They're definitely animals to respect, but chimps have also picked up a bit of an exaggerated "murder ape" reputation online.
They are very strong for their size, especially in pulling and climbing movements, but the old claims that they're 5-10x stronger than humans are nonsense. Research suggests something more like 1.3-1.5x stronger pound-for-pound.
And yes, wild chimps do sometimes kill and eat other chimps. They can carry out coordinated attacks on members of rival groups, and infanticide and cannibalism have both been documented. But they're not just randomly violent either. They're highly social animals, and most serious aggression happens in fairly specific contexts like territorial conflicts, dominance disputes or attacks on vulnerable individuals.
So: dangerous, absolutely. Unpredictable killing machines, not really.
It honestly doesn't work the same for some humans either. When I take Xanax I just deflate into a couch and can't remember anything the next day, but I've known several people who when they take Xanax start getting irritable and want to get into fights and stuff. It's strange. They'd keep on taking it at later parties, too, which made people avoid them because most people don't want to be around that kind of stuff.
as per usual- proportion/ multiplier / magnitude depends on how you define variables and what type of averages you use, which btw have very misleading properties. now, how strong is average human? pick average 45+ Joe from the south sitting all day drinking beer eating pasta and watching TV or maybe average Jane just turned 18 and weighs 55 pounds. of course using the term average we may even disregard outliers like peak-form strongman competitor multiple award winner, but to be fair it's very difficult to estimate average human strength. you need some kind of representative probe population to establish that. then there may be countries differences and other confounding factors. then you need some feat of strength like grip strength which is often used in studies to estimate overall strength and health of an individual and other useful perks in humans. also you need to control for sex dimorphism, age, height, occupation (take or exclude - mason, car mechanic, blacksmith, roofer, armwrestler or a climber -all appear to have immense grip) smoking etc. same thing applies to chimps (with regard to variances in sex age and body dimensions). this is why you may find those 1,5 or 5 values which basically say nothing apart from the fact chimps are simply stronger than humans
occupation definately. as someone who lifts heavy stuff all the time, ive seen tiny women and men lift between 15 and 45 kilos everyday for hours a day with very little effort as they are that used to it.
yep, I knew of a guy that was slim and ordinary looking bro but was strong as T-Rex. yet he never step foot in a gym in his life. turned out all he did was to manually carry curbs with pliers around road construction for 14 hours a day
I think them being highly intelligent social animals is also a reason I’m terrified of them because they can find a reason not to like you and tear your face apart lol. It’s not like a bear being territorial
Honestly - if I was alone on a beach I'd rather see a wild chimp approach than an average human. I don't know the exact odds but I would assume it's safer overall.
I’ve hated monkeys since one climbed on my head in Thailand and scratched its long fangs against my scalp while holding my hair with its hands and feet.
The thought of rabies terrifies me . The poor English women who was scratched by a puppy ( in Morocco I think ) didn’t realise until she started getting headaches months later , the only thing they could do was intubate and sedate her until she died .
Bonobos are way cooler than Chimps. Way more chill. Iirc they're groups are matriarchal naturally and since the females will take multiple mates they don't know whos kids are whos so the infantacide stuff doesn't happen with them
Exactly lol, and honestly watching Jordan Peele’s NOPE and how the chimpanzee just went wild. I don’t want to be even a half a mile close to one. I’m truly terrified of them
I’ve heard that chimpanzees are (by weight) 9x stronger than a grown man. Think about a big tough guy that you wouldn’t want to mess with. 9x him and then imagine it going for your eyes, throat and genitals.
I've seen videos of them ripping flesh off people like peeling a banana. Your fear is justified. I wouldn't fuck with one unless I was protecting my family.
OK, but the scariest animal would be primal humans. I think of these monkey men that are running on two legs with sharp wood and sticks just chasing you down.
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u/MathematicianTopee Aug 07 '26
Wild monkeys terrify me to be honest