Volko Krull Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 Hi folks, I bet you know that most monkey species possess strength beyond belief, so I took some time to collect a few tales and observation results on their strength. My main question is, through what do they get their immense powers ? In fact they have the same muscles as we have, and actually monkeys are pretty stringy. - During some early expeditions to Africa, soldiers stated that a male gorilla once bent the barrel of an army rifle just with his hands. - In the early 1920's, a dynamometer was set up in a chimpanzee cage in a Bronx zoo. Raging, a female monkey pulled about 1200 lbs on it with one hand. - During the same observations, a male chimpanzee tore a truck tire apart. They could also stretch them out like gymnastic strands or collapse intact ones. - A full grown gorilla is able to perform an iron cross between to vertical bars. - A gorilla is also capable of doing one arm chins, not giving anything about his bodyweight. - It already happend that orangs or chimpanzees ripped human fingers and hands off just by a mighty pull of their arm. - Gorillas oftenly break huge pieces of bamboo with a flick of their wrist. So, the question remains, why are monkeys that strong ? Living in free nature is one factor, but that never can be all. What's different about their intramuscular structure, their tendons, their bones, their minds ? regards, Volko PS : Take the time to type "shaved monkey" into Google Pictures. You will be surprised by how similar they look compared to us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lloyd80s Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 I think I'm going to buy a Monkey and train him up on the #4!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Volko Krull Posted November 7, 2008 Author Share Posted November 7, 2008 (edited) Good idea Lloyd, but i guess a silverback could smash it without any training Edited November 7, 2008 by Volko Krull Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 (edited) Glad you posted this, It has been bothering me for years. all we have to hope now is David Attenborough is a member of the gripboard. Edited November 7, 2008 by Stew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lloyd80s Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 Hi folks,I bet you know that most monkey species possess strength beyond belief, so I took some time to collect a few tales and observation results on their strength. My main question is, through what do they get their immense powers ? In fact they have the same muscles as we have, and actually monkeys are pretty stringy. - During some early expeditions to Africa, soldiers stated that a male gorilla once bent the barrel of an army rifle just with his hands. - In the early 1920's, a dynamometer was set up in a chimpanzee cage in a Bronx zoo. Raging, a female monkey pulled about 1200 lbs on it with one hand. - During the same observations, a male chimpanzee tore a truck tire apart. They could also stretch them out like gymnastic strands or collapse intact ones. - A full grown gorilla is able to perform an iron cross between to vertical bars. - A gorilla is also capable of doing one arm chins, not giving anything about his bodyweight. - It already happend that orangs or chimpanzees ripped human fingers and hands off just by a mighty pull of their arm. - Gorillas oftenly break huge pieces of bamboo with a flick of their wrist. So, the question remains, why are monkeys that strong ? Living in free nature is one factor, but that never can be all. What's different about their intramuscular structure, their tendons, their bones, their minds ? regards, Volko PS : Take the time to type "shaved monkey" into Google Pictures. You will be surprised by how similar they look compared to us. I'm sure if I type in "shaved Monkey" on google it'll bring up a porn site!! LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Volko Krull Posted November 7, 2008 Author Share Posted November 7, 2008 (edited) Okay Lloyd you're probably right, so I post them directly : Just look at the forearms ! oO Edit : Hmm, why don't these tags work ? Edited November 7, 2008 by Volko Krull Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Mac Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 It's not much of a mystery - they are Momkeys/Apes. That's a flip answer, but it's millions of years of changes and thousands of factors - you've touched upon some already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mithras Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 One thing which doesn't seem to get mentioned much when talked about the strength of animals (particularly apes) in relation to humans is that they don't really possess any squeamishness or any of the inhibitions which humans do. A lot of the strength feats credited to apes (like the dynamometer pull) were done under duress or in a rage (the female chimpanzee supposedly braced with her feet when she did the pull, so surely more of a deadlift style pull than anything?). It's also unlikely a gorilla could shut a 4 due to the way their hands are set up, or do a huge bench press as Gorillas have extremely long arms, but this wouldn't stop one tearing a man to pieces in a "fight". People can do great feats of strength when under extreme duress, that they'd never do normally, i.e when their inhibitions are totally removed and they just go with animal instincts. Obviously I'm not saying this factor bridges the gap in strength between the species but it's definitely part of it, the other part being how strong swinging in trees and doing bodyweight exercises for millions of years will get you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lukeamdman Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 I always thought it was leverage. Their muscles don't connect as closely to the joint as ours do. That makes a huge difference. I could be way off though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ae_yogi Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 I always thought it was leverage. Their muscles don't connect as closely to the joint as ours do. That makes a huge difference.I could