death roll, but what if you weren't in the water and it caught you off guard?
How bad would a salt water croc fuck you up without teeth?
toothless here would likely still immediately snap any bone he grabs, saltwater crocs have the highest recorded bite force of any animal iirc.
... what if you weren't in the water and it caught you off guard?
if you and the croc were both on land you'd maybe have a chance to avoid him, but the majority of crocodile attacks do not occur that way. Crocodiles, especially larger ones, like to hunt from the edge of the water, alot of attacks have the human on land and the crocodile in the water with the person getting dragged into the water, in that case toothless would probably get your ass good.
They have the highest measured bite force in the animal kingdom.
The bite force of orcas has only been estimated using biomechanical models because scientists haven’t been able to actually measure it. But according to those models, their bite force dwarfs saltwater crocs. It was something like 20kpsi or some nonsense. Like 5x saltwater crocs. Which.. I suppose isn’t all that surprising considering they weigh like 6 tons… :/
Everywhere up in Northern Queensland, there are signs saying not to go within 5 metres of any main riverbank or even small creeks. They can lunge up to 3 metres from the water up onto the riverbank and then sprint extremely quickly in a short burst. You can’t even swim at the beaches as they are also in the ocean close to the shore.
I was just north of Cairns a few years ago, it is rare to see but they sometimes even walk the footpaths and roads at night time if parts of rivers are close to a town.
Crocodiles are polyphyodonts, so they are meant to replace their teeth. This croc might have had an injury preventing this from happening. Or am I wrong?
I was scrolling quickly when I saw this and I swear I thought it said the crocodile's name was "Sacrifice," and I was like "that explains both the size and why other humans are able to get close enough to take a picture - you don't have to be faster than the croc, just faster than the slowest human in the group!" LOL
And after thinking about it and getting a good look at this beast, while I do admit "Scarface" is also a pretty badass name... I think I'm gonna stand by my initial interpretation. 🤷🏻♀️😂
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