How strong is a Silverback Gorilla? -Gorilla tracking safaris in Uganda and Rwanda
How strong is a silverback gorilla? – Gorillas are fascinating creatures that everyone gets thrilled on seeing them face to face. These primates are the largest and strongest among all primates. They have many things that are closely similar to those of humans and have been concluded to share 98% DNA with human beings. They live in forested areas and as lowland Gorillas can live in captivity, mountain Gorillas can’t. They only live in their natural habitat which is the forested slopes of highlands. Gorilla strength is determined in many things including their fights, their weight and their size among other things.
Gorillas live in groups and each group is led by one strongest silverback. These are mature male mountain Gorillas whose fur at the back turns to silver to show maturity. Among other responsibilities, silverback Gorillas protects its members. Silverback strength is determined from the fight engaged in with other silver backs to prove that they can lead the group in the forest. Silverback Gorilla strength is seen from their strong bites; they have sharp and strong teeth and their bites are far stronger than those of a lions. The bite of a silverback Gorilla goes up to 1,300pounds per square.
Comparing human strength to silverback gorilla strength, a silver back Gorilla can lift up to 815kg of dead weight while a well-trained human being can lift a maximum of 410kg according to the Guinness Book of Records. Silver back Gorillas have been seen several times carrying out activities that require about 10 times more strength for humans to do the same.
Silverback Gorillas are great fighters and even the strongest wrestler can lose the fight to this strong primate. Fights between each other are very thunderous and cause a lot of injuries and can lead to deaths. That is Gorilla to Gorilla fight, so imagine if it is Gorilla-human being fight. There are several reasons why you would avoid a fight with a Gorilla; they have a thicker body and scull and this would therefore require a lot of energy to hurt it, their hand are longer than their legs and these hands give much support to the rest of the body weight, this is an indication that the arms are very strong. Silverback strength can also be determined from the weight of the punch they throw; it weighs a force of about 450kg.
There is a big difference between the weights of male gorillas and female Gorillas. Males can weigh 374 pounds–484 pounds and females can weigh 160 pounds – 215 pounds. Regardless of this heavy weight of the silverbacks, they are capable of climbing and swinging around trees in the forest. Silverback Gorilla strength is also expressed in the ability it has in crushing a crocodile’s skull.