The last several years have seen a number of horrific maulings at the hands of chimpanzees. How can animals that share 99 percent of their genes with us, yet are only a fraction of our weight, possess such amazing strength?

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19 Comments

1. 1. jswilkins 05:28 PM 1/11/13

   As I understand it, chimps have more long-twitch muscle fibre than humans do. We specialise in fine manipulations using short twitch fibres, which chimps are less capable of, and they in raw strength.

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2. 2. ildenizen 06:58 PM 1/11/13

   While I did understand, it was not clear why if a human chooses to apply all the small motor neurons towards a power move, we would not get the same effect as a chimp with neurons controlling large muscle groups.
   Still missing something here I think.

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3. 3. alan6302 10:42 PM 1/11/13

   I anticipate that chimps will be genetically engineered in the future, turned into slaves. Big mistake.

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4. 4. alan6302 10:55 PM 1/11/13

   99 % is an exaggeration.
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pe6DN1OoxjE&feature=related

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5. 5. vigvamvoo 02:39 PM 1/12/13

   You have got to admit thats some pretty cool stuff man!
   
   www.HotAnon.tk

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6. 6. papasmurph 07:44 PM 1/12/13

   I can think of other reasons, not at all considered here:
   
   The leverage possible due to shorter/stronger bones
   
   Simply more muscle
   
   Stronger tendons
   
   Strength evolved over time based on needs:
   killing other animals with their bare hands
   showing strength among males
   
   That chimps have such strength despite the extensive similarities with humans is nothing strange. We are much taller and much more intelligent than chimps. Why? Same logic, but the other way.

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7. 7. AdamGrant in reply to ildenizen 09:56 PM 1/12/13

   Most of the time our conscious minds appear to be prevented from calling on more than a moderate fraction of our strength. Consider the story about a mother lifting a car off her child: in an emergency, humans are allowed to call on more of their muscle fibers. An arm yanking a finger back from something hot or sharp probably also involves a high percentage of muscle fiber activation.
   As implanted neurocontrollers become feasible we'll see improved athletic performance. After an initial period of experimentation and discovery, carefully written control software will be able to safely call on a large fraction of each muscle group's power. It will also be possible to extend endurance by alternating among different groups of fibers within a muscle. It'll also be possible to a neurocontroller to exercise different parts of one's body by activating opposed muscle groups in turn.

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8. 8. GreggLD in reply to alan6302 01:58 AM 1/13/13

   If Planet of the Apes isn't enough of a warning, nothing is...

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9. 9. chriswilcoxx 07:06 AM 1/13/13

   Glad I have learned something that humans and monkeys do not differ much at all. But for some reason, I still can't fathom the fact that man came from apes. This is a good video presentation. Great job! :)
   
   <a href=http://beachsidephysio.com.au> Physiotherapy Clinic Adelaide </a>

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10. 10. chriswilcoxx 07:07 AM 1/13/13

    Glad I have learned something that humans and monkeys do not differ much at all. But for some reason, I still can't fathom the fact that man came from apes. This is a good video presentation. Great job! :)
    
    http://beachsidephysio.com.au

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11. 11. streetleveltech 08:08 AM 1/13/13

    @chriswilcoxx Humans didn't "come from apes." Humans and apes share a common genetic ancestry.

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12. 12. streetleveltech 08:11 AM 1/13/13

    Humans didn't "come from apes," Chris. Humans and apes have a common genetic ancestry. That's not the same thing as having "come from apes."

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13. 13. doug 1 08:22 PM 1/15/13

    I liked the video's explanation. It was presented simply and clearly and the explanation is about something I've wondered about for quite a while, puzzling me and apparently others for all sorts of reasons. Another explanation I'd read a while ago was connected not to increased gray matter but increased 'white matter' which coincidentally is a significant feature of the human brain and almost non-existent in non-humans, and the suggestion was that the white matter acted in an electrochemical pathway modulating the signal from the brain...the 'whiteness' of the matter due to increased fat which gives it a lighter color than the cortex and outer skin. We do see that electrical shock can over-ride the brain's constraint on the signal (does adrenaline do this too, causing a kind of chemical shock that overrides the normally constrained signal)...someone being shocked can toss themselves across a room displaying the kind of strength that we would expect from a chimp...so we have the muscle strength from a purely bio-mechanical perspective even if draped on differently adapted architectural structures.

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14. 14. TonyTrenton in reply to vigvamvoo 05:40 AM 1/16/13

    Duh!

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15. 15. TonyTrenton in reply to vigvamvoo 05:48 AM 1/16/13

    Duh!

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16. 16. TonyTrenton in reply to chriswilcoxx 06:01 AM 1/16/13

    Check out Lloyd Pye's Starchild skull .
    
    We have not yet found the missing link between apes and man.
    
    Lloyd's hypothesis has good grounds for supposing that our genetic make up has been altered by aliens.
    
    No kidding!

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17. 17. gmperkins 12:23 PM 1/16/13

    I have read in the past that chimp's have denser muscle tissue, is this also true? Because though interesting, the video doesn't explain such a large difference in strength. For instance, black widow bites cause one's exoskeleton muscles to contract (all at once, extremely painful). Strong individuals can sometimes break leg bones but I have never heard of a chimp breaking its arm or leg while using its strength.

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18. 18. bucketofsquid in reply to AdamGrant 05:34 PM 1/18/13

    ....until the hackers make you strangle yourself.

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19. 19. bucketofsquid in reply to TonyTrenton 05:38 PM 1/18/13

    Lloyd Pye is an obvious fraud. Human skull modification has been around for thousands of years and still happens now in some isolated cultures.

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