Who would win: A Silverback Gorilla vs a Grizzly Bear
There are a lot of potentially awesome animal battles out there: Jaguar vs Anaconda; Man vs Wolf; Tiger vs Crocodile. One battle that keeps popping up is a Grizzly vs a Silverback Gorilla, who wins? This topic was even recently featured on Joe Rogan’s Podcast.
I am always amazed at how much debate this question gets because it is not even close. I’d bet heavily that more than 9 times out of 10 the outcome would be the same. But first let’s meet our contenders and settle on the rules.
For most animal vs animal battles, assume an open grass field and assume both animals are healthy and have the full intent of killing another. If it helps you can visualize they are contained in a large cage UFC style. It is a cage small enough to prevent one animal from just running away but large enough so it doesn’t hinder the movements or fighting style of either animal. No weapons or tools of any sort (logs, rocks, etc) are allowed.
Size is a very important factor in fights and it is always a question of how big are the specimens we are talking about? People generally go in one of two directions. Either they pick biggest verifiable specimen on record or they go with the average animal size. I personally tend to go with the former, but the good news is the biggest animal and the average size tend to stay in reasonable proportion to each other.
Here is a quick outline of the stats of each animal
Silverback Gorilla
Height: 5’ average, 6’ largest
Weight: 300-400 lbs average, 500 lbs largest (excluding captive obese gorillas)
Main weapon: Bite and Strength
Grizzly Bear
Height: 10’ tall
Weight: 700-800 lbs average, 1500 lbs largest
Main Weapon: Bite, Claws, and Strength
Note: Some readers want to discern between Grizzlies and the Kodiak bear. There isn’t a massive difference between the two, the Kodiak bear is larger. Some Kodiak bears have weighed over 2000 lbs.
Gorillas and Grizzlies actually have very similar fighting styles. They both tend to stand on their hind feet, engage face to face with their enemy, and attempt to maul them. Gorillas will pound with their fists and bite. Grizzlies will swipe with their claws and bite.
Gorilla fight: https://youtu.be/3T0z1CT-nR8
Grizzly fight: https://youtu.be/-6r81UOzIHg
As I said earlier, I don’t think this is a close battle at all. Looking at the size difference alone, a grizzly is often at least twice as heavy and can be three times as heavy as a gorilla. That is a very large difference. That is a 70 lb person fighting a 150-210 lb person, or a 150 lb person fighting a 300-450 lb person.
The gorilla has very little in the way of defense. It doesn’t have extremely thick skin so the bear’s claws and bite will easily rip into the flesh. Its bones are thick but not thick enough to withstand the onslaught of the bear.
Many people talk about how strong gorillas are, and they are very strong – compared to humans. Gorillas can snap down small trees and there is a video of one breaking glass in a zoo or dragging a person along easily. I agree that gorillas are strong. Exactly how strong is quite difficult to measure and strength is always task specific. But they are not strong compared to grizzly bears. Grizzly bears also routinely push over trees, roll over giant stones and move other heavy objects. There are videos of them flipping heavy trash bins. One researcher noted a grizzly flipped over a 700 lb bin many times with ease. Grizzlies have very thick hides, when a large Kodiak bear died it was noted that it had a layer of fat 7 inches thick.
Human Skull vs Gorilla Skull 
Human Skull vs Grizzly Skull
The gorilla only has one attack on a grizzly: a bite. Gorillas do have a fearsome bite and I have no doubt the bite would do some damage, but it would have to kill the grizzly almost immediately. Punching a grizzly, even from a gorilla, would do minimal damage. The neck is too thick to choke or snap. With smaller adversaries a gorilla could pick them up, smash them around, and even rip off a limb with its strength. I don’t see anyway it could do any of those things to a grizzly.
The grizzly could bite while it was getting bitten and it could swipe with its massive claws. Look at the size of the claws, those are essentially daggers that could easily rend the flesh of the gorilla. The gorilla would have a hard time reaching the neck of the grizzly, seeing how much shorter it is (6’ vs 9 or 10’). And I believe a grizzly could easily push over the gorilla if they went chest to chest, given its much greater size.
Let’s use a few other examples that might highlight this outcome more clearly.
Who would win, a leopard vs a grizzly bear? I think most people would agree that a grizzly destroys a leopard. Leopards actually live with gorillas and regularly fight them. They don’t always win, sometimes the leopard wins, sometimes the gorilla wins, sometimes they are found dead next to each other. That is a relatively even match and a leopard is 150 lbs or so. Most people agree that a Grizzly beats any big cat, and a tiger is far tougher than a leopard.
I asked hunters if they had a 9-mm pistol and a grizzly bear was charging them, would they feel confident they could kill it? Most said no, the gun would damage but not kill the bear and it would just anger it. Many said the gun would not even be able to penetrate the skull of the grizzly. If a 9-mm can’t stop a bear, a punch from a gorilla won’t either.
I think most people would agree if you had a 9-mm pistol and a gorilla was charging, you would have a much greater chance of killing the gorilla, again because it doesn’t have any significant defense. It still may not be strong enough to stop a gorilla, but the general point is you need a much stronger gun to kill a grizzly than you do a gorilla.
When in doubt I always like to see if Dungeons and Dragons has already answered any of my questions – because yes D&D rules! They have a reasonably accurate fighting system and a pretty good way of ranking various opponents. Here are D&D’s stats on a gorilla and a brown bear (2nd Edition for you super-nerds out there)
Gorilla
HD: 4+1 (that is about 17 up to 33 hit points)
AC: 6 (how hard it is to hit)
THACO: 17 (how likely it is to hit, lower is better)
Damage: 1-3/1-3/1-6 (punch, punch, bite)
Grizzly Bear
HD: 5+5 (that is 25 up to 45 hit points)
AC: 6 (how hard it is to hit)
THACO: 15 (how likely it is to hit, lower is better)
Damage: 1-6/1-6/1-8 plus a chance for a bear hug
From the above example the grizzly bear is tougher, does noticeably more damage with each attack, can do a great deal of damage with certain attacks, and is more likely to hit their opponent.
Here is a leopard just for giggles
HD: 3+2 (14 up to 26 hit points)
AC: 6
THACO: 17
Damage: 1-3/1-3/1-6 with a chance to use its rear claws for a special attack
It is worth noting this is why it is a close battle between gorillas and leopards, just like in real life, since there is about a 50/50 chance either could win with these stats.
Here is one more example. My 7-year-old son, who’s favorite animal is a gorilla, saw I was writing this article. He said “of course a gorilla will win,” at which point I had to inform him, regretfully, no. To help him understand what the difference would be in real life, I used this analogy.
My 7-year-old is 70 lbs (which is big for a 7 year old) and he is quite strong. I am a 200 lb powerlifter, almost three times as heavy as he is. I am about 6’ tall, he is 4 ½ feet tall. And I get to be armed with Wolverine claws on each hand. Who wins in a fight between the two of us? When you look at it like that, you realize that the gorilla just doesn’t stand much of a chance.
A gorilla vs a lioness, that is a good one. A grizzly vs 100 unarmed people? Another classic – read this for some giggles https://forums.t-nation.com/t/one-hundred-people-versus-a-bear/70258. But a gorilla vs a grizzly? Even if they each weighed the same, 500 lbs vs 500 lbs, my money is on the grizzly. And if the grizzly is truly huge as we are assuming in this example? It is not even close.
When it is all said and done there is only one possible result.
You are going to have one dead gorilla.
Love this, very detailed. I don’t think that the strength info is correct. There’s no way that a gorilla is 4x stronger than a grizzly. I think they would have similar strength. I don’t know for sure but still, well done!
Also look anywhere on a Siberian tiger vs a grizzly, literally everyone gives it to the Siberian tiger. That’s not even a question of debate. And I know a Siberian tiger would totally take down a gorilla as well because I know that size and strength are not all that matters in a fight with animals.
Thanks for the post. I don’t agree that a tiger would beat a grizzly in a fight, and after a quick google search it seems most people think the grizzly would win (although it would be much closer than a gorrila vs a grizzly fight)
https://youtu.be/zu5Euk-w468
https://youtu.be/ToXUntkdY1s
Of the 2 actual tiger vs bear videos I found, the bear won both fights and one of them was a black bear beating a tiger and the bear was smaller than the tiger.
I am not saying it is impossible to think of a tiger killing a grizzly, as at least is has the equipment to actually kill the bear (unlike a gorilla which would have a hard time killing an unconscious bear) but if they were to fight 10 times the bear would win almost all of those matches in my opinion.
If you go to animalcomparison and see a tiger vs a bear, only 38% of the people think a tiger would win.
I appreciate your passion on the topic.
