Ape Strength: Myth vs Reality

[brotherbear]

From my point of view, I see mostly two groups of people when it comes to the gorilla. 
First group are big fans of the old-school gorilla B-movies. From the silent film era on into the 1970s, the gorilla was a popular B-movie monster who could bend steel bars or a lion's neck. True gorilla fans view the gorilla as a fierce beast with almost unnatural strength. 
Second group see the completely opposite animal. A mild-mannered vegetarian with absolutely no fighting ability. They wonder how the gorilla has managed not to be hunted into extinction by leopards. 
I see a big strong but normally peaceful ape somewhere in the middle. Though a real scientific strength test has ( ironically ) never been applied to a gorilla, I believe them to be very strong - certainly stronger than any man. Apparently leopards view them with some amount of respect or else they truly would be rare if not extinct. I doubt that a bull gorilla is as strong as a bear of similar size, but then likely not too far behind either. 
If there were tigers in the jungles of the Congo, gorillas would have a big problem. They were perhaps unable to expand out of their forest habitats due to lions. 
Not monsters; but neither are they wimps - IMO. Reply