# Why are a monkey's arms stronger than a human being's?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-a-monkeys-arms-stronger-than-a-human-beings/234720>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 16, 2004, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-a-monkeys-arms-stronger-than-a-human-beings/234720 "2004-03-16T23:22:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![SeanRonJohnson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9adbd/32.png) [@SeanRonJohnson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeanRonJohnson)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-a-monkeys-arms-stronger-than-a-human-beings/234720/1 "2004-03-16T23:22:43Z")

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I’ve heard a 60lb. monkey can lift up to 500lbs. Why is that? Most other animals have different body structures to explain their physical feats, like the woodpecker mentioned on the main site, but don’t monkeys have a body structure very similar to us? What’s the factor involved here?

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**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-a-monkeys-arms-stronger-than-a-human-beings/234720/2 "2004-03-16T23:31:54Z")

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Trees.

You don’t live in them. Monkeys do.

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**Author:** ![SeanRonJohnson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9adbd/32.png) [@SeanRonJohnson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeanRonJohnson)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-a-monkeys-arms-stronger-than-a-human-beings/234720/3 "2004-03-16T23:46:30Z")

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I mean the actual physical explanation, not the reason the monkeys developed them.

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**Author:** ![Oregon\_sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/50afbb/32.png) [@Oregon\_sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oregon_sunshine)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-a-monkeys-arms-stronger-than-a-human-beings/234720/4 "2004-03-17T01:00:38Z")

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[This site](http://www.phys.washington.edu/~wilkes/post/temp/phys208/notes/lect9.html) has an explanation of chimpanzee strength to illustrate a basic physics lecture. The explanation is about halfway down the page.

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**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-a-monkeys-arms-stronger-than-a-human-beings/234720/5 "2004-03-17T01:54:58Z")

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They only are for “certain” moves/motions. A Human in good shape is stronger than a monkey. Your legs are stronger, for example.- and you are MUCH faster.

Primates have better msuscles than the other mammals, by&large. Pound for pound, a human athlete is stronger than a Carnivore for example.

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**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-a-monkeys-arms-stronger-than-a-human-beings/234720/6 "2004-03-17T02:01:37Z")

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But is he stronger than an athletic carnivore? 😃 :rolleyes:

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**Author:** ![Thaumaturge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@Thaumaturge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thaumaturge)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-a-monkeys-arms-stronger-than-a-human-beings/234720/7 "2004-03-17T04:11:41Z")

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Human arms are leveraged for speed, monkey arms are leveraged for strength. A chimp might outlift you, but it isn’t going to have much ability to throw a spear.