I like the videos but I would go with people that have more of a research background with animals than voting sites just because they are more backed by research than just simply by opinions but I did watch the videos and found them interesting and I do think they definitely make very valid points towards a grizzly winning as I can also see scenarios where a grizzly would win even though I lean towards the Siberian tiger. I appreciate the fun discussion though. It’s great to have differing opinions on something and still be able to discuss our viewpoints. Thanks for the fun discussion.
Hey friend if you go digging through the google and sift through the data of researchers regarding tiger and bear interactions you’ll find that tigers have been able to kill bears but only through ambush but never when they ambush the bear and never head to head. And still out of the 22 documented cases of tigers ambushing brown bears, 12 of the cases ended with a dead tiger and a pissed off bear. With out a doubt tigers are far more successful predators than bears are, but bears are by far the most powerful land predators on this earth (I know that they are omnivores) I don’t want to disparages tigers though, tigers are one of the most fierce creatures alive, but bears have a level of power that big cats are unable to deal with
Siberian tigers have better fighting techniques than a grizzly, but grizzly is min. 2 times bigger than Siberian tiger, have a stronger bite (Siberian tiger 975psi, grizzly 1250psi, very big difference), and bear also have good fighting skill. In my opinion, there is about 70% for a grizzly to win tiger, and about 30% for the tiger to win.
Yeah brother when you go through what researchers have said, you’ll see that out of 27 known predation attempts (aka ambushes) there are 12 times in which the tiger is killed by the bear instead. While most encounters between the 2, are bears following tigers and taking the kill from the tiger when tigers make a kill. In these instances the tiger will not even attempt to fight the bear. Meaning that tigers have the upper hand in ambushes but in a face to face fight bears have no problems with tigers at all. But regardless they are absolutely awesome critters!
Siberian tigers have been known to stalk n hunt poker bears. Tigers also have fought off 2 lions at a time n won. Bengal tigers also take down n kill water buffalo alone where it take 3-4 lions to kill a cape buffalo.
Grizzlies beats both Siberian tiger and silverback hands down
Absolutely!!
They are just too damned strong, with razor sharp claws, a little less bite force; but, not a factor at all… Alligators and crocodiles, even with stronger bite force than the hippopotamus, can achieve almost 3000 pounds of bite force… 1 ton for the hippopotamus… 1300 for the gorilla… 1300 for the polar bear… Anyway, I don’t know why people continue with this ridiculous discussion… A grizzly bear would annihilate a silverback gorilla… Leopards routinely kill even 600 pound silverback gorillas.
If you Google information about strength, on a pound for pound basis; well, you will find a bunch of inaccurate bullshit… Anyway, I don’t know why we are discussing a gorilla versus a grizzly… In my opinion, although more shy about engaging in fights, per raising their young ones, to me a polar bear is more deadly than any of them… I’ve seen photos of a polar bear that could kill an elephant… They are very ornery, if disturbed, and everything that they see is a viable meal, per the fact that they do not hibernate… They need many, many calories to survive and support their incredible body mass… They’re hind legs are much stronger than grizzly bears… They can swim for 3 1/2 days… No other animal on earth has that kind of endurance or strength.
Going back to the crocodile and alligator situation, any large brown or polar bear, could completely crush them… They would drag their fucking asses onto the shoreline and ground and pound them, and rip them to shreds!!
Some people know, but many do not know, about the following:
Nobody even really knows for sure just how strong bears are… When you see them in the movies, or in circuses, doped up on morphine or what have you, the adrenaline is not a factor… No other land animal has more adrenaline than a brown or white bear.
One last thing: pound per pound, a moon bear and a Sunbear are even stronger than grizzlies or polar bears… I don’t know why that’s never discussed on this website??
If a moon or Sunbear were the size of a silverback gorilla, it would completely and utterly annihilate it in a matter of a few short seconds… Pound 4 pound, they are even stronger than gorillas.
Look at the top 10 strongest animals, pound per pound… The moon and sun bears are not even on the list… See what I mean? Just because something is on a Google search, doesn’t necessarily mean shit.
Another thing about bears, is the way that their muscles, tendons, ligaments, and bones are connected… Again, any bear, even on a pound for pound basis, would annihilate the baddest gorilla in the
World.
Also, you have to consider the incredible density of a bear’s skull and its incredibly tough hide.
If a gorilla jumped on a bear’s back, a grizzly bear, which can run 45 mph, even with the gorilla on its back, would be able to run about 35 or 40 mph; then, he could just run the fucking thing into a cliff or a boulder and break every bone in its body!!
Thanks, everyone, it’s been real!
The only reason the gorilla has more muscle is per its diet and per the fact that the grizzly’s muscle to fat ratio is due to the fact that they hibernate.
Watch the movie entitled ‘inside the grizzly maze’ and you will see how the bear’s incredible adrenaline can make them remarkably quick and how easily they can move their weight.
MUCH BADDER THAN ANY DAMNED
GORILLA!!
Sorry, Kramer, but a grizzly or polar bear would completely and utterly annihilate a tiger or a gorilla!!
During the last two days, I have sent quite a few posts regarding this stuff… Another thing that comes to mind, is look at young bears when they are born, they are even smaller than dogs… Look at a one month old bear, and then look at a one month old primate, whether that being monkeys or apes… The Bears are Five or 10 times stronger than the small primates.
You sure do want to make your point, don’t you Kramer?!
You go to great lengths to convince people of your position!!
You must have something against Bears… Did one of them rip up your leg or something?
You say it’s not even a debate that a Siberian tiger could beat a grizzly? Are you insane? There’s no need for you to answer that question… Just because I love bears so much, I am currently watching the movie entitled “The Bear”.
BART THE BEAR Could completely annihilate any tiger or gorilla that has ever walked this planet;
and he’s not even the baddest of the baddest!!
There are so many other angles and issues to be addressed… People have shot grizzly bears, in the face, with shotguns, and they have survived… People have shot them with elephant guns and 270s, etc. and they’ve run off—some lived—some died!!
Do you think a tiger or a gorilla could swim for 3 1/2 days??
A polar bear can…
The strongest and the greatest endurance the world has ever known!!
If you really want to bother someone, like you, whom is in the gorilla and tiger camp; just ask the following:
Who wins between a 250 pound gorilla and a 250 pound moon bear?
I rest my case… The moon bear would rip the fucking thing to shreds, in a few short seconds!!
Bears are in a league all of their own… No other animal comes close, for many different reasons…
The most ferocious;
the best olfactory;
the most adrenaline;
The most unique connectivity, relevant to their tendons, ligaments, muscles and bones.
Polar bears are strong enough to kill walruses, and whales… I know I sound like a broken record; but, do you think a fucking gorilla could swim for 3 1/2 days!!
Stop the gorilla obsession… Of course they are muscular, per their diet… Also, they don’t need fat because they do not hibernate.
You have mentioned fighting tactics, and you are not the only one that mentions the quick attack methods that a gorilla could employ; well, that’s not gonna be enough to save its life… A grizzly bear could just run 45 to 48 mph, and just smash into the thing and kill it… It would be very similar to a bison running over a human being; when that happens, it’s like getting hit by a car and the heart stops, immediately!!
That’s enough of this madness, for me, and I do not care to engage any further… I try to avoid the world of ridiculum.
#ENOUGHNONESENSE
which will win the bear or gorilla and they have similar strengths.
