Who would win in a fight between 100 men and one gorilla? The internet has been taking bets and debating all week, but we’ve asked an expert to weigh in.
The hypothetical, first posed on X, has spawned into a full-blown discussion (and various memes) across several social media platforms over the last few days.
Some have taken the time to carefully consider the question and provide a thoughtful response, while others are having more fun reacting to the random train of thought and the memes inspired by the hypothetical.
Now that the question is top of mind, you might be wondering who could and would win this fight? The answer may (or may not) surprise you.
Tara Stoinski, president and chief scientific officer of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, told USA TODAY in an interview on April 30 that “the numbers game really works in favor of the people.”
“[I think] in terms of kind of being able to prolong a battle that could eventually wear a gorilla out, and our, you know, our ability to really cooperate and coordinate, I think those two elements kind of work against a gorilla’s favor,” Stoinski said.
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Why would 100 men likely defeat 1 gorilla in a tussle?
Stoinski, who has studied gorillas for over 20 years, says that while the primates are “very strong,” their size and strength has been a “little overestimated” over the course of the debate.
“I’ve seen in some places, ‘Oh, they’re 25 times stronger than a human being.’ I’ve just seen these numbers that I don’t know if they’re based in reality,” Stoinski said. “So, I do wonder, a little bit, if there’s been some over exaggeration of the size and strength of gorillas, but that is not to dismiss the fact that they are very strong.”
What benefits the group of people, in this scenario, “is the numbers piece of it” because they can take turns, coordinate an attack and attack on multiple fronts, Stoinski said.
“So, you have a gorilla that’s fighting off people in the front, but you can have people attacking them from the back. They can take turns, so their endurance is going to be a lot longer than a single gorilla who might be fighting for hours.”
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Kaleb Judd, a wildlife biologist, came to the same conclusion on April 27, detailing in an X thread the reasons why man would reign supreme.
“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,” Kaleb wrote. “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.”
Gorillas are really ‘gentle giants’
Stoinski did not explicitly comment on what a fair fight between the two species would look like, instead pointing to the “fascination” brought on by the hypothetical in the first place.
“Is it 10 men? Is it 20 men? Like, at what point might the gorilla win? What’s interesting to me is our continued fascination with gorillas,” Stoinski said. “They’ve loomed large in our mythology and our movies, King Kong fighting Godzilla.”
But even more interesting than that is that gorillas are often portrayed as aggressive and violent beings in media, when they’re really just “gentle giants,” according to Stoinski.
“This myth that’s kind of been perpetuated about them as being so aggressive is actually not their personality. They can be and they will be if they need to defend themselves or their family,” Stoinski said. “But, more often than not, a male gorilla has, you know, little kids running around and using him as a jungle gym and he is the center point of his family.”
The “real fight,” according to Stoinski, is the fight for their survival. Many gorilla species and subspecies are currently critically endangered due to habitat destruction caused by deforestation, mining activities, and agricultural expansion, according to Earth.org.
How did the 100 men vs 1 gorilla debate begin?
The exact origin of this hypothetical (and others like it) is not immediately clear.
But the earliest reference of this both specific and general inquiry dates back to a 2020 Reddit post, where a user posed the same question in the r/whowouldwin subreddit, a forum home to random hypothetical discussions on a variety of topics.
In the original post, unlike the current debate, the user set the scene and provided some constraints. Users across Facebook, TikTok and Reddit were sharing their thoughts and hot takes about who would win as of April 28.
While most debates, especially online, aren’t so clear-cut, the majority agrees that even the most skilled men are no match for a gorilla. But some think that the 100 men in question could defeat a gorilla, with enough dedication.
Who’s participated in the discussion?
From YouTube personality MrBeast to beauty and lifestyle influencer James Charles, a lot of people (even the non-famous) ones have added their two cents.
The spirited debate has died down a smidge since the initial post with the hypothetical went viral on April 24. Although conversations are settling, there will likely be a couple more folks who make their opinions known.
