Can 100 people actually overcome a gorilla? | EUROtoday

On May 4, 2025

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DIt is a couple of days, A passionate debate ignites social networks: “Could a gorilla defeat A hundred humans in a bare hand fight? “Some communicate of the beast as a colossus of invincible flesh: two meters excessive, 200 kilos of muscular tissues, sharp canines like machetes, a jaw that grinds stronger than a vice, a pressure able to spring just like the storm. The combat for man appears misplaced prematurely.

The others dream of collective technique: 100 united our bodies, revolving across the animal, exhausting it slowly, crafty, surrounding, ending up placing it on the bottom. Why will we dream of difficult a gorilla? This apparently trivial debate convenes a number of deep layers of our widespread representations, between energy fantasies, relationship to nature, and cultural development of the virile hero.

The fantasy of a macho domination

The gorilla embodies a primordial pressure, pre-human, tough to regulate. He is the wild beast, the opposite of the civilized man, each shut cousin (we share 98 % of our DNA) and creature held from a distance, perceived as bestial, fierce, unpredictable. To face it’s to measure your self at our origins, or not less than what to have been exceeded by changing into human. His gigantism fascinates as a lot as he worries.

Think of King Kongprobably the most well-known big gorilla within the cinema: its steps resonate over lengthy distances, by shaking the bottom, an indication of the intrusion of the monster into our universe.

“We can feel the fantasy of beating or killing a gorilla, because it is the largest of the primates, by its size and its strength. But the gorilla presented in the combat simulation video Inspires more from King Kong than reality, even if it is as smaller than King Kong, “observes Shelly Masi, primatologist and the one French gorilla specialist. “We show him standing, and he is indeed greater than a man, but it is not his natural posture. In reality, the gorilla walks on all fours. »»

Chimpanzees vs gorillas

Some studies suggest that gorillas would form rather peaceful societies, while chimpanzees would be more inclined to organized violence. Reality, as often, is more nuanced. The chimpanzees observed by Jane Goodallin particular, were seen leading real raids: they attacked and killed members of neighboring groups. But not all the groups are going to war.

As for gorillas, their apparent placidity masks another form of tension. “The chimpanzees defend their territory, and therefore, they make, in quotes, the war to neighboring communities who try to encroach on their space. Gorillas are not more pacifists. They defend their family, ”explains Shelly Masi, lecturer at the National Museum of Natural History.

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Several groups share the same forest area, but when they meet, clashes are possible. A lonely male or from another group can seek to kill a small or seize a female. The large male, silver back, undisputed chief, then fights to protect his own. But overall, the charges are most often bluffs: force demonstrations intended to intimidate. “They load from afar, break branches, trample the vegetation, multiply noises,” explains Shelly Masi. “Everything is finished to impress, to inform the opposite: I’m the strongest, no have to compete. And that’s extra typically sufficient.

Deadly video games between previous males exist. But they’re uncommon. “In twenty-six years of follow-up of four groups of western gorillas, we have only identified two, perhaps three cases of violent deaths linked to fights between fellows. The physical attack is still avoided as much as possible, ”says Shelly Masi.

From a point of view of evolution, union is strength

The virile image of the gorilla, beefy and barracks, nourishes The fantasy of a heroic fight : killing him would be a way of experiencing himself, of testing his own strength. But would the gorilla only accept to fight against a hundred men? Nothing is less certain.

Shelly Masi shares an anecdote. “When I used to be with the Bayaka within the forest, excellent trackers, I typically requested them: If there was a combat between a gorilla and a chimpanzee, who would win? Their response has lengthy stunned him. “They always said to me: Chimpanzees. Because they use tools. They take a stick and strike. »»

In 2019, an astonishing scene was observed in Gabon: chimpanzees organized to kill gorillas. The attackers, mainly males, attacked during a patrol at the limits of their territory. With his silver back, first tried to defend his female and his little, but quickly surrounded, he ended up retreating, overwhelmed by the number. The chimpanzees succeeded during the attack on killing a gullon.

Shelly Masi, who saw the videos, learn from it. “The chimpanzees won because they cooperate. The silver back, however powerful but surrounded, could not stand in the face of numerical superiority. He fled, discouraged. From the point of view of evolution, union is strength, cooperate and collaborate to reach a goal are typical of man. So what would a gorilla Faced with a hundred men? Probably nothing. He would not fight.

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Answer

Prove that he’s the perfect when he shaves the forest

Why this obsession to need to defeat the beast? For Shelly Masi, it’s the previous fantasy of man’s supremacy on the animal. “He always wants to prove that he is the best, that he surpasses other species. As he cannot overcome alone, he summons a hundred men. One hundred, to be sure to win. The man, even in excess, wants to ensure his victory. Domination must be total, even in the imagination. However, he does not need a virtual ring to prove his power: he already shaves the forests, destroys the habitats, pushes the great apes towards extinction. This debate reveals in hollow a relationship to the living based on mastery, cunning and collective force. “I am less strong, but more intelligent,” notes Loïc Bollache, professor of ecology at Bourgogne-Franche-Comté University. Nothing new, especially on the part of Internet users, mostly male, quick to demonstrate a childish virility under the cover of play. ” It is time to place your self on web page guys. It seems that it’s exactly ladies who, in current many years, have widened the spectrum of understanding of the nice apes. Where the male approaches of the XX^e Century favored hierarchy, competitors and domination, ladies ladies have paid new consideration to social relations, empathy, cooperation and parenting. When many males tracked up legal guidelines of domination, they revealed the richness and variety of animal societies. Proof that science doesn’t punish with punches, however within the open -mindedness.

https://www.lepoint.fr/societe/cent-humains-peuvent-ils-vraiment-venir-a-bout-d-un-gorille-04-05-2025-2588795_23.php