Although I totally understand your reasoning, there are some major flaws in it as well. First off you are comparing gorillas and grizzly’s fighting strategies to humans and that doesn’t work because both function significantly different than we do. With humans more often than not the bigger guy wins but chimpanzees are smaller than humans and yet if you are face to face with an angry chimp no matter how big or strong of a human you are…you’re toast, why, because no matter how ripped of a human you are a chimp is so much, and I mean so much stronger than you. The match would be significantly more evenly matched than you think between a bear and gorilla. First off, a gorilla is the strongest land animal (excluding insects) on the planet in relation to its size. With its capacity of lifting close to 10 times its body weight on some accounts which then range between 1800-4000 pounds. The grizzly bear is strong too but there is an enormous difference between 700 pounds and even 1800 pounds. Weight and size isn’t all that matters in this scenario. Speed does as well. And Although the grizzly is faster running, if we are putting them in a cage the gorilla is shown to be more agile and quicker in attacks than a grizzly because the grizzly has more weight to lift and with less muscle to do so than a gorilla. (Usain bolt can run fast but that doesn’t mean he also can punch the fastest, or the hardest for that matter) Therefore a gorilla can deliver attacks significantly quicker than a grizzly can. Now to take your human scenario between your son and the enormous human. If you want to compare it like humans, you have to give the humans inhuman like characteristics (which defies the whole purpose of comparing it to humans in the first place which is why you can’t) . So to put It the best way I can it would be something like a 7-8 foot 300 pound man with the ability to lift his weight in relation to his size and with knives in both of his hands vs a 4-5 foot 150 pound man that can punch And lift with over 1,500 pounds of force and with the agility greater than that of even the most professional of boxers due to a gorilla’s center of gravity being closer to the ground which makes them more difficult to knock off their feet and more agile. (The dude May be heavy and big but if they guy can lift weight over 4 times as much as you weigh and can do it twice as fast as you, your weight isn’t going to help you much) Also bone density is extremely related to muscle strength and considering the gorilla is significantly stronger than a grizzly (seriously it’s not a debate anymore, countless studies show that grizzlies are not even remotely as strong as gorillas no matter what your hunter friends say…end of discussion) a gorillas bone density easily can trump that of a grizzlies. Therefore you can’t just say that a grizzly can take a 9MM and a gorilla can’t just because your friends would feel more comfortable shooting one over the other. There’s no science in that. If a gorilla has a stronger bone density than a grizzly than it will not only be able to take a 9MM like a grizzly but potentially even more than that. Also the gorilla doesn’t need to puncture a bear’s skull to kill it so I don’t know why this is even an argument. Now for your leopard argument. First off, basically all accounts of leopards killing a gorilla were with young offspring or a female which are not even in the same category as a silverback (even full grown females are about half as strong as male gorillas, there is a big difference between 900 and 1800 pounds of force.) Leopards intentionally stay away from silverbacks because they know how strong they are and will not even attempt to attack offspring if they can see a silverback close by, look up any observation studies of leopards hunting gorillas and they will say this. And even if you were to encounter a scenario where a leopard somehow actually managed to take down a silverback you are once again ignoring a huge factor, agility. A leopard may be smaller but it is significantly quicker than a bear or gorilla. Agility is what makes the difference here along with claws, and the bear only has one of those against the gorilla. And even then they’re not evenly matched. A silverback definitely takes a leopard and all observation of them in the wild proves it. Leopards are afraid of silverback gorillas. Am I saying that a gorilla is going to for sure take down a grizzly, no but I think it is way more evenly matched than you think. I think it depends on whether or not the grizzly gets a chance to get a swipe in with their claws before the gorilla gets close enough to deliver fatal blows. We as humans don’t understand the concept of strength in relation to size because we are physically incapable of performing any feat like that so we compare everything in relation to how big we are. But that makes a big difference when the smaller guy isn’t just a little stronger than you, but literally up to 2-4x stronger than you. Gorillas are less aggressive but if both are going with the intent to kill I think either could pull it off. The bear definitely has an advantage of claws which could easily slice open a gorillas throat or anywhere on its body for that matter, significantly larger size, and canines with a serious bite force to go with it, but gorillas have the advantage of ridiculously greater strength (they literally have the strength to snap the grizzly’s jaw as they’re overall arm strength far exceeds the grizzlies bite force.), a greater bite force, and they are more agile and have a lower center of gravity. Bone density is definitely even, if not in slight favor of the gorilla because of its overall strength of bones needed to be able to exert the force it needs for its muscles and not break. I think it’s whoever gets the first blow. You’re son isn’t right in saying a gorilla would for sure win and neither are you in saying a grizzly would. Both are extremely different animals with extreme strengths on both ends. But do not compare it to humans fighting because there is no scenario where any normal humans exhibit at all their traits. Bears are freakishly bigger than the other and gorillas are freakishly stronger than the other. If we’re talking one trying to kill the other on their own instincts the grizzly will win because gorillas are inherently not aggressive creatures. But if both were intent on killing the other it would be a good fight but a short one depending on who delivers the first blow.
I don’t agree at all that a gorilla is stronger than a grizzly and a grizzly has much denser bones and much greater defense in thick fur and a major layer of padding. There is almost nothing a gorilla could do to hurt the grizzly, it could literally punch the grizzly in the head several times and nothing would happen to the bear. The first blow would be irrelevant, if these animals fought 100 times I don’t see the gorilla winning once.
Once again you are using your idea of human fighting and think that size determines strength. That’s not how this works in all of nature, How can you not believe it?! We’ve known this for years and it’s been tested in labs and retested and observed both in the wild and shows that one clearly performs greater feats of strength with ease more than the other. When you say you don’t believe it, you have zero evidence to back your claim other than just because one “looks” stronger. Gorillas and Bear strength can be proven from number of muscle fibers to fiber types and every single sign shows the gorilla is stronger. When tested the gorilla could lift more than a bear. There is no scenario where the bear is stronger. Just know that when you say that, you have no evidence behind your claim because all evidence shows the opposite. Second there is a difference between taking a bullet to the head and a cannon to the face. A cannon ball moves much slower but on impact can deliver significantly more damage internally than a bullet. One punch to any body part on a bear at the strength at which a gorilla can deliver it will be detrimental and in most cases fatal. Fur and fat can definitely soften the blow but does not drop the impact significantly enough at all because a bear is not designed to take even 1800 pounds of force of impact. There is no scenario where it needs that just like how a gorilla is not designed to take impact from razor claws because other than a leopard (which once again only is recorded to attack young or small females) there is no scenario where they would need that kind of protection. Muscle takes impact better than fat in every scenario when muscle is flexed and strong enough and the bear is just not strong enough as literally every study shows their strength level is inferior to a gorilla’s. A 9MM to the face may not kill a bear but I’d like to see it take a cannon to the face or any body part for that matter and walk away from it. An impact to the head alone will cause the head to jerk one way at a great enough velocity to cause the brain to slam into the skull at such a rate that would render it unconscious and most likely kill the creature for shear brain damage. You can say that a bear will win because that is your opinion and that’s what makes debating this fun to do with others but please don’t go telling people that bears are stronger when everything ever studied, tested, and done in the wild shows both animals have a strength limit and a bears limit is significantly smaller than a gorillas. Your son is more right than you are giving him credit for. It’s a not a debate it’s a fact and it’s been proven and reproved and reproved again and again and again. Bears are not nor will they ever be even close to as strong as a gorillas and people who don’t study and take the time to look into the science behind it will never understand it because it is an impossible feat for human beings to ever attain in strength. So read about it. It’s honestly fascinating and will help you see how incredible nature is at creating different animals that are incredible at different things and that both have their strengths and both have their weaknesses.
I would love to see any evidence that makes you believe that gorillas are stronger than grizzlies.
I would certainly say that a grizzly could knock over a bigger tree, move a heavier rock, throw around a heavier trash bin, and deliver a stronger crushing blow from his arms than a gorilla could.
Easy just google it but if you didn’t want to do that here are some links. One a study done by a university on bear strength and another on gorillas strength. Then also a comparison of where they rank on strength levels.
https://onekindplanet.org/top-10/top-10-list-of-the-worlds-strongest-animals/
https://www.montana.edu/news/3827/msu-researcher-tests-grizzly-bear-strength-for-national-geographic-documentary
https://gorillafacts.org/how-strong-is-a-gorilla/
A bear not being aggressive is 2.5-4 times stronger than a person. A gorilla not being aggressive is 4-9 times stronger than a human. Both when aggressive increase that number more but the gorilla still has the bear by a long shot. You can also google studies about their muscle fibers and see a gorilla has more fast twitch than a bear, which is what constitutes strength whereas slow twitch is endurance. A gorilla has a higher percentage of fast twitch than a bear. Just google it or look up research articles. They’re everywhere. I have always originally thought a bear would for sure win but more and more research shows that the gorilla is a scientific anomaly with its strength. The only animals that have that same level of strength to its size are insects. That’s what makes the gorilla such a evolutionary wonder. It’s the only land mammal capable of lifting such outrageous amounts of weight relative to its size and deliver blows that far exceed its size. Don’t get me wrong bears are insanely strong too but they weren’t designed to rely on it completely like gorillas do. The gorilla is stronger in every sense of the word but that doesn’t meant that he’s going to win as a result it just makes it more evenly matched than we think.
Just google bear strength, gorilla strength, there’s countless of studies that have been done. It literally is the easiest thing to do and find because your page is the only one that claims a bear is stronger than a gorilla. I can post some links to them if that helps but googling it brings up countless research and every single one supports the strength of a gorilla being stronger than a grizzly. Let me know and I’ll be happy to share some links though if you don’t want to google it.
https://onekindplanet.org/top-10/top-10-list-of-the-worlds-strongest-animals/
https://www.montana.edu/news/3827/msu-researcher-tests-grizzly-bear-strength-for-national-geographic-documentary
https://gorillafacts.org/how-strong-is-a-gorilla/
Here are some studies and research on bear and gorilla strength (I even picked the most positive bear research that gives them a positive edge and a gorilla article that shows their lower end of strength from some research.) and then one that shows the strongest animals in the animal kingdom and their strength levels.
