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The Great Apes
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Check the original document image:
 *This image is copyright of its original author It is say that measured 7 ft high and about 200 kg, however I doubt all the figures, specially the height, which sounds very exaggerated. In a next post I will explain why this height is just an exaggeration. The body mass of the Gorilla How many times we have heard of wild gorillas weighing up to 272 kg or even 350 kg? These figures are even quoted in “Walker’s Mammals of the World”, which is still considered as the main database for mammals. But, are these figures reliable? The answer is NO. Check this figures, they state that the heaviest wild gorilla was a male of 219 kg. However, other sources state a new weight of 220 kg for a silverback captured recently. Even then, other two sources claim that the heaviest was one of 210 kg. Read the data and judge by yourselves. Up to 219 kg:  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author Up to 220 kg:  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author Up to 210 kg:  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author One of 204 kg, not claimed as “heaviest”, but still interesting:  *This image is copyright of its original author Average figures – real wild specimens, no estimations:  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author *This image is copyright of its original author In conclusion, the body masses of up to 230 kg are from captive specimens or from unreliable sources, the upper figure is about 220 kg, but normally large silverbacks are no more than 180 kg. The height of the Gorilla About the height, this picture show a male of apparently 7 ft (213 cm) in height and about a quarter of tone (200 kg), however Guinness (first image of the topic) state that the tallest male reliably recorded was of 6 ft 5 in (195 cm).  *This image is copyright of its original author Did you think that this gorilla is of over 200 cm in height??? I think NOT. Finally, here are the body measurements from scientific literature:  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author Based in all this data, I can conclude that the maximum size for an exceptional silverback gorilla is of up to 196 cm in standing height and 219 kg in body mass. However, an average male (including “black” backs) is around 150-170 kg and a height of about 170 cm, which is the about the same height than an average human (Homo sapiens sapiens), although much more massive. Largest Gorilla ever Here is an image comparison showing the average size of the largest gorilla subspecies and the largest specimen recorded, compared with a 175 cm modern human (which is my actual height):  *This image is copyright of its original author The maximum weight that I choose is that of 219 kg, because I am not quite sure about the figure of 220 kg. About the shoulder height, 6 ft 5 in gives a result of 1956 mm which translates better to 196 cm (not 195), so I use that figure. Both figures are in the book of Animal records, so I quote it as reference. If you like it, save it and use it. Greetings. Here are the full pages about the gorilla in the great book of animal records of Gerald Wood (1978): [img]http://i.imgur.com/PaiRTsJ.png" class="lozad max-img-size" alt="" title=""> *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author Pages 55 and 58 are just photograps of other animals. Enjoy the reading. [img]images/smilies/smile.gif[/img] 
Bonobo
 *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author Bonobo Apes: The most sexually active animal that have most similarities with Man  *This image is copyright of its original author Pan paniscus, previously called the pygmy chimpanzee and less often, the dwarf or gracile chimpanzee, is a great ape and one of the two species making up the genus Pan. The other species in genus Pan is Pan troglodytes, or the common chimpanzee. Although the name "chimpanzee" is sometimes used to refer to both species together, it is usually understood as referring to the common chimpanzee, while Pan paniscus is usually referred to as the bonobo. It is distinguished by relatively long legs, pink lips, dark face and tail-tuft through adulthood, and parted long hair on its head. The bonobo is found in a 500,000 km2 (190,000 sq mi) area of the Congo Basin in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central Africa. The species is omnivorous and inhabits primary and secondary forests including seasonally inundated swamp forests. The bonobo is popularly known for its high levels of sexual behavior. Sex functions in conflict appeasement, affection, social status, excitement, and stress reduction. It occurs in virtually all partner combinations and in a variety of positions. This is a factor in the lower levels of aggression seen in the bonobo when compared to the common chimpanzee and other apes. Bonobos are perceived to be matriarchal: females tend to collectively dominate males by forming alliances and use sexuality to control males. A male's rank in the social hierarchy is often determined by his mother's rank. Along with the common chimpanzee, the bonobo is the closest extant relative to humans. Because the two species are not proficient swimmers, it is possible that the formation of the Congo River 1.5–2 million years ago led to the speciation of the bonobo. They live south of the river, and thereby were separated from the ancestors of the common chimpanzee, which live north of the river. There is no concrete data on population numbers, but the estimate is between 29,500 and 50,000 individuals. The species is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List and is threatened by habitat destruction and human population growth and movement, though commercial poaching is the most prominent threat.  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
Today the second Silverback of Ugenda's group died. He was called Wageni, and died this morning from injuries caused by a fight with a lone Silverback called Giraneza.