be way off though. I have read the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ae_yogi Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 In one of the recent National Geographic issues there is an article on Neanderthals. It stated that they were much stronger than Homo sapiens but had about twice the caloric requirements. The article also speculated that the higher caloric requirement was a factor in their extinction. I heard from another source that Homo sapiens are the most efficient animals at walking in regards to calories per distance. It seems that we sacrificed strength for efficiency somewhere in our evolutionary history. Makes sense if early humans were nomadic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueviper42 Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 Those monkeys in the pictures have some absolutely massive forearms. Jeeze, those things are huge :O Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxyj75 Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 You gotta figure also, monkeys use their arms/hands a whole lot for walking, hanging/swinging ect. Just imagine if you spent the better part of your day doing those things with your hands/arms every day of your life. You would have monkey arms too! That, and the fact that they have no mental inhibitions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Volko Krull Posted November 7, 2008 Author Share Posted November 7, 2008 the female chimpanzee supposedly braced with her feet when she did the pull, so surely more of a deadlift style pull than anything?). That's right mithras, but imagine a guy around twice as strong as Hermann Goerner was. That would be ... just scary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twig Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 Apes are designed differently, if a chimp was human sized he'd be unstoppable but unable to move, if a gorilla was human sized he couldn't do sh!t. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shizen Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 I think the secret is that gorillas only eat plants Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Mathison Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 I think the secret is that gorillas only eat plants they eat meat too. sometimes smaller monkeys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mithras Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 the female chimpanzee supposedly braced with her feet when she did the pull, so surely more of a deadlift style pull than anything?). That's right mithras, but imagine a guy around twice as strong as Hermann Goerner was. That would be ... just scary. I did say even considering everything, there's still a huge void between the species. Anyway using my example, it'd be a small woman who was twice as strong as Herman Goerner! :S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timiacobucci Posted November 8, 2008 Share Posted November 8, 2008 I think we just got better at avoiding hard physical work as we got smarter and figured out how to do things easier. Hell look at the average male of the 1920's vs right now. I bet most old school construction workers and laborers of that time could give most of us "trained" guys a run for our money. Imagine this small a time scale comparatively multiplied a couple thousand times over. Physically compared to most other animals we are weak and getting weaker. Maybe next time you are lamenting about your genetics compared to another person you should stop and think just how pathetic that person must be compared to a gorilla. Oh and direct IMG tags don't work on this forum, have to set them as links. http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/1224/86591138de6.jpg http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/3199/25957338zs2.jpg http://i32.tinypic.com/24l6e4z.jpg Oh and those forearms are completely nutso. They don't look like some puffed up bodybuilder style muscle, that looks skull crushingly dense. I also get tired of watching my cats lye down all day long and maintain incredibly lean and powerful bodies with ridiculous flexibility. Ah to be a pure bred predator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kailogan Posted November 8, 2008 Share Posted November 8, 2008 hate to be so skeptical when everyones so cheepy about this but are any of there "facts" verified? who gave a gorrilla a rifle in the firstplace? seems abit daft.. and a FEMALE monkey pulling 1200lbs on a dynometer? as in griptest dynometer i presume? so it can do 200lbs (coc2) per finger? i dont wana swear but thats just plain ridiculous Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kailogan Posted November 8, 2008 Share Posted November 8, 2008 I think the secret is that gorillas only eat plants they eat meat too. sometimes smaller monkeys. chimps eat meat not gorillas i think Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Volko Krull Posted November 8, 2008 Author Share Posted November 8, 2008 hi kailogan, it's justified to be sceptic on this size of strength, but no, it's was a spring dynamometer measuring deadlift strength. And yes, various experts verify that monkeys in general can be from 7 times (chimps) up to 20 times (silverback gorillas) stronger than humans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pancake Sprawl Posted November 8, 2008 Share Posted November 8, 2008 i got a question, why don't their hands look as muscular as the rest of them? because the rest of their body looks crazy dense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sybersnott Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 chimps eat meat not gorillas i think They hunt smaller monkeys and kill them - something that was really unknown until very recently when it was observed that a small group of chimpanzees went on a hunt and captured one small monkey. They killed it by tearing it apart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curious Posted August 27, 2009 Share Posted August 27, 2009 http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/592023 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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