(KSWB) – It's a question that has plagued humankind since the dawn of about three or four weeks ago: Who would win in a fight between 100 men and a single gorilla?
Users on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and other platforms have been theorizing about the outcome of such a fight after the question resurfaced on social media in April 2025. (A debate also erupted around the same topic in 2020, and reportedly again in 2022.) Some feel humans would see an instant defeat, while others say it could be an easy win for mankind.
Popular online personalities, celebrities and even politicians have since weighed in.
But the debates will likely never be resolved, of course, as there is no way to get the true answer without an actual matchup. Several experts, however, have been happy to give their thoughts.
Tara Stoinski, the president, CEO and chief scientific officer for the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, told several news outlets that despite a gorilla's physical advantages, humans would most likely win in the end.
“The male gorilla comes in with all of his size and strength, 400 pounds of pure muscle, incredible jaw strength, just a very intimidating demeanor,” Stoinski told Yahoo! News. “I think, though, that in this case, it’s a numbers game. With 100 men coming after one gorilla, they just have a lot of strategies that they could use to wear the gorilla down, to tire them out. They can coordinate their behavior; they can take turns.”
“He’d probably take out a number of humans in the fight; they wouldn’t go unscathed,” Stoinski added. “I think that the numbers just work in the human’s favor.”
Shannon McFarlin, a professor of anthropology at George Washington University and the senior science director at the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, told ABC News pretty much the same thing.
“I think we’d be tempted at first to say the gorilla would win,” McFarlin said, adding that a silverback, in particular, would “bring a lot of power to that fight.”
“I think it would really come down to the sheer numbers here. Don’t get me wrong, I think there would be some very unlucky humans in this fight. But if the humans were being strategic, maybe taking turns or approaching the gorilla in ways … I think, unfortunately, over time, the gorilla would get pretty tired, and ultimate the humans would win out in that fight.”
But while the question is indeed fun to debate, the experts — and many other animal lovers — say we should really be focusing on gorilla conservation.
"Gorillas are an incredible and endangered species that are facing threats in their home range," Matt McKim, the director of animal care at the Sacramento Zoo, told Nexstar's KSWB. "There are a lot of people working within zoos, within conservation organizations to ensure that gorillas and humans can coexist rather than deciding who would win in a fight."
McKim said he'd rather any human/gorilla altercations be avoided altogether, and instead recommended anyone interested to visit GorillaDoctor.org to learn more about conservation efforts.
Zookeeper and conservationist Robert Irwin, the son of the late Steve Irwin, shared similar sentiments on TikTok.
“How many people does it take to save gorillas? That’s the question we should be asking,” he said. “Because there’s not many of them left.”
