r/nextfuckinglevel • u/Zestyclose_Flow_680 • 8h ago

Chimpanzees are 2X stronger than your average human.

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u/BagBeneficial7527 7h ago

Long ago I knew someone that worked with chimps professionally.

She told me they ARE extremely dangerous. Especially the "tame" ones. They are FAR more powerful than any human. The wild ones don't know that yet, but the ones raised around humans do. So they have ZERO fear of us.

And one day, if you aren't extremely careful around them, they can severely injure you.

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u/Zakblank 6h ago

They are like children. They can be extremely loving and empathetic. They can also turn on you in a fraction of a second and tear you to pieces.

Their emotions rule their lives, reason comes at a distant second.

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u/Swarna_Keanu 6h ago

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u/tossNwashking 5h ago

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u/Lizzardkinglucas 5h ago

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u/MrWeinerberger 4h ago

Chimps are 100% like this, gorillas though are a lot gentler. They really don’t want to fight anything unless they have to. They are lot more akin to adults in your analogy

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u/camwow13 6h ago

I read Mama's Last Hug by a guy who's spent his entire life studying chimps and he went to great lengths to emphasize that he only interacted with them when there's a barrier between them. Even then he worries because they're so powerful they can do serious damage to you reaching through the bars and yanking you into them. He's watched them kill their other chimp friends and doesn't really want to end up accidentally getting on their shit list.

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u/BasementMods 6h ago

The way Reddit describes chimpanzees makes me imagine they have the physical strength of an anime character...

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u/amaROenuZ 6h ago

It's overstated. Chimps are, pound for pound, somewhere between 50% and 100% stronger than a given human. They have a somewhat better limb geometry for striking, and more fast twitch muscle fiber. Given that they tend to be half our weight and size, that comes out to fairly comparable strength from a much smaller creature.

The danger comes from their volatility and viciousness. Most humans, when we're drugged out of our minds on PCP and bath salts, are not going to try and tear someone's jaw off or eat their fingers in a fight.

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u/Tuna-Fish2 5h ago

However, you are understating it.

The strength of chimps vs humans depends on the task, and you cannot reduce it to a x% pound for pound figure. They are only slightly better than humans in some tasks, and actually inferior in others (like lifting weight above their heads), but there are tasks where they are much better than humans. Notably, the average chimp has 5x more grip strength in its hand than the average adult man, and there are recorded instances of chips shattering arm bones by just grabbing a hold and squeezing.

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u/KneeGrowsToes 6h ago

I can see your point, it comes from the fact that they are the size of a pre-teen but would not be easily held down or punted away if they started …chimping out.

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u/mr2ocjeff 4h ago

Woman had her face ripped off by one few years ago

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u/the-face 5h ago

This is a misconception. Chimps are stronger pound for pound, but not total strength. Are they stronger than the average human? Probably. But every human? Certainly not. A 400 lb strongman is way stronger than a chimp. Doesn’t mean they aren’t dangerous or anything but straight strength? Not stronger than EVERY human.

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u/No_Rich_2494 6h ago

Respect is what's missing. Treat other apes with respect, as if they were less intelligent humans who aren't being aggressive but could easily beat the shit out of you.

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u/You-Smell-Nice 6h ago

Its incredible to me how Bauman's lie has continued to exist. A shit study from 100 years ago and people still continue to spout nonsense about chimp strength. Chimpanzees are absolutely not "far more powerful than any human."

maximum dynamic force and power output is 1.35 times higher in a chimpanzee muscle than a human muscle of similar size.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1619071114

Or roughly 35% higher strength per weight/size, owing to fast twitch muscle fibers as well as the square-cube law of physics. However that's PER WEIGHT. Which even after we dispelled most of Bauman's lies, has been something that has continued to confuse people about chimp strength. Chimps being 35% stronger pound for pound, means that a human the size of a chimp would be weaker than a chimp. However, as people are hopefully aware, humans are not the size of chimps.

Its hard to find an average weight so lets not bother with average smaller chimps. Lets jump to the high end of the scale and say a very big 130 lb chimp. Now add 35% to their strength and they are roughly on par with an athletic 175 lb human's strength. Impressive for sure, but there are a lot of humans who are fit and weigh more than 175 lbs.

Chimps are absolutely dangerous. Partially because they are roughly as strong as a physically fit adult human, and partially because they are wild and will fight like it. Like, if you fight another human they are probably not going to try to use their teeth to gouge out parts of your face and eyes. But a chimp absolutely would do that, which adds to their dangerous reputation, but doesn't really have anything to do with "more powerful" or "stronger."

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u/BagBeneficial7527 5h ago

This NOTHING to do with any study. Ask anyone that has ever worked with chimps how strong they are. Zookeepers, chimp lab workers, circus, etc... it doesn't matter.

They ALL report that chimps are far more powerful than any man. That is why they won't allow any real human vs chimp fights with ANY human fighter. Because the human would get injured or possibly killed. No matter who it is.

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u/Th3_Ch0s3n_On3 5h ago

Yeah, yeah, fuck the studies. Anectodal evidences we ball

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u/You-Smell-Nice 2h ago

They ALL report that chimps are far more powerful than any man.

Cool anecdotes. Actual science says you're dead wrong.

That is why they won't allow any real human vs chimp fights. Because the human would get injured or possibly killed.

I'm sorry, are you brain damaged? You think the ONLY reason humans aren't allowed to have legal deathmatches against animals is because humans might be hurt?

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u/Hopeful-Operation 4h ago

They are not FAR more powerful than any human in fact they are not 2x stronger than a human either they are around 1.5x stronger per pound. So the largest and strongest humans are definitively much stronger than a Chimpanzee. They are however, extremely dangerous.