How Strong Is a Chimpanzee?

“After last week’s chimpanzee attack in Connecticut, in which an animal named Travis tore off the face of a middle-aged woman, primate experts interviewed by the media repeated an old statistic: Chimpanzees are five to eight times stronger than people. The literature—or at least 19^th-century literature—concurs: Edgar Allan Poe’s fictional orangutan was able to “hurl bodies and pull off scalps”. Edgar Rice Burroughs’ fictional anthropoid apes were likewise “possessed of remarkable strength”. Even Jules Verne’s gentle ape, Jupiter, had the muscle to drag a stuck wagon from the mire.”    But what’s the truth?     Full Story