Bears strength without aggression is 2.5-4 times stronger than a human. Gorilla without aggression is 4-9 times stronger. Both get stronger when they get more aggressive but still the gorilla is significantly greater than the bear in strength. Also just look up research articles about their muscle fiber make up and count. Gorillas have more fast twitch muscle which constitutes more strength. Don’t get me wrong a bear is freakishly strong but a gorilla is an evolutionary wonder. No animal besides insects can lift weight so significantly greater than their own or delivering attacks at a force so much greater than their size. The gorilla is just simply made that way. The grizzly was not made to need freakish strength in relation to its size because it doesn’t need to spend time tearing trees down with their hands to get food or climb them while holding other trunks of trees by their feet. I definitely have in the past always felt a bear would win but as we learn more about both we realize that they are more evenly matched than we originally thought. And all research shows that the gorilla is stronger. Like I said just google and there are countless others like the one I just posted that support all other research done on their strength levels.
Grizzly bears way around 600 lbs. Gorillas only weight about 350 lbs. … Now, for those of you who would argue for the gorilla, gorilla’s truly aren’t that strong. They are stronger than a human, but a grizzly is still stronger.
Gorillas are not natural born/bread killers. We’re talking about an average 350 lb forrest dwelling, pack animal vs a solitary mountain dwelling 700 lb animal built specifically for killing. Momma gorillas do not teach their young how to go hunt large prey to survive. As mentioned above also, the gorilla has way less size, way less killer instinct, and less tools to fight with. To me, its kinda like comparing a 100 lb pit bull vs a 200 lb jaguar. The pit bull could be very dangerous but its one weapon and size are no match for 2x as much of a natural born killer with better (and more) weapons.
People don’t seem to understand the Gorilla CANNOT inflict enough damage on a bear to kill it. Let’s just pretend in a world of fantasy the Gorilla was somehow strong enough to match strength with a bear literally twice his size, big whoop! IT DOESN”T HAVE THE WEAPONS TO KILL A BEAR. It doesn’t matter if I, as a person, am strong enough to fight a gorilla, if I shoot the gorilla it will die, because I have the best weapon. People that honestly think a gorilla, who barely, if EVER fights, can take on an animal who has been a killer since it’s existence, it just shows how much you truly lack knowledge in combat. Pair two people of equal size, strength, and fighting ability and make them fistfight, now give one of them a sword. . . the winner is, DING DING DING you guessed it! The one with the better weapon
A gorilla possesses sufficient manual dexterity and more than enough strength to break the limbs, jaw or even the skull of almost anything, including a grizzly, with its hands alone. That doesn’t make it an instant win by any means, but you’re incorrect in asserting that the gorilla has no viable weapons whatsoever (it is also not unknown for gorillas to use rocks as weapons, which would only augment its strength further). I mean, humans have survived grizzly attacks and killed them with knives, so I think its a bit silly to suggest that a fat layer makes a grizzly invincible against a ~1300psi bite force or herculean slam attacks to the skull.
Also, yes, as the strongest terrestrial land animal pound-for-pound aside from a few beetles, the gorilla absolutely matches the strength of a bear twice its size and indeed exceeds it by a huge margin. A grizzly can lift approximately 0.8 times its body weight, whereas a gorilla can lift close to *ten* times its body weight. This doesn’t necessarily translate perfectly to a one-on-one deathmatch scenario, but this is more than enough to knock a bear unconscious or even shatter its skull with a few well-placed slams. This is assuming, of course, that the gorilla isn’t torn to shreds before it can get a decent position, and that the gorilla attacks the correct, less-protected areas first before getting slashed twenty times in three seconds.
I’m not saying that the gorilla would have some sort of runaway victory here by any stretch, but I don’t think it’s fair to say that the gorilla doesn’t possess the weapons necessary to deal lethal damage just because it lacks claws and the bear is chonky.
Kramer…Your argument is intelligent and we’ll thought out. Other guy…stick to arguing with 7 year olds. You keep using size and not applying the Gorillas: Speed(burst not running), agility, and insane power. All pretty useful in combat. “I’m a 200 pound powerlifter with Wolverine claws who could beat up a 7 year old”… Bwahahaha!!
Read the other comments too, you’ll see you are a significant minority if you think gorillas stand a chance. And describing gorilla’s “insane power” as an advantage when thinking about them in a fight with a grizzly bear is laughable.
“With humans more often than not the bigger guy wins but chimpanzees are smaller than humans and yet if you are face to face with an angry chimp no matter how big or strong of a human you are…you’re toast, why, because no matter how ripped of a human you are a chimp is so much, and I mean so much stronger than you.”
This is actually false. Recently, it was discovered that chimpanzees are only somewhat stronger than humans (about 1.35 times stronger pound for pound) and that their strength had been greatly exaggerated. And since the average male chimpanzee ranges between 80 and 135 pounds, the chances that you’d be nearly as strong as the average chance is higher than you think. I myself weigh about 200 lbs., so not too many chimpanzees are going to much stronger than I am (200/1.35 = 148). Their strength isn’t what you have to worry about though. It’s their damn teeth. No human is going to be a match for their incredibly strong jaws. Hell, there’s a good chance you won’t have a face anymore if you try to fight a chimp.
“First off, a gorilla is the strongest land animal (excluding insects) on the planet in relation to its size.”
Total nonsense. A kodiak, Polar Bear, Grizzly Bear and probably a large tiger are stronger than a Gorilla
“With its capacity of lifting close to 10 times its body weight on some accounts which then range between 1800-4000 pounds. ”
I’ve seen that reported but I don’t buy it. I want to see some scientific studies on that. Strength would be proportional to how much muscle there is on an animal and there is no way a gorilla has more muscle on it on average than a kodiak, Polar bear or Grizzly.
I am a bit obsessive-compulsive; therefore, I have thought a lot
About this.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion; however, I agree with so many people whom have stated that they do not believe, for one second, that a gorilla is stronger than a grizzly bear—in my opinion, they are not even stronger on a pound by a pound basis… I don’t think that anyone even really knows how strong grizzlies and
polar bears truly are.
I don’t know if this strength obsession, originally, stemmed from the hero worship of king Kong or why??
I have studied a very important fact about muscle strength.
The way that bears’ muscles are attached to their tendons is different than any other animal on earth.
They are freakishly strong and, again, I don’t believe that anyone even really knows how strong they are.
Whenever I have seen bears in movies, it is easy to see that they are sedated and completely doped out of their minds, and they appear to be clumsy and ridiculous—well, they are completely the opposite.
If you look up the top 10 strongest animals, pound for pound, you will see that the dung beetle and rhino beetle are the strongest, followed by the leaf cutter ant.
According to the site that I researched, they have the grizzly bear at number 10.
Being that there are different kinds of strength, and the site explains what I mean, the gorilla, the ox, the anaconda, and the tiger are, allegedly, stronger than the number 10 grizzly bear.
There is lifting, there is dragging, there is pulling, and there is carrying.
Undoubtedly, an elephant or a bear would be able to carry a hell of a lot more than any gorilla or cat.
Watch a movie entitled ‘Inside the Grizzly Maze’, which is about the most dangerous place on earth, and you will clearly see that a gorilla would literally last about 15 or 20 seconds against a grizzly bear.
I do not believe the top 10 list, at all, and I believe that this can almost be proven by studying the type of bear about which you hear very little: The Sun bear.
Pound for a pound, a sun bear is a hell of a lot stronger than any damn gorilla.
They are a very small, strange looking bear and they are even smaller than a gorilla… If a sun bear was the same size as a gorilla, it would probably be able to crush it with a UFC style body choke or neck choke(easily).
People believe what they want to believe… Also, in response to some previous commentary, the bone structure of a bear is thicker than a gorilla‘s and I have no earthly idea from where the individual got the information, relevant to a gorilla having a thicker bone structure or skull??
Grizzly bears do not look as muscular as gorillas per the fact that they must store fat, in order to survive the winter months.
Gorillas Arlene and, therefore, they are more “ripped“.
That being said, if you look more closely at the seemingly enormous legs and arms, of a gorilla, they are not nearly as big as they look per the fact that they have very long hair which, at first glance, makes them look much bigger than they really are.
I equate this concept to the appearance of a chow chow.
If you were to bathe a chowchow, you would see that it is mainly all hair, although they are pretty stocky and pretty strong.