Wageni  *This image is copyright of its original author Giraneza  *This image is copyright of its original author This male died two weeks after the former leader of the group, Ugenda, also died after a fight with Giraneza. We usually think of Gorillas like gentle giants, and this brings a little perspective to how strong they are and also how willing they are to sacrifice for their families.
Baby Chimp and Gorilla Together
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Definitely I prefer the gorilla. [img]images/smilies/smile.gif[/img]
When we read or watch a nature program about the gorilla, we hear various assumptions of their strength. I have heard the strength of a silver-back estimated to as much as 10 times the strength of a grown man. The truth is, the strength of a gorilla has never actually been tested. But, I would guess that their upper-body strength would prove to be impressive. I saw on a documentary a gorilla snap a large stick of bamboo seemingly without effort. On another documentary, pointed out to me by Big Bonns, I watched a heavy silver-back who was sitting on the ground, reach up to a tree branch with one hand and pull himself up onto the branch; again seemingly without noticable effort.
(06-25-2015, 02:51 PM)'brotherbear' Wrote: When we read or watch a nature program about the gorilla, we hear various assumptions of their strength. I have heard the strength of a silver-back estimated to as much as 10 times the strength of a grown man. The truth is, the strength of a gorilla has never actually been tested. But, I would guess that their upper-body strength would prove to be impressive. I saw on a documentary a gorilla snap a large stick of bamboo seemingly without effort. On another documentary, pointed out to me by Big Bonns, I watched a heavy silver-back who was sitting on the ground, reach up to a tree branch with one hand and pull himself up onto the branch; again seemingly without noticable effort. Theres another video of a gorilla snapping a banana tree and pulling it out of the ground and my favorite, the gorilla who walks past the forest guard, grabs his foot and just starts dragging him like a rag doll with little effort. They are built for strength, especially upper body, core and back strength.
How amazing is this??!!!Kanzi the Bonobo chimp knows how to start a fire and cook his own food (11 Photos & Video)
Read more at http://thechive.com/2015/07/30/kanzi-the...s5KmY51.99 http://thechive.com/2015/07/30/kanzi-the...tos-video/  *This image is copyright of its original author Kanzi, a 33-year-old ape residing at the The Great Ape Trust & Learning Center in Iowa, has already made headlines several times for his astonishing linguistic aptitude. But recently, it appears that the easygoing bonobo chimp also has developed a new interest – cooking.Read more at http://thechive.com/2015/07/30/kanzi-the...s5KmY51.99  *This image is copyright of its original author Spending much of his childhood outdoors with his main handler Dr Savage-Rumbaugh, Kanzi showed interest in the campfires she made to cook food. “At age five he began making small piles of sticks and tried to light them. I had to keep a close eye on him, but I allowed it because he was clearly interested in practicing it. His demeanor when he focused on making fire was just like when he watched the movie. He seemed engrossed in it and it appeared that he associated making fires with watching the film.” *This image is copyright of its original author These extraordinary photos show Kanzi collecting the wood, breaking it up and putting it into a pile.Read more at http://thechive.com/2015/07/30/kanzi-the...s5KmY51.99  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author Kanzi will then grab a match, light a fire and place a grill over the fire so he can barbecue his food in a frying pan.Read more at http://thechive.com/2015/07/30/kanzi-the...s5KmY51.99  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author “Kanzi makes fire because he wants to. His fascination began when he was a child, watching the film ‘Quest for Fire’. The movie was released about a year after Kanzi was born and was about early man struggling to control fire. Kanzi watched this spellbound over and over hundreds of times.”Read more at http://thechive.com/2015/07/30/kanzi-the...s5KmY51.99  *This image is copyright of its original author “It is not clear that Kanzi can do all aspects of making, controlling and employing fire at this point in time. For example he doesn’t stay close and carefully monitor the fire once it is going, though he will throw on wood at a distance. But he has not had the true environmental pressures on him that would lead him to desire to use fires for warmth.”Read more at http://thechive.com/2015/07/30/kanzi-the...s5KmY51.99  *This image is copyright of its original author “He has a warm bed every night so he doesn’t need to keep himself warm, like the humans who first harnessed fire did, and he has never encountered predators, so he doesn’t need to frighten any away. If these were employed in the future, his fire-making skills might leap into the action at a much higher level.” *This image is copyright of its original author “For now, for Kanzi, fire is about making cooked food and roasting marshmallows, which he enjoys very much.”Mobile users – check out the video of Kanzi cooking RIGHT HERE.Read more at http://thechive.com/2015/07/30/kanzi-the...s5KmY51.99  *This image is copyright of its original author Bonobos are listed as endangered by the IUCN Red List and are found only in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Africa. Over the last 30 years their population has been decreasing severely due to destruction of their habitat by humans. To make matters worse, the Great Ape Trust is currently under threat due to a loss of funding – leaving Kanzi’s (and many others) future unclear. You can donate to the Great Ape Trust at ArtForBonoboHope.orgRead more at http://thechive.com/2015/07/30/kanzi-the...LCq5FCv.99 
He looks very bulky and muscular with enough sheer strength to even terrorize a big male Homo sapiens.
