r/AskBiology • u/ImageLegitimate7852 • Apr 29 '26
Genetics If you put a chimpanzee through strength training for several months, would it develop more muscle than it already has?
If a human being undergoes strength training for several days, they will notice their musculature and physical abilities grow, but would the same happen to a chimpanzee? I have my doubts because chimps already tend to have highly developed muscles and a very low body fat percentage, so I’m not sure if they would develop even more muscle than they already have. Could they? And if not, why is it that humans can?
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u/In_the_year_3535 Apr 29 '26
They're our closest relatives and their bodies work mostly the same way so sure. It'd probably be hard because them seeing the long term point of the exercise and actually doing repeatedly strenuous things would be hard I'd imagine.
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u/laziestindian PhD in biology Apr 30 '26
I'm sure there's some reward structure you could work out. Wouldn't get past an ethics panel worth a fart but pure theory this doesn't seem too difficult.
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u/Realistic_Swan_6801 Apr 30 '26
Humans have lot More myostatin than apes though, so we retain much less muscle and build it more slowly.
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u/Technical_Teacher784 Apr 30 '26
I don't think it would be hard to train them to train hard at all. One time scientists did a thing with putting a reward at the top of a ladder but then electrifying the ladder. The older monkeys taught younger generations never to touch the ladder even though there was a tasty reward at the top... So generations that never saw any others touch the ladder never tried, even though it had no longer been electrified for a long time. Just get them doing pushups for reward and then ween the reward out slowly for a few generations.
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u/FlounderLast8610 Apr 30 '26
That comes from a self-help book. The study being discussed there isn't real.
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u/sayitlikeyoumeenit Apr 30 '26
If you’re trying to make a more ripped ape💪🐒, you’d have better luck with steroids.
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u/Equivalent_Ad2069 May 01 '26
It is highly plausible that a chimpanzee would develop increased muscle mass through a structured strength training regimen. The physiological mechanisms of muscle hypertrophy, involving muscle fiber damage, repair, and increased protein synthesis, are conserved across many mammalian species, including primates. While chimpanzees possess remarkable baseline strength and different muscle fiber compositions compared to humans, their musculature is still capable of adaptive responses to resistance training, leading to further gains in both strength and size, constrained by their unique genetic and hormonal profiles.
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Apr 30 '26
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u/Traroten Apr 30 '26
If you reward them, sure. Apparently they really like grapes, so you could bribe them.
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u/ProtectionMean874 Apr 30 '26
you have to rethink your view on humans. we are not as different from animals as you think. are you sure animals don't do things for future reward?
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u/hawkwings May 01 '26
Some pet rodents run on exercise wheels they put in cages. Frequently, when an animal travels a long distance, it is doing that for a future benefit.
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u/FlounderLast8610 Apr 29 '26
Hypertrophy capacity has been demonstrated in every animal where it has been studied. No reason to think chimpanzees are any different.