If we are merely talking about strength, I say the grizzly is stronger, even pound for pound, and much more deadly… A grizzly bear could shred a gorilla’s skin, rip it to shreds, and crack its skull with a Ground and Pound style attack.
It’s not even close!!
One last thing:
Don’t forget about the polar bear.
Polars have stronger bite force, in comparison to a grizzly … I think they’re at about 1250 psi and the gorilla has a maximum of 1300 psi.
Do you think that slight difference would lead to positive results??
No way!!
The question isn’t whether a gorilla is stronger than a grizzly or whom would win in a fight… Forget the damn gorilla, he would be annihilated in very short order… The question is: whom would win between a polar bear and a grizzly??
A grizzly’s forelegs are stronger than a polar bear’s; however, a polar bear’s hind legs and rump are stronger than a grizzly bear.
They are strong enough to pull whales out of the water, and dine on them for days on end… This is the reason that their hind legs and butts are so strong.
If you think it’s impressive to see a gorilla eating a fruit or a bamboo shard, or eating bananas or weeds and grasses and pounding their chests, like king Kong, well then I suppose you are easily impressed… If you want to see something truly impressive, consider that a polar bear can, literally, swim for three days… Now that is true strength!!
I have always loved the entire ape species and I have always enjoyed studying them; however, relevant to this discussion and debate, I am not too impressed with King Kong.
Thanks to all for chiming in and I enjoy reading everyone’s thoughts and opinions, with true respect.
By the way, I hate bear hunters and, certainly, would be willing to fight anyone whom is willing to kill a gorilla!!
Peace and love!!
Romans 6:23
Montana State University conducted a study on grizzly strength and showed that their strength levels when not aggressive were around 2.5-4 times stronger than a human. Multiple research studies have been done on gorillas by universities and organizations and all find the strength level depending on size when not aggressive to be around 4-9 times the strength of a human. both increase strength with aggression but the bear still trails the gorilla by a large margin. I’m not saying bears aren’t strong. They are freakishly strong but they don’t have to rely completely on strength in their life. Gorillas tear down trees on the daily and climb ones or hand one handed while holding another tree trunk with their feet. They have the grip strength to crush the skull of an alligator just with grip strength alone. Bears are so strong but gorillas are an evolutionary wonder of strength. The only other animals that have as much strength in relation to their size are few insects. Literally no other land animal has such an enormous amount of strength for their size. I used to always think a grizzly would for sure win in a fight but the more that I look at the research the more I realize it is more evenly matched than we think.
There is no doubt that a gorilla’s environment and lifestyle has resulted in incredible strength; that being said, I do not believe these numbers and
statistics, whatsoever.
Grizzly bears can throw dumpsters around like rag-dolls and can pick up boulders that way over 1 ton.
Gorillas look like Arnold Schwarzenegger on steroids, but that is because they are lean and ripped… Grizzlies are not ripped because they have as much as six or seven thickness inches of solid fat.
Can you imagine how strong a polar bear or a grizzly bear would be if they had to climb around and swing from trees??
Gorillas, same as orangutans, have ultra flexible shoulder joints, which enables them to gracefully traverse the landscape.
Think about how strong a grizzly bear’s neck is… Unbelievable strength… The humps, on their backs, are almost as impressive as an American bison— this is because they dig, constantly, to eat chipmunks, ground squirrels, and what-have-you.
I am having fun with all of this stuff and I appreciate the comment, just before mine, about how much a gorilla has to work out to survive… Never thought about that before; I appreciate it… You know what would be an interesting project?
To raise a bear cub, as a friend and household pet, and put him on a workout program.
The result would be a creature with unmatched power, even on a pound for pound basis, and the gorilla would not even be comparable!!
One last thought:
We’ve all heard the expression “as strong as an ox“…an Oxen is, allegedly, stronger than a grizzly bear, but in different ways(as far as the top 10 list which, again, I do not believe to be true ).
It has pushing power and pulling power… The strongest carrier is, obviously, an elephant… There are many types of strength and different measuring tactics; however, as I have overstated, there is no other animal with the strength of a bear – – particularly a Sunbear.
Short of pudding the strongest animals in a weight room, and actually watching them have some kind of a contest, all of these opinions are completely subjective and unproven.
In a previous post it was mentioned that there are opinions and then there are scientific truths; but, science is not always accurate.
I say that we do not even know how strong sun bears, grizzly bears and polar bears truly are!!
THEY ARE OFF THE CHARTS!!
All, God bless and enjoy the day.
Grizzly wins ten out of ten times. Not even close. There is nothing a gorilla could do that would even hurt a grizzly bear.
A bite with 1300psi on the neck could break bones or sever an artery (a hunter was able to do this and kill the grizzly using just a knife), and the gorilla’s herculean strength is far more than enough to break the jaw, arm, or even crack the skull of a grizzly with the right timing and positioning. The gorilla’s ridiculous strength is important, as next to nothing could shrug off such severe head trauma for long, not even a bear.
That said, the grizzly is still (as everyone knows) ridiculously formidable. But I think it’s a bit much to suggest that it would be invincible.
Yeah , if the bear is hogtied he might be able to actually bite into his neck cool stuff
I will take the word of kramer and say that the gorilla is stronger. That’s fine. It’s more agile, arguably. Everything else (weapons, reach, defense, size, killer instinct, fighting experience, endurance) the grizzly has the advantage. The grizzly has to be the favorite. Also, intimidation has to play a factor. Just reach alone puts the gorilla at a HUGE disadvantage. I would love to think a gorilla could win but I would put my money on a grizzly. I have watched many videos of animals in the wild and grew up in a rural area and observed many different animals in the wild. A gorilla is an awesome animal and very formidable but this is a grizzly. It is a BORN killing machine. Look at it like this
1) The bear attacks the gorilla. If he lands first, it’s over. If the gorilla successfully GETS OUT OF THE WAY, can he counter? How would he counter? He HAS to land a killing blow or he is most likely ripped up.
2) The gorilla attacks first. He HAS to get past the claws and get off a killing blow before getting mauled or get out of reach.
Either way the gorilla has to get off a 1 punch/bite kill WITHOUT getting hit by the bear. Maybe the gorilla could get behind the grizzly and get on its back. Those 2 scenarios that the gorilla wins. That makes the grizzly the favorite, TO ME, a 7-3 favorite at least. Prove me wrong .
Put the grizzly in the sleeper hold. Lights out
I love this article but if I’m betting and I get good odds id still bet on the Gorilla.
no the bear would win 9/10 and that one time the gorilla wins is if we put it in more favorable conditions thats like saying a 100 pound dog vs a 20 to 30 pound cat with full intent in killing each other and that the cat would win yeah the cat is more monvouerable but that doesnt matter the dog wins it is way bigger faster and just needs a couple well shot blow and the dog wins so no matter what the bear wins in almost all situations
I agree with everything here besides the 9mm. Actually the 9mm or 10mm is possibly better than a .45 for a grizzly. The size of bullets is able to slice through the bears fat because its smaller surface area. A .45 while more powerful is so large that it slows down earlier.
Bad comparison, you can be 250lb power lifter and if put you in a cage with a 120lb male alpha chimp, let’s just say the bets would be about on which body part you lose first. Gorillas are not only pound for poind but overall way stronger than a bear, have superior biting force and are smarter. Gorillas can easily take a bears jaw or choke it in seconds, a 200kg-force exercion on a bears windpipe is more than enough to crush it, and not even mentioning that its reach is superior. My money is on the gorilla, your analysis has serious factual flaws.
I am sorry if you but you think a 500 lb gorilla is stronger than a 1500 lb grizzly then you are simly mistaken, there is no evidence or logic that would support that claim. I do agree that Gorillas are likely smarter but in a cage match that matters very little, as you said a human is smarter than a chimp but in a cage match the chimp wins unless the human was smart enough to bring something lethal in with them. And a gorilla’s reach is not superior, go back and look at the picture of the man standing next to the grizzly. The gorilla would be the same height as the man with slightly longer arms, it would have significant trouble simply reaching the grizzly’s head if the grizzly was standing upright (and that angle would lose all power). When you re-examine the situation with the actual facts it becomes clear the gorilla loses in almost every instance.
I don’t feel like putting the link here, but a gorilla is much stronger than a grizzly, some people put links above already, go check those out.
No, you are wrong. In no world is a 500 lb gorilla stronger than a 1500 lb grizzly bear.
Lol I guess you’re just disregarding every .org link that has been provided on these threads? Tim’s Source: Trust me bro, grizzly is stronger
I dont know whats worse, the claim that the gorilla is stronger than a grizzly bear or the claim that a gorilla will defeat(!) a grizzly bear in a fight?!
