The internet has been gripped by perhaps the most vexing hypothetical philosophical quandary of our time: Can 100 men beat up a gorilla?
No one said these were the best of times. While I recently wrote about the question from the perspective of animal and primate experts, we should probably explore an even more fundamental question at the heart of the debate: Do gorillas even have a history of attacking humans?
Futurism dug into that question at the heart of the debate and found little evidence to suggest that gorillas have ever actually killed a human, or any other animal for that matter. That’s not to say that no gorilla has ever killed a person in all of history; it’s just never been documented if it has.
‘100 Guys Vs Gorilla’ Debate Spurs Fundamental Question: Has A Gorilla Ever Killed A Human?
Gorillas are built like tanks made of flesh and fur, giving them the appearance of a creature that is just begging to be challenged to a duel. Yet, despite centuries of human and gorilla interactions, there isn’t a single confirmed case of a relative killing a human in the wild or captivity.
Speaking of gorillas in captivity, Futurism’s Noor Al-Sibai says that the only two known gorilla attacks on record were from a pair of gorillas in zoos. One was in 2007 when Bokito, a Dutch zoo gorilla, pulled a King Kong by escaping his enclosure and injuring a woman who visited him often.
In 2020, a gorilla in Madrid sent a zookeeper to the hospital with broken arms and a head injury. A couple of gorilla-induced injuries, but no deaths. As for wild gorillas, they are, again, innocent, as far as we are aware.
Humans, on the other hand, have been slaughtering gorillas left and right for centuries for a variety of stupid and horrific reasons, like poaching, habitat destruction, and just good old-fashioned arrogance.
We’ve done it so often that now they’re an endangered species. Humans are absolutely the aggressors in this relationship, and it will likely remain that way, considering that we have collectively spent the past few weeks debating the best strategies for attacking them.
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