About how much stronger is a chimpanzee than a man?

A chimp's muscles have an entirely different molecular structure than a humans. Also, the percentage of muscle to fat in a chimpanzee is much more substantial. Think of it like this, an elite male gymnast are about 2% or less body fat. An average chimpanzee is less than 1%. Most people walking around out there would be lucky if they are 20%. Your friend that you think is in pretty good shape is likely about 12-15%.





Considering the molecular structure of a chimp's muscles, the difference is in their DNA. Their muscles react quicker, are less prone to pain, and can endure larger amounts of stress and fatigue. Oh, and they are much more flexible.|||Pound for pound, the greater Apes are more powerful than the strongest human that's ever lived. They have to be because their very survival depends on there muscular strength. This strength is not only used to aid them in climbing and swinging in the trees and obtaining their food, but also in combat against one another for dominance, and for defense.


A full grown adult male Chimpanzee could literally pull a man inside out.|||A man perhaps has stronger legs than a chimp but weaker arms. Whether a chimp's arms in tension are stronger than a man's legs in compression one can only imagine, I can find no information on this possibility. I think you may be on to something with muscle density, but also, pehaps design selection in humans rather than natural selection in chimps has resulted in our somewhat puny anatomy. I think the whole subject would make a facinating research project.|||I did a bit of googling to try and find you a decent answer. I was unable to find anything because the studies I found only include the great apes, and not humans.





I know a male chimpanzee is stronger than a man despite the fact that the average male chimp only weighs about 130 lbs. I doubt that density of muscle has anything to do with it. I think it's probably got a lot more to do with upper body strength and anatomy.





Chimps brachiate (swing by their arms), so their upper body development is different from that of a human. A human can swing on playground equipment, but they cannot swing the way an ape can--the ape is swinging with much more velocity, which means more stress on the muscles. When a human does the same thing, they cannot reach as far and swing as hard--they have to keep their grip fairly close together (meaning their reach is not as good), which would seem to indicate they cannot carry their body weight simply by their arms as well as a chimp can. The further away from the center of your body your arms swing, the more stress on the muscles. So, chimps must be much stronger in the upper body.





I do know that male chimps, when fighting, also use their teeth. Their bite strength is greater than a humans, and they can do serious damage both to humans and to other chimps with their ability to bite and the fact that their teeth are much longer.





I wish I had a really good answer to give you. I used to work with a woman whose husband used to be the head vet at our zoo. I know from her that a chimpanzee can kill an adult male who outweighs him considerably, and that they use their muscles in their chests, shoulders and arms to aid in the attack, as well as dealing out serious bites.





I also know from her that an adult male gorilla is strong enough to literally rip the arm from a human body. She told me that an intern who had worked with her husband went on to work at a zoo somewhere else in the US, and had to have an arm amputated after an attack by an angry male. The gorilla broke all the bones and connective tissue in the man's shoulder--it was hanging by a flap of skin when other people managed to get the gorilla off of him. The arm could not be saved due to the trauma to the tissue, so it was amputated above the shoulder, with the clavicle somehow repaired and saved.





I will try to contact my friend (the vet's wife) and see if she can find out for me any information that's a bit more solid. If I can contact her (I don't know if my phone number for her is still even good), I will come back and post an edit to this answer.





I hope some really great primatologist answers your question and gives you great facts.





In the meantime, stay away from ticked off apes of all kinds :)|||Chimps have huge muscles. They are so big chested they can't swim.





There were 19th century boxing booths featuring chimps that would pick a man up and throw him out of the ring.|||about 6 times stronger than the average chuck norris





their muscular structure is vastly different from humans