How Much Can A Gorilla Really Lift?

Over the past week, one very unusual question has been trending on social media: If 100 men took on one gorilla in hand-to-hand combat, could they win? Assuming all parties are unarmed, there isn't a clear answer to this hypothetical (and probably not a lot of volunteers willing to put it to the test). If the humans were well-coordinated, they could probably pull it off, but only because gorillas aren't very good endurance athletes, expending their energy in bursts. There is absolutely no way that humans could overpower a gorilla without weaponry, and even if 100 men teamed up together, there would surely be many human fatalities.

Compared to a gorilla, even the world's strongest man appears frail. The Guinness World Record for the heaviest bench press in a single lift is 885 pounds, 2 ounces, set in 2016 by American Blaine Sumner, who, funnily enough, goes by the nickname "Vanilla Gorilla." That's an impressive record to be sure, but human strength just doesn't seem like much compared to a real silverback gorilla. Estimates of gorilla strength place their lifting capacity around 2,000 to 4,000 pounds, leagues beyond what any human can imagine.

Gorillas are strong in more ways than one, possessing a bite force of 1,300 pounds per square inch, which is twice as powerful as that of a lion. They can throw a punch with just as much force, making them true heavyweight champions in their ecosystem.

Gorillas are the largest extant primates, with fully-mature males, aka silverbacks, weighing in the range of 300 to 500 pounds. They achieve this incredible muscle mass despite going against one of the most common practices among weightlifters. For humans looking to build muscle, there is a strong emphasis on protein intake through lean meats, poultry, and fish, but gorillas are almost entirely vegetarian, the only animal products in their diet coming in the form of insects such as termites. Fruits, flowers, leaves, seeds, and shoots make up the majority of a gorilla's diet, but their bodies are built to process these foods far more efficiently than we humans can.

Gorillas have longer intestinal tracts than humans, allowing them to better digest fiber, which takes a long time to break down. Their massive bellies are actually an adaptation to accommodate the large amounts of gas generated by their herbivorous diet. These adaptations allow gorillas to attain more nutrients from plants than human beings can. Gorillas also build strength with an interesting supplement: their own poop. Some plant material takes so long to break down that it isn't fully digested by the time it leaves the gorilla's intestines. So, logically, they eat their poop so that the digestion process can pick up again and they can extract every attainable nutrient from their food source. Hopefully no human weightlifters pick up on this move.

You might be wondering what gorillas do with all that strength. There's not gorilla Mr. Universe contest for them to show off in, but they put their strength to use in almost everything they do. For starters, gorillas undertake a weightlifting challenge almost every time they move. Although capable of walking on just two feet, gorillas typically prefer to walk on all fours. Their arms, which are longer than their legs, do a lot of the work, and when you take into account the fact that silverback gorillas can reach 500 pounds in weight, you can see that they combine leg day, arm day, and chest day into every step they take.

Gorillas' strong arms are of the utmost importance to their feeding habits. With mighty force, they can tear down almost any plant material, ripping branches and bark from trees in pursuit of a meal. Their muscular arms and chest allow them to climb the lower levels of trees, expanding their foraging range.

Then, there are the fights. Gorilla mating habits are built around a social hierarchy in which one silverback amasses a harem of three to six female gorillas. If a male gorilla attempts to mate with a female from another male's harem, a fight is sure to ensue. Combining their strength with sharp claws and vicious bites, silverbacks inflict gruesome injuries upon each other, sometimes fighting to the death. This alone should dissuade any sane human from even getting near one of our great ape cousins.