Naked Science Forum

Life Sciences => Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution => Topic started by: Alan McDougall on 15/07/2008 07:08:15

Title: How strong is an adult silver back male Gorilla when compared to a sturdy man?
Post by: Alan McDougall on 15/07/2008 07:08:15
How Strong Are Gorillas?

To date, no research has been conducted into how strong gorillas are compared to humans. Comparisons cannot be made very easily. Some people say that a silverback male is ten times stronger than a man while others claim a silverback is 27 times stronger. However, neither argument has been proved. A gorilla male probably looks much stronger than he actually is, as he doesn't have that much more muscle tissue than humans.

Or what do the experts think?

And how about he other great apes

Regards

Alan

Title: Re: How strong is an adult silver back male Gorilla when compared to a sturdy man?
Post by: DoctorBeaver on 15/07/2008 08:04:43
Orang-Utans are incredibly strong and they are much smaller than silverbacks. However, I appreciate that size isn't everything  [:I]
Title: Re: How strong is an adult silver back male Gorilla when compared to a sturdy man?
Post by: Alan McDougall on 15/07/2008 09:01:57
You might have a point, Chimps are said to be 7 times stronger than a human, adult male to adult male.

I find this hard to believe don't you?

Regards

Alan
Title: Re: How strong is an adult silver back male Gorilla when compared to a sturdy man?
Post by: DoctorBeaver on 15/07/2008 12:06:13
Having been hugged by a chimp, no I don't find it hard to believe!
Title: Re: How strong is an adult silver back male Gorilla when compared to a sturdy man?
Post by: Alan McDougall on 15/07/2008 14:12:58
As a little boy I used to drive my poor father around the bend with question like this
Title: Re: How strong is an adult silver back male Gorilla when compared to a sturdy man?
Post by: Bored chemist on 15/07/2008 20:40:36
"To date, no research has been conducted into how strong gorillas are compared to humans. "
Possibly, but they have done the test wih chimps.
From the Guinness book of records 1975
In 1924 "Boma" a 165Lbs male chimp at the Bronx zoo, New York, recorded a right handed pull (feet braced) of 847 Lbs on a dynamometer.(the comparison given is 210Lbs for a man of the same weight). On another occasion, "Suzette" registered a pull of 1260 Lbs  while in a rage (same zoo).

A record form the USA of a 100Lbs chimp achieving a dead lift of 600 Lbs with ease sugests that, with training, a Male gorilla could raise 1800 Lbs.
Title: Re: How strong is an adult silver back male Gorilla when compared to a sturdy man?
Post by: DoctorBeaver on 15/07/2008 21:18:52
I wouldn't arm wrestle 1
Title: Re: How strong is an adult silver back male Gorilla when compared to a sturdy man?
Post by: Alan McDougall on 16/07/2008 00:48:24
Bored Chemist

Quote
From the Guinness book of records 1975
In 1924 "Boma" a 165Lbs male chimp at the Bronx zoo, New York, recorded a right handed pull (feet braced) of 847 Lbs on a dynamometer.(the comparison given is 210Lbs for a man of the same weight). On another occasion, "Suzette" registered a pull of 1260 Lbs  while in a rage (same zoo).

A record form the USA of a 100Lbs chimp achieving a dead lift of 600 Lbs with ease sugests that, with training, a Male gorilla could raise 1800 Lbs

Good grief as an ex bodybuilder come weight lifter, I find it hard to believe the 600 Lbs dead lift because apeS are not anatomically suited for this event  If the chimp lifted 600 Lbs makes its strength even more "out- of- the- park" than I realised.

Regards

Alan
Title: Re: How strong is an adult silver back male Gorilla when compared to a sturdy man?
Post by: BenV on 16/07/2008 08:02:23
Its worth bearing in mind that subtle differences in where muscles attach to bone will lead to very large differences in strength, so the same muscle mass could output much more power.
Title: Re: How strong is an adult silver back male Gorilla when compared to a sturdy man?
Post by: DoctorBeaver on 16/07/2008 08:15:43
I read that it's something to do with leverage; at least, where orang-utans are concerned.

Think about this - a male orang-utan weighs around 200lbs. They have no trouble swinging through trees and hanging by 1 hand. I doubt many 200lb men could manage it that easily.
Title: Re: How strong is an adult silver back male Gorilla when compared to a sturdy man?
Post by: Make it Lady on 21/07/2008 23:43:58
Yes, I guess they are designed to have the strength to swing in trees and they must do this every day. I wonder if a man swang from trees all the time if he could build his arm strength to be comparable.
That sickens me.
Put a bucket by your bed. I'm not even going to look on your recommendation.
Title: Re: How strong is an adult silver back male Gorilla when compared to a sturdy man?
Post by: Alan McDougall on 22/07/2008 07:18:49
Doctor Beaver,

I makes me sick to the stomachjust like you. They murder , yes murder this huge majestic cousin of ours for as little reason as their huge beautiful hands, which are used by the rich as ash trays, by the rich.

