The Great Apes

[Shadow]

(01-09-2018, 04:31 PM)brotherbear Wrote: I grew up during the '50s and 60s when the bull gorilla was still a monster. We saw gorilla's everywhere. On the cover of comic books. On TV dramas. On jungle movies, horror movies, and comedies. The mighty gorilla was thought to be as fierce as a lion and as strong as a grizzly - a real man-killing monster. It was even thought that native women were often taken by these big apes and carried off into the jungle. Oh yes! I loved gorillas!
Then along came a very brave and intelligent lady named Diane Fossey. She killed the monster and saved the gorilla. 
Much is said about the strength of the bull gorilla. I have read some outrageous estimations. But just how strong is a silverback gorilla really?

I once tried to find out if there is some happening, where gorilla would have shown some extraordinary strength, but I haven´t found any video footage or photo proving something astonishing. For sure it is a strong one, but still it is also "only" 150-220 kg in wildlife. I have seen bears breaking thicker trees than gorillas. Once was a video about a gorilla breaking bamboo with one hand etc. But then gorilla grabbed bamboo with one hand and used body weight to break it. Same thing everytime, when some footage has been claimed to prove something extraordinary.

My personal opinion is, that too many King Kong movies in short time make many people to think too much. I know, that there are many theories, but still facts are cold. For sure strong, but I don´t think, that it is significantly stronger than any other animal same size when looking overall strength. I can be wrong, but so far I haven´t seen anything so special in reality. It would be nice to know for sure :) Reply