I am losing count of the number of times I have heard people say, or sadly repeat, that some dog types have "locking jaws" so decided to go on a fact finding mission to see if animals, any animals, have the ability to lock their jaws.
Onto the internet I go. What comes up? Many links about pit bulls. Being the astute reseacher, I have become, I delve deeper and actually "look" at the links.
Lo and behold, I find not a single credible source documenting pit bull type dogs as having locking jaws. Good thing I learned to "click", as there was a time when I blindly repeated what I was told by others.
I had heard pit bulls had locking jaws and at one time, caught myself going as far as to describe how their skulls were different from "other" dogs. Not a single soul called me out or YEARS, therefore, I babbled on unchecked. God only knows how much damage I did. It seems that stupid really is as stupid does.
http://en.wilipedia.org/wiki/Pit_Bull
Finally getting my act together, I researched skulls of dogs finding there are some slight structual variations from breed to breed. But alas, nothing about pit bull type dogs having "unique" locking jaws. The myths regarding these dogs, can be quite bizarre and are usually perpetulated by media looking to sensationalize for the sake of readership.
http://www.boneclones.com/catalog_dogs.htm
Surely their must be ONE animal with jaws that lock? Back to square I go and rummage through different links and sites looking for something credible. One can find the "term" locking jaws but in reality there are NO jaws that have a locking and therefore an unlocking mechanism. If one thinks about it, and if Darwin is to be believed, a animal would have starved while attempting this particular metamorphosis.
However, I did come across this professionial link which is detailed, informative and indeed closer to reality regarding bite force.
http://glapbta.com/BFBP.pdf
Lock jaw however is a reality, does exist and can develop into a serious "condition", called tetanus. Tetanus occurs in any human or animal and can lead to death.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/tetanus
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