First, these fanboy gorilla strength sci-fi fantasies needs to be shut down once and for good. It doesnt exist even one single strength test for the gorilla thats measurable in any good way. Tests done with chimps shows them to have the strength equal of the average man
A gorilla in the eyes of a bear is nothing more than a overgrown hairy human, equal defense less, nuff said!
Yall saying the gorilla is better deserve a clown badge. XD Like how can a Gorilla one shot a bear? Id think both can one shot each other but can give very hard blows but again if this fight ever was to happen the Gorilla is gonna die and you guys know it. Not many things can fight a aggresive Bear and live to tell the tale unless you are 3x larger then it or have more of a deadly weapon: Hippos, Elephants, Rhinos.
No one has mentioned intellect yet. Should this be a factor in the fight? If the two animals were put together to fight other factors should be considered such as environment, intellect, hunger, sex, age, and maternal instincts. I think the outcome would be the grizzly would slash the gorilla up pretty bad leading to it bleeding out. The gorilla will probably inflict damage on the bear that will later lead to it’s death or disfigurement. It’s real fun to read the back and forth with this. I am a die hard for the gorilla. Before sharing “facts” about the characteristics of the animals consider checking your bias on the issue. Also can you imagine how screwed we would be if the duo paired up? A terrifying image of a gorilla riding a bear.
I bet on the grizzly do to its size, strength, bite force, and its aggressive nature
I’ll just leave this here. Listed for you all…
In Rome tigers and lions fought bears on numerous occasions in the colosseum. The bear wins every time due to its enormous strength. Invariably the cat ends up with its poor skull crushed. They have a relatively think and weak cranium.
Indeed. Trumping all the theoretical babble here. And these bears were usually European brown bears , smaller than American Grizzlies.
*Pound for pound the gorilla takes this strength wise
*Intellect goes to the Gorilla
*Biteforce goes to the gorilla
* The killer instinct argument of a bear: True ( but also very oppertunistic)
Its not black/white for sure but:
Scenario(hypoteosis): Let say we place bear into the midst of a gorilla pack, where it attacks a cub, this triggers the silverbacks instrinct to protect its pride ( its also designed to do this) If it really deceides to severly attack the Bear, I believe he could really deal life threathening damage( He wont stop attacking the bear until he falls exhaused). The mindstate of these animals comes to play in this whole apples/oranges comparisment. the bear is insanely strong i know.. but IF the gorilla really deceides to take him on he HAS THE TOOLS to really damage him.
Thanks for the comments. I think it is debatable that pound for pound the gorilla is stronger, pound for pound strength is irrelevant in a fight that doesn’t have weight classes. So you might argue that a 500 lb gorilla is stronger than a 500 lb bear, I don’t think any reasonable argument can be made that a 500 lb gorilla has a strength advantage over a 1500 lb grizzly and indeed I would argue it has a very significant strength disadvantage.
I agree intellect goes to the gorilla but I don’t think that helps too much in a cage match. Humans are much stronger than both and their intellect would not matter much in a cage match. And grizzlies are much more used to actual fighting, vs both their own kind and then other big prey for food. Gorillas rarely have full on battles with something lethal.
Both gorillas and grizzlies have impressive bite force (I found 1300 vs 1200 psi respectively). Both bites can do damage, although the bear is covered with a very thick and is just broader overall so I would believe a grizzly can do more respective damage with its bite (in other words a grizzly biting a gorilla hurts more than a gorilla biting a grizzly, but both can do damage).
In this example we are assuming both animals are highly motivated to kill. For ages grizzlies have been pitted against other animals in matches, such as against lions, fighting bulls, packs of dogs, etc. All of those things would kill a gorilla, and typically the bear dominates those fights.
I agree that a gorilla could do ‘some’ damage but in the end it would not be a fight, more like a massacre.
Tim! Haha man looks like our debate from last year sparked quite a bit more discussion in the comments since! Fun to see people’s thoughts! I need to put out there that my debater in me wanted to play more the role of devils advocate, so I wanted to tease the idea of it being more evenly matched but I definitely agree with you that a grizzly would basically always win due to size and having claws and being a predator. However, I think the debate on strength is well over, considering all SCIENTIFIC studies, not YouTube/internet fanboys of one side or the other, but actual studies of muscle fiber count, and type (which constitute strength far more than size accounts for it) and research regarding feats of strength. Gorilla does take this category. I totally would give the grizzly the win in the fight every time but the gorilla is stronger, no research argues otherwise. Thanks again for the fun debate last year though! Hope you know it was all in good fun! Hope all is going well for you during this crazy time!
Thanks for the post. I like these kind of debates and have fun with them. I am still happy to carry on the strength debate of who is stronger, a grizzly or a gorilla if you want. I am fine saying that a 500 lb gorilla may be stronger than a 500 lb bear, but I’ll happily argue that a 1500 lb grizzly is much stronger than the strongest gorilla ever, at least in any sense that matters.
Strength is always task specific, so if we are going to talk a strength we have to talk about how it is measured.
Anything that involves grip strength I will happily give to the gorilla, so grabbing something with its hands, just holding on, or hanging from something I give the nod to the gorilla primarily because of the opposeable thumb.
I’ll also give the nod to the gorilla in terms of intelligence and figuring out leverages, so if it is trying to snap a tree for example it is more likely to figure out the best place to push from to exert the most pressure
But in all of these examples I would give the grizzly the edge for strength
Who could move the biggest rock
Who could toss around a heavy dumpster easier
Who could knock over a bigger/thicker tree
Who could run through a wall of varying thickness/toughness
Who could drag the heaviest object (tug of war or a sled drag)
Who could resist being knocked down better (on either two or four feet)
Do you think a gorilla would win in any of these examples?
If we want to keep debating I need some specific examples of strength that you think a gorilla would win.
Cheers
Lmao
Gorilla is stronger
And can do all of those things that you said even better
A 500lbs gorilla is stronger than a 1500lbs grizzly bear .
Go read all the scientific studies on Gorilla’s power, and strength. Maybe you are not understanding the studies. Or maybe you keep comparing it to a size of a creature,
It’s simple
A 1500lbs bear can hit with a force of 1500lbs punch as an example but a 400lbs gorilla can punch with a force of 4000lbs
This creature is an anomaly, you can not compare it with any other creature in the world other than insects for its strength capabilities,
Tim, just do the math lol I’m beginning to think even a gorilla beats you in intellect. We are talking *relative* strength. A gorilla has been known to lift objects 10 times its body weight. A grizzly has been known to lift objects 0.8 times its body weight (but let’s just round that up to 1 for simplicity). Now basic math tells us a gorilla’s strength (at the sizes you picked, 500 lbs and 1,500 lbs) is 500 lbs x 10 = 5,000 lbs. A grizzly’s would be 1,500 lbs x 1 (generously) = 1,500 lbs. Which animal is stronger? Putting it another way, the grizzly would have to weigh 5,000 lbs or the gorilla 150 lbs for the stats to be equal. The good news is we don’t have to argue about “not all gorillas are 10 times as strong as their body weight” because you specifically said “ I’ll happily argue that a 1,500 lb grizzly is much stronger than the strongest gorilla ever, at least in any sense that matters.” We can all agree with the claws, a grizzly wins 9/10 fights, at the least. Maybe 95/100. But you ignoring every source of science and report simply because a grizzly can push over a tree or roll a boulder is laughable. It doesn’t matter what you think should make sense, it matters what has actually been proven.
Having an ex employee who was a BIG GAME PHOTOGRAPHER for 50 years (VAST EXPERIANCE ALL ANIMALS INVOLVED )any animal mention would ne nothing but a nice meal for a 1500 LB KODIAC Yes the Kodiac would actually consume a 400 lb PRIMEMATE HAIR BONES AND ALL The above would not remotely be a contest as literally one swipe of the bear paw would easily kill the Ape
I was 12yrs old and my dad smacked me on the back of the head. He just shot a 300 LB black bear…. dead. I was going to run up on it in my excitement. It was on the ground 70 yards away in a dry creek bed. We had to approach the dead bear rifles ready. Apparently bears have an auto kill mode, last lunge kind of thing. Killing is their business. I have also watched grizzlies feeding in groups, for salmon. The humungous beasts would play fight and hard fight, not to kill but dominate. They are absolutely ferocious, enormous, and fighting is their life. The evidence of grizzlies in the forest is astonishing. I cannot see a gorilla doing the same damage to a tree, where a grizzly was merely scratching an itch. An incredibly thick skin. Autumn they consume 80 000 calories a day. They are machines.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4amRA0jl0qI
Your example of you and your kids is awful unless you both are equally as strong and your son was a lot smarter. Gorillas are as strong as grizzlys they just don’t have 400lbs of fat to protect them. Yes gorillas are slower but are a lot more agile. A Silverback can lift 4000lbs of dead weight well a grizzly can only move 1100lbs. I think they both would kill each other. I think the gorilla would crush the grizzly skull but die from bleeding out.
