What is the strongest animal of prey?

[John Harmonic]

What is the strongest animal of prey, I have Googled this but it only shows birds of prey. What about the animals?

Edited October 12, 2018 by John Harmonic

[zapatos]

Blue whale.

[John Harmonic]

What about land animal?

[Danijel Gorupec]

BTW, what does actually "strong" means for native English speakers - is it more like "capable to develop great force" or more like "capable to develop great power"?

[StringJunky]

1 hour ago, Danijel Gorupec said:

BTW, what does actually "strong" means for native English speakers - is it more like "capable to develop great force" or more like "capable to develop great power"?

I imagine most native speakers would give them the same meaning, but I had a look - in muscle training terminology, not physics -  and 'strength' is force without a time component, whereas 'power' is force with a time component.  For example, a strong person can take a long time to move a heavy object but they wouldn't be called "powerful" unless they could do it quickly, compared to some reference. To be powerful you need to be quick as well as strong.

Edited October 13, 2018 by StringJunky

[Itoero]

Maybe a male moose?

 

[StringJunky]

7 minutes ago, Itoero said:

Maybe a male moose?

 

They eat plant stuff. 

[Danijel Gorupec]

1 hour ago, StringJunky said:

I imagine most native speakers would give them the same meaning, but I had a look - in muscle training terminology, not physics -  and 'strength' is force without a time component, whereas 'power' is force with a time component.  For example, a strong person can take a long time to move a heavy object but they wouldn't be called "powerful" unless they could do it quickly, compared to some reference. To be powerful you need to be quick as well as strong.

Alright... in muscle training terminology, then, the strongest land animal is a male moose with a lever

joking, of course

[Phi for All]

4 hours ago, Danijel Gorupec said:

BTW, what does actually "strong" means for native English speakers - is it more like "capable to develop great force" or more like "capable to develop great power"?

In the case of the OP, it seems to be purposely vague and imprecise, since he's been warned about using such subjective terms before. I have no idea how to glean meaningful explanations when the parameters are so broad. Perhaps the point is arguing itself.

[mistermack]

We don't use the expression "animals of prey". Yes we say "birds of prey" but for other animals we normally say "predator".

The Polar Bear is the strongest, possibly matched by the Kodiak Brown Bears. 

The Sperm Whale is the strongest of all predators. I wouldn't personally count the Baleen Whales as predators, they are more like gigantic vacuum cleaners. But if you do, then it's obviously the Blue Whale.

[Itoero]

30 minutes ago, mistermack said:

The Polar Bear is the strongest, possibly matched by the Kodiak Brown Bears. 

I think Polar bears are on average  stronger then Brown Bears. They are nearly 100% carnivorous and hunt mostly for seals or other marine mammals. But they can also hunt for fsh.

[mistermack]

8 minutes ago, Itoero said:

I think Polar bears are on average  stronger then Brown Bears. They are nearly 100% carnivorous and hunt mostly for seals or other marine mammals. But they can also hunt for fsh.

Brown Bears also hunt Moose, Caribou and Deer. They also have to fight other bears, and roll huge rocks looking for food, and tear logs apart looking for grubs so they use a lot of muscle. So I doubt if there's much in it. 

Interestingly, I've read accounts that say that Polar Bears normally give way to Brown Bears in a confrontation, the Brown Bears appear more aggressive.

[Itoero]

2 hours ago, mistermack said:

Interestingly, I've read accounts that say that Polar Bears normally give way to Brown Bears in a confrontation, the Brown Bears appear more aggressive.

I heard the same thing about the aggressiveness. But I think that depends  on their diet. Many bears  (in South-Alaska),British-Columbia and in East-Russia(Kamchatka ) gain most fat in the summer due to the salmon(or other fish) run or are adapted to eat sea food...while more continental bears are more omnivorous and eat whatever is present. In general, the more fatty food a bear has, the bigger his size but the lower his aggressiveness. They have for example noted that bears in Kamchatka  are less aggressive then bears in Siberia.

The biggest bear in Eurasia is probably the Kamchatka brown bear, he is slightly smaller then the Kodiak bear but the breadth of the skull is much greater.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamchatka_brown_bear

Edited October 13, 2018 by Itoero

[mistermack]

I also read somewhere that dna studies showed that Polar Bears are evolved from the Kamchatka strain, not the American Grizzlies.

[Itoero]

the Grizzly–polar bear hybrid is called Grolar bear (or Prizzly bear)and it occurs in the wild. It's an intermediate between Polar bears and Grizzly bears.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grizzly–polar_bear_hybrid#Characteristics

If Polar bears are bred with larger brown bears like Kamchatka brown bear or Kodiak brown  bears, I can imagine that would be the strongest land dwelling animal of prey.

This is about Ursid hybrids.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursid_hybrid

[John Cuthber]

I doubt anyone cares but a contest between a 450Kg cat and a 600Kg bear might be less one-sided than you would expect.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liger