This is something I have wondered about since I first learned that chimpanzees have three times the strength of your average human and gorillas up to eight times (sorry, no site…Cecil mentioned the chimpanzee example. And yeah, too much time on my hands).
What would happen if a human injected gorilla ‘steroids’? Besides terrible liver damage, would it beef up strength to levels plain old human hormones could never? Since genetically we are close, would a human begin to take on a more ‘bestial’ appearance? (like a ton of new body hair, wickedly violent rages…perhaps a gradual reshaping of the body like longer arms, sloping forehead etc.) It seems to me if men take loads of estrogen and begin to appear more ‘womanly’, than primate hormones would also change your appearance…
IANA Physiologist, but I doubt anyone would really try this kind of experiment to find out… but most likely nothing in particular would happen.
While other primates are genetically “close” to humans, that doesn’t mean that their parts are interchangeable. Our bodies are “tuned” to human proteins etc. and injecting another species hormones might not have any effect at all.
The real question is whether a gorilla’s testosterone receptors are similar or identical to a human’s, and I’m guessing no.
WAG, non-human steroids have already been used by athletes (to use the term loosely). I think much of the chimps’ strength comes from bone and ligament structure, not just muscle size. Another limit to strength is the shape of joints.
I think that with steroids you can certainly build up muscle (if it doesn’t kill ya), but you will not acquire longer arms, sloping forehead, etc. Bones stop growing and become nearly unchangeable from an early age. Bones are very different from muscles.
However, anyone taking chimp steroids is probably the kind of person who would spend all day catching termites with a stick, because they heard that termites are high in protein. If you know what I mean.
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*Originally posted by dolphinboy *
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While other primates are genetically “close” to humans, that doesn’t mean that their parts are interchangeable. Our bodies are “tuned” to human proteins etc. and injecting another species hormones might not have any effect at all.
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But has not there been research into (if not actually done) transplanting animal organs into humans? (if I’m wrong, of course please correct me).
Transplanting is a different story. There you have a big mess of chimp cells which the human immune system recognizes and rejects.
If you have purified a single molecule from a chimp and injected it into a human, well anything is possible. Will search for experimental citations if you can explain why you’re looking at this question.
According to this (slow loading) Endocrinology site only human and gorilla growth hormones are active in humans. Supplementing GH as an adult does little (if anything) to increase athletic performance, and it has some side effects including acromegaly.
FranticMad, this is just pure curiosity. Just wondering what kind of mess primate testosterone would make out of a human, or if it would turn them into Gorilla Grodd…
