Biology: human strength vs chimpanzee
Self-tutoring about strength among animals: the tutor looks into a strength comparison between chimpanzees and humans.
I’ve heard, numerous times, that chimpanzees are stronger than humans. “Small wonder,” I thought. “In our society, humans are sedentary, whereas chimpanzees are wild animals whose entire life is exercise of one form or another.”
Chimpanzees are not far from human size: females might typically be 100 pounds, males 120, but an individual can be much larger. Humans, in our society (not all, of course, but many) typically carry a significant portion of body fat. Therefore, if humans were lean creatures living in nature, they might well be very similar, in size, to chimpanzees.
One article I’ve read implies that muscle is composed of two types of fibers – slow-twitch and fast. Slow-twitch is more adapted for endurance, like walking all day, while fast-twitch delivers more power.
The article suggests that chimpanzee muscle is 1/3 slow-twitch, 2/3 fast-twitch. Human muscle, on the other hand, is 7/10 slow-twitch, 3/10 fast-twitch. The suggestion is that humans are better adapted for long-term, low-intensity activity, while chimpanzees are better suited to activities that require bursts of power, sporadically.
Such a concept makes sense to me, since agriculture typically involves long-term, low-intensity activities. Migration does as well, and we know humans migrated to all parts of the world. Strength contests are normally about power, but humans’ success has come from discovering ways to acquire food using less strength.
Source:
Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.