You’re probably already familiar with some of the more common examples of super strong animals, like the crocodile with its powerful bite or the leafcutter ant’s impressive overhead carry. However, there are lots of lesser-known animals capable of amazing acts of strength.
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Sources:
Hero shrews:
http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/handle/2246/1070
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/running-ponies/new-species-thors-hero-shrew-will-back-itself-in-any-feat-of-strength/
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-zoology/article/functional-and-biomechanical-modifications-of-the-spine-of-scutisorex-somereni-the-hero-shrew-spinal-musculature/9D839B9006E87DD1321C09220F2C4A48
http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/9/5/20130486.short
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-anatomy/article/mechanical-behaviour-of-a-novel-mammalian-intervertebral-joint/B682E7739A53CF862DA2A8B77AF27894
Clingfish:
https://www.wired.com/2014/06/absurd-creature-of-the-week-clingfish/
http://jeb.biologists.org/content/217/14/2548.short
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/z88-235#.W5vXVP5KjOQ
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2423966?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
http://scienceblogs.com/dotphysics/2010/03/24/pressure-demo-suction/
http://northwestwildlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/giant-Pacific-octopus.pdf
https://academic.oup.com/icb/article/42/6/1146/698313
King Snakes:
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/03/snakes-constrictors-kill-predators-muscles/
http://jeb.biologists.org/content/220/6/1154
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0944200604000376?viaihub
Copepod:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2988260/
https://academic.oup.com/plankt/article/33/5/677/1482868
http://jeb.biologists.org/content/213/17/3019.short
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s002270050464
https://www.wired.com/2011/11/sport-science-looks-at-the-vertical-leap/
Secretary Bird:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/video/secretary-bird-stomps-snakes-with-a-killer-kick/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982215014839
Loggerhead Shrike:
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/09/this-tiny-songbird-rolls-its-head-to-break-its-victims-neck/569341/
http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/14/9/20180321
Trapjaw Ants:
http://www.pnas.org/content/103/34/12787
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1365-3032.1998.233081.x
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/05/150513-ants-animals-science-insects-trap-jaw/
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0124871
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00114-008-0473-x
http://jeb.biologists.org/content/209/18/3510.short
http://downloads.hindawi.com/journals/psyche/1989/096595.pdf [PDF]
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