Tyrannosaurus Rex had the most dangerous bite of any land animal, living or extinct, study says

(EndPlay Staff Reports) - New research shows Tyrannosaurus rex had the most dangerous bite of any land animal, living or extinct.

The research, conducted at the University of Liverpool , used computer models to reconstruct the dinosaur's jaws.

A press release stated that the research team artificially scaled up the jaws of an alligator, a human, a juvenile T. rex and an Allosaurus dinosaur to the size of an adult T. rex. None matched when it came to power.

"Our results show that the T. Rex had an extremely powerful bite, making it one of the most dangerous predators to have roamed our planet," Karl Bates of the university's department of musculoskeletal biology stated in the release.

LiveScience reported that the new estimate is higher than past estimates, which were done by pressing down on the skull and teeth onto a bone until the imprint matched those on fossils.

The new study shows the force of those back teeth would have been between 7,868 and 12,814 pounds, about the same as having a medium-size elephant sit on someone.

Peter Falkingham, study researcher at the University of Manchester, emailed LiveScience a way to compare. He suggested to think of what a lion and an alligator can bite through, then to remember their bites are "so much lower" in strength than T. rex.

"Such a powerful bite may have enabled T. rex to crush large bones," Falkingham stated.

It's a bite that the UK Telegraph reported would be almost 50 times more than a large African lion. It would also be greater than a great white shark and its 3,600-pound bite.