• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • WordPress
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
Science Update

Science Update

Sharing Science | Satisfying Curiosity | Debunking BS

  • Spotlights
  • Reality Check
  • Why Is It?
  • Radio Archives
  • Sciup @ School
Home » Radio Archive » Daily Show » Chimpanzee Strength

Chimpanzee Strength

July 5, 2017
https://podcast.scienceupdate.com/170705_sciup_chimp.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window

Robert Moran CC BY-2.0, via flickr700
Chimpanzee with baby. (Robert Moran CC BY-2.0, via flickr)

BOB HIRSHON (host):

The truth about chimpanzee super-strength. I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

Scientists once thought that chimpanzees were several times stronger than humans. But pound for pound, chimps are about one and a half times stronger— impressive, but not extraordinary. In fact, University of Arizona anthropological biologist Matthew O’Neil and his colleagues report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that chimp strength is similar to that of other apes and many mammals.

MATTHEW O’NEIL (University of Arizona):

I don’t think it’s so much that chimpanzees are exceptional in terms of the relative force and power that they can generate, but instead humans seem to be the real outliers in terms of their mass-specific muscle performance.

HIRSHON:

He says humans have a much higher concentration of slow-twitch muscle fiber—  muscle adapted for endurance— rather than powerful fast-twitch muscle needed by our tree climbing cousins. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.

Story by Bob Hirshon

Category: Daily Show, Station DownloadTag: Animal Behavior
Previous Post:Roman Concrete
Next Post:Running Injury Acoustics

Sidebar

Radio Program Archives

Want to learn more about the brain? The environment? Here you can browse the topics that come up regularly on Science Update.

Search the Archives

Categories

  • Daily Show
  • Station Download
  • Weekly Show

Find By Tag

  • 2020
  • Acoustics & Sound
  • Aging
  • Animal Behavior
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Astronomy & Space
  • Biology
  • Brain Science
  • Bugs
  • Chemistry
  • Children & Families
  • cicadas
  • Climate & Weather
  • Communications
  • Computer Science
  • Economics & Business
  • Education
  • Energy
  • Engineering & Technology
  • Environment & Conservation
  • Genetics & Evolution
  • Geology
  • Marine Science
  • Materials Science
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine & Health
  • Microbiology
  • Nanotechnology
  • Nutrition & Food Science
  • Paleontology & Dinosaurs
  • Physics
  • Plants & Agriculture
  • Political Science
  • Reality Check
  • Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • Sports & Fitness
  • spotlight
  • Spotlight Bugs
  • Terrorism & War
  • Why Is It? Questions
  • Wildlife
  • Year in Review

Find By Date

Science Update
  • About Science Update
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

Mayan Honeybee hives
House sparrow wearing top hat rides aboard a red fireworks rocket

Copyright © 2023 · Springtail Media LLC · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Pongos