Eli5: How do apes like chimps and gorillas have extraordinary strength, and are well muscled all year round – while humans need to constantly train their whole life to have even a fraction of that strength?

Question

It’s not like these apes do any strenuous activity besides the occasional branch swinging (or breaking).

Whereas a bodybuilder regularly lifting 80+ kgs year round is still outmatched by these apes living a relatively relaxed lifestyle.

In: 8644

Answer 1

Different animals have different base levels of strength because *they are different animals*. They adapted to different ecological niches and their bodies develop and grow based on different genetic material.

>It’s not like these apes do any strenuous activity besides the occasional branch swinging (or breaking).
>Whereas a bodybuilder regularly lifting 80+ kgs year round is still outmatched by these apes living a relatively relaxed lifestyle.

A mouse has little chance of reaching human level strength by doing more excercise. Every being is stuck with its nature-given physical abilities. Everything else is just a little variance, largely dependent on body mass. A 150kg human for example is always going to be stronger than a 50kg human.