“Our work is the first detailed study of the biology and mechanics of chimpanzee muscle tissue,” O'Neill told Gizmodo. read more
They say that a big reason chimps can lift heavier things than we can, is that they have less control over how much muscle they use each time they lift. Humans have a lot more fine motor control than chimps: we can do things like play a guitar, paint teeny tiny lines or thread a needle. read more
Conversely, since chimps have fewer motor neurons, each neuron triggers a higher number of muscle fibers. So using a muscle becomes more of an all-or-nothing proposition for chimps. As a result, chimps often end up using more muscle than they need. "[A]nd that is the reason apes seem so strong relative to humans," Walker writes. Our finely-tuned motor system makes a wide variety of human tasks possible. read more