From Nicole Seward

Check out those murder mittens as this Great horned owl takes off! Their talons are about 1.5 inches long with a grip strength of 200-500 pounds per square inch. That’s six times stronger than a handshake from a bodybuilder! Aren’t you glad you aren’t owl prey?

  • JohnnyEnzyme@lemm.ee
    2·
    1 day ago

    It may seem counterintuitive, but you’re thinking of it from a human perspective.

    Dang… and I always & specifically aim to *avoid* that!
    (what a burn-my-arse call-out 😔)

    For a person trying to be an assassin, having some Freddy Krueger hands would be awesome. And it’s not like the owl doesn’t put them to great use. For defense, they’re the go to. They are sharp and will stab really good and the keep the face safe. They’ll toss themselves in their backs and slash those things all around, turning themselves into an insane porcupine.

    No-no-NO, that’s not what I was commenting upon. Animals can indeed have slashing, devastating teeth, claws & otherwise to deter rivals and predators. But that is not what I was talking about.

    What I was talking about was the fact that the GHO has -astronomically- overpowered crushing strength in its talons, compared to its typical prey, which has never been measured as being over 16lbs in the wild, AFAIK.

    In superhero terms, it’s almost like having the ability to fly, but only doing some cool hops. But that’s also why I proposed my theory above.

    • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
      2·
      1 day ago

      Lol now I see. It’s still impressive to me though. It’s still a 3 pound bird spine busting mammals and birds 4 or 5 times their size. I feel that’s like me bending a big motorcycle in half.

      And from the other post I linked, them doing their dive-bomb and hiring the target makes those talons snap closed like a mousetrap where they don’t even need to think about it.

      • JohnnyEnzyme@lemm.ee
        3·
        1 day ago

        It’s still a 3 pound bird spine busting mammals and birds 4 or 5 times their size.

        Yeap, I think that’s the main point, despite our squabblings, hier und da.
        I.e.-- raptors and carnivores of the feline-variety have an almost magical-ability to OWN their prey, so to speak, physics be damned.