Silverback Gorilla vs. Lion

In regards to strength, lions have much greater skeletal muscle mass proportionally. To demonstrate a 131kg lioness had greater muscle mass than a 172 kg silverback gorilla. Lions also have more muscled forelimbs compared to hind limbs than gorillas as well. More factors play into strength of course, but considering the lion's adaptations for wrestling it's fair to say it probably has the significant advantage.

The lion probably is quite a bit more powerful. A lion's muscle fibers do nearly three times the work of those of a human in the same amount of time.

Sources: Davis, D. D. 1962. Allometric relationships in lions vs. domestic cats. Zihlman et al. 2011. Functional Anatomy and Adaptation of Male Gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) With Comparison to Male Orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) Kohn et al. 2013 Lion (Panthera leo) and caracal (Caracal caracal) type IIx single muscle fibre force and power exceed that of trained humans

btw, people went really deep into this subject here if you want to look http://carnivoraforum.com/topic/9748319/1

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