# How much stronger are monkeys than humans? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 19, 2015, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-stronger-are-monkeys-than-humans/718025 "2015-04-19T04:24:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptainAmerica_1987)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-stronger-are-monkeys-than-humans/718025/1 "2015-04-19T04:24:14Z")
All other apes compared to us in terms of physical strength and why are they so much stronger than us? ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-stronger-are-monkeys-than-humans/718025/2 "2015-04-19T04:45:50Z")
I think our stringbean-like President has shattered this long-standing myth. j/k 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-stronger-are-monkeys-than-humans/718025/3 "2015-04-19T05:08:29Z")
> [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](#): > > All other apes compared to us in terms of physical strength and why are they so much stronger than us? Longer-limbs, different attachment points, different muscle tissue compositions among other things. We’ve gone through the mechanics of it in GQ at least a couple of times. It’s all relative, though. A great ape will beat the fuck out of you in a wrestling competition or in a brachiation contest ( swinging through the trees ). However a generic human will always be able to throw a rock better and run one into the ground. We’re just built differently and have different advantages and disadvantages. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-stronger-are-monkeys-than-humans/718025/4 "2015-04-19T05:15:41Z")
Here’s what I read in a physiology textbook, years ago (so sorry, no cite): Certain muscle cells have mechanisms for fighting fatigue (I don’t remember the details, if in fact I ever understood it). Some cells have more of this than others. Human heart muscle has this. That’s why your heart can keep on truckin’ non-stop for year after year without having to stop to rest. (I mean, besides the fact that the muscles get a bit of a rest between each beat. There’s more to it than that.) Human muscle tissue elsewhere in the body has largely lost this. Muscle tissue in many, or maybe even most, other mammals has retained this in muscle tissue throughout the body, not just in the heart. This enables these animals to do much stronger muscle work without getting fatigued nearly as fast, and this explains why most animals are stronger than people. Chimpanzees, for example, are much stronger than people. (You’ve read the occasional horror stories about chimps going postal on people.) Big cats, likewise, can run faster (most of them) and rip you apart because of it. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-stronger-are-monkeys-than-humans/718025/5 "2015-04-19T05:29:46Z")
No cite but I have heard that an adult Orangutan \ is pound for pound the strongest of the apes. Cites either way? I got nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-stronger-are-monkeys-than-humans/718025/6 "2015-04-19T05:40:04Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > No cite but I have heard that an adult Orangutan \ is pound for pound the strongest of the apes. Cites either way? I got nothing. I’ve actually heard that too. ---
**Author:** ![Lorene89095](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@Lorene89095](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorene89095)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-stronger-are-monkeys-than-humans/718025/7 "2015-04-19T19:47:19Z")
Are you meaning Monkey or Ape? Two different types of critters. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-stronger-are-monkeys-than-humans/718025/8 "2015-04-19T19:53:35Z")
> [@Lorene89095](#): > > Are you meaning Monkey or Ape? Two different types of critters. Not really > **[Apes are monkeys – deal with it](https://paoloviscardi.com/2011/04/21/apes-are-monkeys-deal-with-it/)** > > Are apes monkeys? Martin Robbins wrote a fun piece in The Lay Scientist the other day on the incorrect use of the term monkeys to describe apes (triggered by an article by Graham Smith for the Dail… > [@](#): > > This means that all apes are monkeys, but not all monkeys are apes. Just as all humans are apes, but not all apes are human ---
**Author:** ![CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptainAmerica_1987)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2015, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-stronger-are-monkeys-than-humans/718025/9 "2015-04-20T03:48:06Z")
It seems that us humans got the short of the stick when it comes to evolution ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2015, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-stronger-are-monkeys-than-humans/718025/10 "2015-04-20T04:03:32Z")
Which we then took and sharpened and proceeded to use it to fuck up animals ten times our size. Seriously, we did pick up a few drawbacks along with the giant brains and fine motor control to allow tool use, but I don’t know I’d call it the short end of the stick. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2015, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-stronger-are-monkeys-than-humans/718025/11 "2015-04-20T04:59:17Z")
here’s a picture of a shorn chimpanzee revealing its muscles. [![](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/3b/98/cb/3b98cb836fd480bb7ef3f2f149bfeea9.jpg) ](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/3b/98/cb/3b98cb836fd480bb7ef3f2f149bfeea9.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2015, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-stronger-are-monkeys-than-humans/718025/12 "2015-04-20T06:33:23Z")