Gorillas are nowhere near as strong as grizzlies. I am not sure where you get the idea that gorillas can lift 4000 lbs but grizzlies can only lift 1100. Strength is always task specific but if you think about who move a heavier rock, who could topple a thicker tree, who could drag a heavier weight, who could resist being knocked down better – a grizzly wins all of those tasks easily. A grizzly skull is huge and thick, a gorilla would have no chance of crushing it, it couldn’t get its hands around it to grip it and its own bones would break first. Perhaps if it had a large rock then it could do significant damage to the grizzly’s head.
Tim, why do you keep repeating the same belief of yours that grizzlies are stronger than gorillas, when you’ve been told again and again that gorillas are stronger based on actual tests, not guesses? Since you don’t listen to facts, just close the comments and state your opinion as fact even when it is wrong.
It’s hilarous when you ask where sam gets the idea that gorillas can lift 4000 lbs and grizzlies only 1100, when this is the strength given IN YOUR OWN ARTICLE, even if you of course deny that the fact is correct. So you accept the other facts, but not that particular fact. Only the facts that agree with your opinion. So you ignore solid evidence that goes against your belief, but happily provide non-scientific guesswork and pure “this make sense”-nonsense to provide support for your belief, involving asking hunters about shooting at a bear and D&D. Are you just trolling?
So somebody making a meme and posting a stat at the bottom of it is now magically a “fact”? I just posted that comparison image of the Bear vs Gorilla because I liked the image. If you can show me any sort of any scientific research that would back up that statement of gorilla lifting 4000 lbs I’d be happy to check it out (and what does ‘lifting’ 4000 lbs even mean – one inch off the ground, bench pressing it, overhead pressing it, deadlifting it, curling it?). The bottom line is it is very difficult to test the strength of both gorillas and bears and not much actual testing has been done. Gorillas are very strong – yes, but so are bears and bears are three times bigger, much more used to fighting, and armed with much more fearsome weapons.
Links have been posted by Kramer but you have conveniently ignored to respond to those posts. Look in the comments. Or just search the internet.
I’m not saying I know for sure gorillas are stronger than grizzlys, but your reasoning for the opposite is based on nothing but “uh the grizzly looks bigger”, while everywhere you look on the internet it is stated that gorillas are stronger. How about you showing a link that supports your claim?
This is a response to the post below. The “links” that Kramer posted contain almost no scientific info, one is just a list of top 10 animals in strength (elephants come in at #8 so that shows you how accurate that is) with no backing and no claims, and when you click on the “see more” info it doesn’t even mention strength at all, it just provides facts about the animal. The one involving the bear is the only one that has a scientist doing a test, in which he states that when shaking a tree the bear generated the strength of 2-5 humans and he suspects “when enraged it would be much, much more.” He also noted they can easily ‘flip over 700 kg dumpsters like toys’. The third link has a promising title but it just repeats the same statements over and over again and never cites any scientific studies. All it says is this:
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, a silverback gorilla can lift up to 815 kg (1800 lb).
On the other hand, a well trained human weightlifter can lift weight up to 410 kg (900 lb) which is half to what a Gorilla can lift.
A Gorilla strength test was conducted in 1924, which showed that an adult gorilla can throw a 450 kg (900 lb) of force.
While an average human can throw 100 kg (220 lb) which is five times less than that of a gorilla.
So that is saying that gorillas demonstrate somewhere between 1.8-4.5 x the strength of a person.
I have no problem assuming a gorilla can deadlift (we can assume deadlift) 1800 lbs, so that means they are about 2 times as strong as the strongest person (the max deadlift is now over 1000 lbs). The next sentences don’t even make sense, it says the gorilla can “throw a 450 kg of force” which is 4.5x that of what the person did.
Strength is task specific. Paul Anderson backlifted over 6000 lbs, do we think a gorilla can lift 4-9 x that (so a gorilla can lift 54,000 lbs?). Obviously not. To test strength you need the animals performing the same movement against resistance and that test hasn’t been done. So what do we look at instead? We look at how muscles work. I wrote an exercise physiology textbook so this happens to be something I am reasonably familiar with. There is nothing magical about gorilla muscle fibers other than they have good attachment points and they lock into strong bones. We know a muscle’s strength is very closely related to its cross sectional size. We know absolute strength is hugely related to size in general (which is why the elephant is by far the strongest land animal). Bears have much greater mass and greater muscular structure than gorillas. There will be some movements a gorilla has better strength on (pulling, holding onto to something, bending a bar); there will be some movements a bear demonstrates greater strength (towing, knocking something over, resisting being moved), etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4amRA0jl0qI
The gorilla doesn’t even topple the tree, it breaks the thing,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UxoDRHmXfs
They are not facts , but fake news. Stop trying to gaslight others and turn reality around : it’s you who actually does what you accuse Tim and others of.
I find it hilarious that when people argue that a gorilla is stronger than a grizzly they, at the very most, will link an actual sourced study on grizzly strength and then some sourceless clickbait article/site for gorilla strength that all make the same vague claims because their actual sources are just other clickbait articles/sites. I think in reality they’re much weaker than we perceive them as and have the same mysticism around their strength that chimps once had – which we now know pound for pound are only 1.25~1.5 times stronger than humans btw.
If a gorilla were really 10 times stronger than it’s body weight it would NEVER fall prey something like a leopard as it does on occasion – not a knock down drag out fight, but actually intentional well documented predation. Meanwhile similarly sized cougars are mostly driven off from kills by black bears, and while there are behavior and strength differences between leopards and cougars that doesn’t change the fact that black bears on average are around 100+ pounds lighter than the average gorilla yet seem to survive – and even come out on top of – worse matchups far more regularly. Why is that? Probably because gorillas don’t have invincible squash-anything strength some wish they had while sourcing the ether for their claims.
Exactly.
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I think that a grizzly bear would win in a battle. The grizzly bear is 10 times the size as the gorilla
I love all your points, but gorillas have 4x as many neutrons firing than a grizzly. So while I agree with all your points youre forgetting that a gorilla will outsmart a bear. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the gorilla taunt, then grab a bears legs quickly, drag it which it can a gorilla has 4x as much output as a bear even though you said they’re equivalent. They’re not, they dont have the same muscle structure… IMO i think if some lunatic had the resources to pin these two animals together you’d be surprised. Wouldn’t be surprised to see a bear with broken legs/and or limbs ripped off and a bears snout entirely devoured, or its eyes pushed into its brain. Because, that’s how a gorilla would fight, it is also capable of much louder taunts. So, yeah i believe a gorilla would kill the bear because it is an intellectual genius compared to the bear. And, it’s anatomy enables the gorilla to move faster, be more agile and able to grasp things a lot easier. But one good swipe from the bear and watch out!
Neurons* lmao
You’ve ignored two important factors.. gorillas have immense reach and opposable thumbs.
They are also incredibly fast, smart and ferocious! …I imagine that bears could also subscribe to those traits though.
But also they both have a chance to win both the gorilla and bear.
The Gorilla would win… here’s why – the Gorilla is an adaptive fight and will strategically plan to gain a Tactical advantage at the moment the Gorilla identified the Bear as a threat. The Gorilla will identify the mouth and massive feet / claws of the Bear, and the moment the Bear rises to stand on two feet, the Gorilla will then move to disable one of the legs and then will act swiftly to grab the snout of the Bear to separate the lower jaw – unhinging it from the upper jaw, thus preventing the Bear from being able to use its mouth to bit and with the Bear now being physically disabled and unable to to stand or run away, the Gorilla will then move to kill the Bear. While the Bear is certainly ferocious- it is not a strategic killer that can use adaptive tactics to gain a decisive win. The Bear can certainly kill and crush, but it only relies on its size and strength – biting & clawing to win… it doesn’t use strategies to gain a tactical advantage by adapting its fighting capability or style to create a disadvantage in a formidable opponent.
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Gorillas may be stronger than bears but strength isn’t the only factor in a fight. Obviously a weak person with a sharp knife can easily kill a strong person with a butter knife.
Also a weak person with great armor can beat a stronger person.
Bears have sharper teeth, claws, thicker skin, and weigh more so would probably win a fight even if gorillas are stronger.
Bears are probably weaker than thought of I saw the UFC Fighter Khabib wrestler a bear. Bear’s claws are not that sharp but sharper than a gorilla’s fingernails. Either could win but bears have a big advantage on weight, armor (thicker skin), sharper teeth, and claws.
