‘100 men vs gorilla’: Wildlife expert claims 30-40 men could ‘easily’ defeat silverback gorilla

“I just remembered I have an actual degree specifically in monkeys and am uniquely qualified to address the 100 men vs one gorilla discourse,” he wrote on X.

“Most people drastically overestimate the size, strength, intelligence, endurance, and aggressiveness [of a silverback gorilla],” Kaleb said. “On average, a male silverback weighs in at around 300-400 pounds (largest ever almost 600). Still massive, and is probably around four to five times stronger than the average man who works out, so we are definitely taking casualties. But this isn’t enough to just rip apart every man instantaneously before a couple guys on each limb are able to restrain him,” he wrote.

He also said that while gorillas are incredibly strong, their stamina doesn’t match up to human endurance. “He’d likely tire out fairly quickly relative to humans, who have kinda maxed out our cardio endurance in exchange for the strength other apes have retained,” Kaleb said, adding, “An exhausted gorilla would struggle to fight like seven guys, let alone dozens.”

Kaleb estimated that “30-40 men would probably be enough to take on the average silverback,” assuming the gorilla doesn’t flee, which would be its natural instinct in the wild, and has a “counter-instinctual bloodlust rather than fleeing from a large group of aggressors like any wild animal.”

See here:

Just remembered I have an actual degree specifically in monkeys and am uniquely qualified to address the 100 men vs 1 gorilla discourse

— Kaleb (@cowboyKal3b) April 28, 2025

Earlier, Tesla CEO Elon Musk had responded to a joke from YouTuber MrBeast, who pitched the idea of turning the hypothetical showdown into a video, which followed a backlash from PETA.