I found this very interesting article here: The Davis enterprise
Mountain gorillas: New insights on population decline The first project to sequence whole genomes from mountain gorillas reveals that many harmful genetic variations have been removed from the population through inbreeding, that mountain gorillas are genetically adapting to surviving in small populations, and that they have survived in small numbers for thousands of years. The study, published last week in the journal Science, was by a research team led by Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and including UC Davis. The project has given scientists and conservationists new insight into the impact of population decline on these critically endangered apes, and provides clues as to how apes — and humans, their closely related cousins — adapt genetically to living in small populations. “It is a small population, and there is inbreeding, but the study reveals some of the inbreeding was positive and got rid of a number of the deleterious genes,” said co-author Mike Cranfield, co-director of Gorilla Doctors, a partnership between the UCD Wildlife Health Center and the nonprofit Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project. The number of mountain gorillas living in the Virunga volcanic mountain range on the borders of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo plummeted to approximately 253 in 1981 as a result of habitat destruction and hunting. Since then, conservation efforts have bolstered numbers to approximately 480 among the Virunga population. (Their total world population is around 880 individuals.) The Gorilla Doctors, whose veterinarians treat wild mountain gorillas injured by snares, provided blood samples for the study in collaboration with the Rwanda Development Board and The Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature. This enabled researchers to sequence the whole genomes of seven mountain gorillas for the first time. Previously, only easily obtainable but poor-quality DNA from fecal and hair samples have been analyzed at a handful of genetic loci. Scientists can now see that these mountain gorillas, along with eastern lowland gorillas, their closely related neighbors, were two to three times less genetically diverse than gorillas from larger groups in western regions of central Africa. While there are concerns that this low level of genetic diversity may make the mountain gorillas more vulnerable to environmental change and to disease, including cross-infectious strains of human viruses, the researchers were surprised to find that inbreeding has, in some ways, been genetically beneficial. Fewer harmful loss-of-function variants were found in the mountain gorilla population than in the more numerous western gorilla populations. These variants stop genes from working and can cause serious, often fatal, health conditions. ‘More resilient’ By analyzing the variations in each genome, researchers also discovered that mountain gorillas have survived in small numbers for thousands of years. Researchers were able to determine how the size of the population has changed over the past million years. According to their calculations, the average population of mountain gorillas has numbered in the hundreds for many thousands of years; far longer than previously thought. “We worried that the dramatic decline in the 1980s would be catastrophic for mountain gorillas in the long term, but our genetic analyses suggest that gorillas have been coping with small population sizes for thousands of years,” said Yali Xue, first author from the Sanger Institute. “While comparable levels of inbreeding contributed to the extinction of our relatives the Neanderthals, mountain gorillas may be more resilient. There is no reason why they should not flourish for thousands of years to come.” No time to rest While the genome analysis gives cause for optimism, mountain gorillas are still vulnerable. “The population now is robust and growing,” Cranfield said. “However if you think of 880 individuals as all that’s left in the world, that’s still a very tiny population. It would only take a big natural disaster or disease outbreak to lower those numbers significantly. So although this is a good-news story, I don’t think we want to rest on our laurels.” Scientists hope the detailed, whole-genome sequence data gathered through this research will aid conservation efforts. Now that a genome-wide map of genetic differences between populations is available, it will be possible to identify the origins of gorillas that have been illegally captured or killed. This will enable more gorillas to be returned to the wild and make it easier to bring prosecutions against those who poach gorillas for souvenirs and bush meat. Conservation efforts to protect mountain gorilla conservation have been led by the Rwanda Development Board, The Ugandan Wildlife Authority, The Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature, organizations like the Gorilla Doctors, and supported by tourists keen to see the gorillas made famous by primatologist Dian Fossey. I know it's a little bit long, but I thought it was important, not jus because of the genoma sequence, but also to understand a bit how animals adapt to inbreeding. 
I think this should exclude chimps given they hunt and eat monkeys sometimes.
I did see someone here speaking about the gorilla silverback breaking the banana tree, that impressed me too, so I found a banana of about The same size and how anything can break that it is just beyond me, and also without any effort.
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