I could beat up, like, six Bush babies. Apes are not only stronger, but MUCH stronger. ---
**Author:** ![Selard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Selard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Selard)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2015, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-stronger-are-monkeys-than-humans/718025/13 "2015-04-20T06:37:22Z")
I think human are stronger than monkeys, Reason: The reason behind that is the difference of approach b/w the human and animals. We have a better mental approach then anything in the world. What do you say about this point? ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2015, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-stronger-are-monkeys-than-humans/718025/14 "2015-04-20T06:38:08Z")
I think in that chimp attack in California it was said the chimp “pulled the guy’s foot off”. I don’t know if that’s true or hyperbole but that seems insanely strong to literally be able to just pull a person’s foot off from the rest of the leg. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2015, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-stronger-are-monkeys-than-humans/718025/15 "2015-04-20T08:10:01Z")
> [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](#): > > It seems that us humans got the short of the stick when it comes to evolution Uh, no. Note what I posted above. Even putting aside things like opposable thumbs and bipedalism, there are very, very few animals in the world that can beat a well-conditioned human in an endurance race. On a hot day a human athlete can run down a horse over distances of 25+ miles. We’re day-time persistence hunters and are superbly adapted for it. We can shed heat like nobody’s business, have good daytime binocular vision ( and excellent color vision for a mammal ), and have muscles and ligaments adapted for running that a chimpanzee could only marvel at. The idea that humans are physically inferior to other animals is simply ridiculous. We’re just better at different things. 99+% of animals that attempted something like [this](http://www.wser.org/) would simply drop dead. ---
**Author:** ![3trew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/13edae/32.png) [@3trew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3trew)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2015, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-stronger-are-monkeys-than-humans/718025/16 "2015-04-20T08:17:49Z")
> [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](#): > > It seems that us humans got the short of the stick when it comes to evolution > [@Gorsnak](#): > > Which we then took and sharpened and proceeded to use it to fuck up animals ten times our size. Which is why I get very nervous when I read about chimpanzees making spears. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2015, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-stronger-are-monkeys-than-humans/718025/17 "2015-04-20T14:42:24Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Uh, no. Note what I posted above. Even putting aside things like opposable thumbs and bipedalism, there are very, very few animals in the world that can beat a well-conditioned human in an endurance race. On a hot day a human athlete can run down a horse over distances of 25+ miles. We’re day-time persistence hunters and are superbly adapted for it. We can shed heat like nobody’s business, have good daytime binocular vision ( and excellent color vision for a mammal ), and have muscles and ligaments adapted for running that a chimpanzee could only marvel at. > > The idea that humans are physically inferior to other animals is simply ridiculous. We’re just better at different things. 99+% of animals that attempted something like [this](http://www.wser.org/) would simply drop dead. 99% of first-world humans would, too. 😛 But yeah, humans are simply optomized for a hunting/gathering lifestyle. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2015, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-stronger-are-monkeys-than-humans/718025/18 "2015-04-20T14:52:25Z")
[The Master spoke on a similar question](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2/can-a-90-lb-chimp-clobber-a-full-grown-man), almost 40 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2015, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-stronger-are-monkeys-than-humans/718025/19 "2015-04-20T15:01:04Z")
> [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](#): > > It seems that us humans got the short of the stick when it comes to evolution which is why there’s 7 billion of us (and growing?) ---
**Author:** ![Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ac8455/32.png) [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Your_Great_Darsh_Face)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2015, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-stronger-are-monkeys-than-humans/718025/20 "2015-04-20T15:02:27Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > No cite but I have heard that an adult Orangutan \ is pound for pound the strongest of the apes. Cites either way? I got nothing. \ is just fine and is Wikipedia’s first choice, though it lists others (it’s a Malay expression not originally written in the Roman alphabet). I like the legend that orangutans can speak but choose not to in case they be made to work. 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-stronger-are-monkeys-than-humans/718025.md?page=2)