They are born predators and, as mentioned above, will take on prey weighing up to 1,000 pounds. Meanwhile, lions are not known for their intelligence, but they do know how to hunt. They are gentle, docile creatures by nature who rarely become aggressive unless attempting to protect their troop or fend off other gorillas. Of course, gorillas are not used to fighting large predatory animals. In a fight with a lion, it is possible a gorilla would use some object within its environment as a weapon against the lion. Gorillas are highly intelligent creatures capable of using tools. So, in the bite force category, gorillas have an advantage, though it’s likely a lion could do more damage since their teeth are sharper. That said, their teeth are sharper than gorillas’ teeth and designed for ripping apart flesh, bone, and muscle. Lions, surprisingly, have a much weaker bite force of around 650 pounds per square inch. They use their incredibly strong jaws and teeth to rip apart trees and chew tough plant materials. Gorillas have one of the strongest bite forces in the animal kingdom at around 1,300 pounds per square inch. So, in terms of senses, lions have the advantage over gorillas. What’s more, lions can smell prey that’s nearly 2 miles away, allowing them to find their next victim quickly and efficiently. Meanwhile, lions have catlike senses–they can see incredibly well both during the day and at night. They do have a better sense of smell than humans do, so they might be able to pick up on the scent of an approaching lion. They can see and hear about as well as the average human, no better. Gorillas are closely related to humans as such, their senses are very similar to human senses. So, in this category, lions have a definite advantage. They can run as fast as 35 to 50 miles per hour in an all-out sprint, which would allow them to easily catch up and overtake an escaping gorilla. They move most quickly when knuckle walking, or using both their arms and legs to get around. Gorillas tend to move somewhat slowly, though they can run up to 25 miles per hour if necessary. Though they have very differently-shaped bodies, when it comes to size, gorillas and lions are pretty evenly matched. They are typically 5 to 6 feet long (though some can grow up to 8 feet long) and weigh as much as 500 to 550 pounds. SizeĪdult male gorillas can grow quite large–5 ½ to 6 feet tall, with an arm span of up to 8 feet, and weighing as much as 400 to 500 pounds. So, when it comes to strength, the gorillas may have a slight advantage, though lions and gorillas are fairly evenly matched. This would even the odds a little bit in this category. Though they are not considered to have as much brute strength as gorillas, lions are no strangers when it comes to hunting large prey. They are used to hunting and have been known to take down prey animals weighing as much as 1,000 pounds. They are also capable of throwing with a force of nearly 1,000 pounds–enough to crush a human skull. That said, it is theoretically possible that they could lift as much as 10 times their own weight–4,000 pounds or more. Gorillas are thought to be around 6 times as strong as humans and have been measured lifting up to 1,800 pounds of weight. Silverback gorillas, the dominant males, are especially strong. The gorilla is surprisingly strong for an animal that spends most of its time foraging for plants to eat. In this section, we’ll see how lions and gorillas stack up against each other in several specific categories. Video can’t be loaded because JavaScript is disabled: Male Silverback Gorilla Vs Lion Who Would Win? ()

Full size silverback gorilla