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A grizzly bear does not have sharp claws. They are very Dull lile a Dogs claws. Most of the damage a bear would cause is from the impact of there swat. They can break the spine of a horse with one strike.
But I also believe if a Siverback gorilla was to grab the jaw of a bear it could completely rip it off. So it is tough. Have to take thumbs into consideration and also a silverback will use any tool at his disposal.
You can take weapons out of the equation because it is 2 animals in their natural behavior. A gorilla will pick up a 200lb rock and throw it at the bear if it had the chance which could injur it for sure.
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Here we go, again!!
I love mother-nature, and I love animals, much more than people.
I have heard people claim that a gorilla could grab a bear, in a chokehold, and crush their larynx…
Well, these people, apparently, are confusing a bear with a bison.
If you are a rancher, you cannot rope a bison around the neck, the way that you can a bull!!
Why??
Because bison, although very powerful and very athletic, and even faster than a horse, have a weak larynx.
It is estimated that grizzlies and polar bears can run somewhere between 37 mph and even as high as 50 mph…
If a gorilla were able, and it would be about a one-in-1 million opportunity, to get a bear in a chokehold; then, the bear, whom is incredibly fast and powerful, rather than die, would run at possibly 50 mph, into a 250 foot tall Douglas fir tree, and break every bone in the gorilla’s body!!
How in the hell is a gorilla going to break a hand, arm, or crush the larynx of a grizzly bear??
Again, I refer to this very bizarre obsession, for King Kong, and the fact that many people believe that homeo-sapiens are descendants of primates.
I get very tired of talking about this shit…
If you Google the top 10 strongest creatures on the planet, you will find the dung beetle, the rhino beetle, and the leaf-cutter ant, at the top of the list;
However, none of the alleged “experts“ ever mention a sea-lice.
If a sea-lice were the size of a human being, if they hit you, with an upper cut, they could literally knock you onto the top of the Empire State building, or beyond!!
The point being:
There are many kinds of strength, power and dominance!!
If a sun bear were the same size and weight as a gorilla, it would annihilate it, inside of 30 seconds.
As previously indicated, there are many different types of strength!!
I would say that a very large elephant and a very large bear could probably Carey or throw more weight than any other creature…
Furthermore, if they were to try to slap or punch you, it would be much more devastating than any primate!!
What about the pulling or carrying strength of an ox or a giraffe??
We can talk about strength, relevant to pushing or lifting; then, we can talk about dragging or pulling…
Pound for pound, the bear family is, by far, the most impressive land animal!!
A Blue Whale, has both size and their environment on their side. The oceans would be an advantage that could not be overcome. And they weigh 50 times the size of the largest grizzlies. They are the largest animal that earth has ever seen.
I’m currently having the “would you rather ” unending scenario conversion with my 11 & 14 year old son’s. I was pleased your website came up on my search. Thanks for covering the important boy stuff Tim
I agree with some not all. We still tend to forget that a silver back is more like us than we think. In other words it’s tactical in thinking and can change his attack.
Where as we look at the bears claws and bite
There teeth are about the same size standing a bear has two arms to swing a bite but losses his ability to change tactics while standing.
Silver back has 4 hands and from a standing position can change tactics with 4 hands and standing leaping ability. You mentioned a punch from a silver back….but fail to mention the crushing power of a silver back and I’m not jus talking the squeeze, but the ground and pound that a bear is not capable of….check the arms against the paws by 4 arms bite and strength. I’ve seen a silverback injure and damn near kill another silver. The tactic , grabbed the opponents arm drug him a few steps and be he could recover started with the ground and pound. Btw they do have the strength to crush a bears skull, chest cavity and torso. Jus yesterday there was a video put up on YouTube about a bear and lion fight. The bear clearly lost and part of his face was hanging. Nat Geo showed a video of a badger whipping a grizzlys ass. As small as they are you’d think not….but it’s because of his size he does.. But everybody is entitled to their own opinion though. A difference when you see it versus and opinionated dissertation
But not taking anything away from the bear
But study all animals and how their fight game has to change according to the opponent
One last question….have you ever seen a ape, gorilla, or monkey, that could not jump with a 4 handed attack body weight and a bite at the same time.
I can’t say I’ve ever seen a bear that could do that. Depending on situation a bear is however limited in his attacks. He don’t have but 1 paw to swing with if the ape has the other and 3 more hands to go and I’m bitting you
Jus food for thought
Another one lost in theory land , full of unplausable fairytales.
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Just saying… A gorilla would definitely beat grizzly because a grizzly is so slow, and non agile at all. The gorilla can spin to its back, which is a huge weak point and the bear would never be able to move its attacking end to face the gorilla. (yes I believe gorillas are smart enough to avoid deadly claws in life or death) and I also think its totally unfair to say “no improvised weapons allowed” because that is something the gorilla has in its perk tree, that the bear does not. So why would you not allow it to use all its power. A bear could never wield a huge club, while a gorilla would totally be able to and is smart enough to do. So why would you nerf it like that? If you see videos of bears fighting vs gorillas fighting its so obvious that gorillas are much more brutal and calculated and capable than a bear that just does the classic slash slash flop move.
Kramer,
No way in hell!!
Gorillas are more athletic; but, not stronger!!
Gorillas like to show off, per their intelligence!!
Bears are not show offs and don’t throw temper tantrums!!
If they did; then, you would also see another incredible attribute of the bear, which is that it has more adrenaline than any other animal on earth!!
Also, there are many different kinds of strength strength
demonstration:
There is lifting, dragging, pushing, carrying and hitting.
A grizzly or polar bear can decapitate a human being with one blow; so, it could probably also do the same thing to a gorilla!!
If a gorilla can lift 10x its body weight; I believe a grizzly or polar bear can too.
don’t believe everything you read, from Google searches!!
As I previously stated, google searches, do not have all of the answers… Some gorillas can approach almost 700 pounds… A relatively small polar bear, let’s say 1000 pounds, can hold its breath for almost 20 minutes, swim down to pretty deep depths, and not only mall a whale, but they have the strength to drag the damned thing onto the shoreline.
Sorry, pal, but a six or 700 pound gorilla would never be able to do that.
Let’s focus on two different bears, located in southeast Asia:
Pound per pound, the moon bear and the sun bear are much stronger than any ape!!
Also, and I find it very necessary to continually reemphasize this, the way that bears’ muscles, ligaments, tendons and bones are connected, are truly remarkable, and unlike anything to ever exist on this planet.
The fact that something that heavy can run somewhere between 45 and 50 mph, and I’ve seen someone explain that they clocked one going 48 mph, and they can easily run 40, with not even 100% effort… Regardless of how you compare them, they are much more impressive than any ape… It’s not even close…
You keep comparing people to chimpanzees and gorillas, etc.
We are human beings; not primates… The fact that an ape is much stronger than human beings is not even remarkable enough to make comment.
Give me a hypothetical fight series:
The winner gets to live; the others die!!
Let’s say they all weigh 500 lbs.
You would see that either the grizzly, polar, sun, or moon bears would have a hell of a brawl.
Probably the championship would be between the polar bear and the moon bear!!
The tiger,
Lion, gorilla, alligator, crocodile, elephant and rino would have already died!!
I’ve seen footage of fights between moose and grizzly, and what happens to the moose renders my opinion that a huge grizzly or huge polar bear, could even kill an elephant… I would almost guarantee it!!
Eventually, it would wear it out and, once the elephant fell to the ground, it would be completely defenseless.
It would take a while; but the bear would win… Summary: bears are not only the greatest Apex, terrestrial predator; but, the baddest motherfuckers on the planet!!
PERIOD!!
I’m not sure what predicated all of the gorilla hero worship? Perhaps, “King Kong” has something to do with it; but again, it would be very sad indeed, to watch a grizzly rip a gorilla to shreds and break every bone in its body!!
The comparison is not right.
Why? Because Gorilla is much smarter than a Bear. Also it has more speed and flexibility. Yes if they fight in front side in a flat surface, Gorilla has disadvantages , but in other places, they can use the environment as a weapon for their fight.
But in the nature, the main thing is the domain and also the luck! The fight really depends on how they start the fighting , and why! I have seen a normal roaster won a fight vs Fighter roaster easily, because he was in his domain.
In my personal opinion the gorilla would win. The gorilla has much more strength and the opposaable thumbs and agility will out move the grizzly. The gorilla has the ability to defend itself with its arrms and has a bite force that can crush the grizzlies skull. the gorilla would win by manauvering untlk the bear is tired then with a skull crushing bite it could end it with the gorilla on top. no cometition. the bear isn’t as good as y’all keep saying it is.
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