"Residing in Africa makes in more disgusting to me".

These gentle plant eating giants have never killed even one human although they are pestered day and night by them.

There is a great deal that humanity could learn from looking at the beautiful societies of Gorillas, but maybe it is too late

Regards

Alan

Title: Re: How strong is an adult silver back male Gorilla when compared to a sturdy man?
Post by: DoctorBeaver on 22/07/2008 08:12:21
I've visited Mt Visoke in Rwanda where Diane Fossey (Gorillas In The Mist) worked but didn't see any gorillas as there are so few left now.
Title: Re: How strong is an adult silver back male Gorilla when compared to a sturdy man?
Post by: Alan McDougall on 22/07/2008 08:57:48
DoctorBeaver,


Quote
I've visited Mt Visoke in Rwanda where Diane Fossey (Gorillas In The Mist) worked but didn't see any gorillas as there are so few left now

I have a daughter living in nearby Tanzania, you would have noted that Rwanda is a country so beautiful that with the absence of humanity, would be as close to paradice in earth one could get


Regards

Alan
Title: Re: How strong is an adult silver back male Gorilla when compared to a sturdy man?
Post by: Alan McDougall on 22/07/2008 09:17:52
Some nice photos of  gorrila
Title: Re: How strong is an adult silver back male Gorilla when compared to a sturdy man?
Post by: DoctorBeaver on 22/07/2008 17:42:58
DoctorBeaver,


Quote
I've visited Mt Visoke in Rwanda where Diane Fossey (Gorillas In The Mist) worked but didn't see any gorillas as there are so few left now

I have a daughter living in nearby Tanzania, you would have noted that Rwanda is a country so beautiful that with the absence of humanity, would be as close to paradice in earth one could get


Regards

Alan

Whereabouts in Tanzania? I've spent a lot of time there.

You're right about Rwanda. It's probably the most beautiful country I've ever visited.
Title: Re: How strong is an adult silver back male Gorilla when compared to a sturdy man?
Post by: Alan McDougall on 23/07/2008 00:48:41
DocBeaver, they stay in Dar es Salaam

Regards

Alan
Title: Re: How strong is an adult silver back male Gorilla when compared to a sturdy man?
Post by: DoctorBeaver on 23/07/2008 07:49:37
DocBeaver, they stay in Dar es Salaam

Regards

Alan


They have my sympathy. Although Dar is preferable to most large African cities.

I spent most of my time in Tanga & Arusha. I also took an "interesting" drive from Bujumbura in Burundi, south along the shore of Lake Tanganyika to Kigoma & Ujiji (Ujiji is where Stanley met up with Dr Livingstone). If you want to find the RS end of nowhere, Ujiji is the place to go!
Title: Re: How strong is an adult silver back male Gorilla when compared to a sturdy man?
Post by: Alan McDougall on 23/07/2008 10:04:40
Thanks for info DOcB i will ask my daughter Cheryl if she nows about the places you mentioned and she finds Tanzania more pleasant than South Africa which is riddled with crime maybe the worst of any country

Regards

Alan
Title: Re: How strong is an adult silver back male Gorilla when compared to a sturdy man?
Post by: Alan McDougall on 23/07/2008 11:01:06
Doc Beaver and others maybe we can diverge into some other areas of interest

I have seen a video of a bull African Elephant killing a full grown white Rhino. He was very angry for some reason, pushed the poor rhino into a pool of deep water and drowned him

I have a special interest in hybrid animals and the huge 1000 Pound Liger twice the size of the largest other cat the Siberian tiger is really some worth seeing.

He is magnificent dont you think??
Title: Re: How strong is an adult silver back male Gorilla when compared to a sturdy man?
Post by: Alan McDougall on 23/07/2008 11:41:01
Some more by

"There is more meaning and mutual understanding in exchanging a glance with a gorilla than with any other animal I know. Their sight, their hearing, their sense of smell are so similar to ours that they see the world in much the same way as we do. We live in the same sort of social groups with largely permanent family relationships. They walk around on the ground as we do, though they are immensely more powerful than we are. So if there were ever a possibility of escaping the human condition and living imaginatively in another creature's world, it must be with the gorilla. The male is an enormously powerful creature but he only uses his strength when he is protecting his family and it is very rare that there is violence within the group. So it seems really very unfair that man should have chosen the gorilla to symbolise everything that is aggressive and violent, when that is the one thing that the gorilla is not — and that we are."

Title: How strong is an adult silver back male Gorilla when compared to a sturdy man?
Post by: DoctorBeaver on 23/07/2008 18:10:08
That's a big puddy-tat!  [:0]

Arusha is the jump-off point for Kilimanjiro and Ngorongoro. Ngorongoro is quite simply stunning.

Tanga is on the coast near the Kenyan border.