Image Credits: Lex Fridman

Ah, the question of all questions… Gorilla vs. lion vs. bear – who would win in a fight, in a life-or-death scenario? Well, now you get to hear Professor John Danaher‘s view on this very important topic.

He discussed it in the real “danaheresque” fashion in a recent Lex Fridman podcast episode:

There are ways to look at this and make this already interesting question a lot more interesting. First, we’ve seen that intuitions aren’t to be trusted, so what is to be trusted here?

Well, I’ve always believed that there are 3 general elements that determine the level of success or failure that anyone will experience in combat.
The first is: what are your skills? The second: what are your physical and mental attributes? And the third, which is your experience in using those skills and attributes in real-world scenarios.

During the course of discussion, Danaher and Fridman narrow it down to the gorilla and lion as the top contenders.
Fridman argues that the gorilla is the more intelligent animal, and so it could use weapons even – such as a rock… So wouldn’t a gorilla be the clear winner?

Danaher disagrees:

Intelligence is a huge asset; humanity is the proof that it is the most important asset… But it takes time in order to work its magic. It took humans 200.000 years to go from the bottom of the food chain to the top of the food chain.
And gorillas have a lot of work to do until they get to that level.

He goes on further to explain why the lion would, obviously, be the winner in this match:

First of, there are many documented incidents of leopards killing gorillas. It was observed by the group of people who specialize in observing gorillas during a 12-year period. They regularly found gorilla toes in leopard defecation.

Apparently, the leopards have figured out that there is a femoral artery in gorillas legs… And from doing the move, which sounds like a Berimbolo, they would spin under gorillas, biting the femoral artery; then retreating and watching them bleed out, dying, and eating them.

Now, a leopard is no match for a lion. It cannot engage with the lion on anything in equal terms…

What I’m saying is that a fact that a leopard does so well even against full-grown male gorillas, it should make you rather suspicious about the gorilla’s ability to fight a lion.

Watch the full 40-minute discussion on the video below: