What is the smallest land animal that a human could not defeat in hand to claw combat

In My Humble Opinion
81

I hear tell some people got beat down by koalas. Cranky eucalyptus-scented buggers. :smiley:

Also, a wombat would give people some trouble. They’ve been known to bite through steel-belted tires. And get hit by cars. The car got totaled, not the wombat, who merely dusted itself off and walked away. :eek: (I have a friend who’s an AUS wildlife rehabber and told us stories about a wee wombat he rehabbed briefly before handing off to more experienced wombat rehabbers)

82

I vote for kitties. They will kill you with cuteness.

83

I know that even small primates, like chimps and orangutans are about 5 times stronger than adult humans (thanks wiki!), but I wonder how this plays out in terms of things like wrestling skill. I know there used to be sideshows where big dudes would get tossed around a ring by a chimp, but does anyone know if there have been matches between chimps and people who knew what they were doing? I can’t imagine that it would have been studied extensively by the scientific community, considering humanitarian laws and such.

For example, what does it mean that a chimp’s upper body strength is 5x a humans? Is that in all positions of the arm? Or does the chimp have really developed biceps and triceps, but maybe not delts (for example. I’m pretty sure their delts are developed, considering the whole swinging from trees thing)? And is that 5x stronger overall, or proportionately? Ok, I just read that males can weigh 75-155 lbs, so some of them aren’t even smaller than people, but would the 75 lb chimp be able to bench press (taking a bench press of a human’s own body weight as average, even though it’s probably not) 5x the weight of a human, or 5x its own weight? In that case, wouldn’t a chimp be succeptable to the same weaknesses that wrestlers exploit on other humans?

For example, when I pressed a 170 lb human into the mat, and he tried to push up against me, I was working both against his body weight and the weight he could bench press, say 340 lbs. Now a smaller chimp, at 75 lbs, should be able to exert roughly 5x his own body weight in force, roughly 375 lbs plus his body weight, at 450 lbs. Now if I, at 170 lbs, could use technique to control 340 lbs of force, surely someone slightly larger or more skilled would be able to handle 450 lbs. And then you could attack the joints at weak angles, just like in a wrestling match.

Gah, this is rambly, but it’s just what I’ve been thinking about. The basic question is is it possible for skill to overcome a strength advantage, especially when that strength advantage is wielded by something much less intelligent? And I’m not talking about striking disciplines, just strength ones here.

84

Don’t fuck with chimps, even so called “domesticated” ones:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7087194/
Tore off?! :eek: