Why do humans lose muscle mass as they age but silverback gorillas stay hench AF

It's their diet. If you ate 40+ lb of leaves, bananas, and caterpillars a day then you could also be buff into your old age

For one thing, gorillas don't live to old age in the same way humans do. A jungle tribe of human beings would all be fit, because people living in the jungle would die as soon as they started to physically decline. Conversely, if you gave a gorilla all the life extending medical care that humans get, it would eventually get old and withered.

So how do you explain gorillas in zoos

Do you have actual evidence that gorillas in zoos don't lose muscle mass as they age?

Ummmmm ever heard of Deno? They're 80 something and still allegedly benching 500lbs.

No, but this is letsrun, so I can make assertions without backing them up with facts.

gorillas be on jungle roids

Guerillas are African, therefore they dope. The Rekbot will soon be here arguing that doping doesn't work on silverback guerillas.

I'm an old timer (64), former bodybuilder back in the 1980s, and I'm losing muscle mass like there's no tomorrow. 😯 But I've never heard of anything like that - you cats got a study link on this? 🤔

Adult male gorillas eat up to 45lbs of food per day. Even though it’s all plant based that’s a heck of a lot of protein and calories to maintain a pretty impressive size. Ever noticed that most old people tend to eat less and less as they age? I’ve definitely noticed this with a lot of my older relatives who eat like a sparrow and get more and more withered. Not to mention as you age it’s naturally harder to maintain muscle mass so it’s a double whammy for muscle loss.

Climbing around naked all the time, surrounded by hotties does wonders for their T levels.

Gorillas can pack that much muscle on such a protein-deficient diet because their guts can convert cellulose into protein, which humans guts simply discard.

To OP’s question though, gorillas like most animals do experience aging-induced sarcopenia.

seed oils, probably

This guy was the oldest known male gorilla when he died. Still looks pretty ripped but in other photos you can see his skin has started to sag a bit.

fox5atlanta.com

Zoo Atlanta celebrates birthday of oldest living male gorilla

@FOX5Atlanta

HAPPY BIRTHDAY 🎂 Zoo Atlanta's Ozzie, the world’s oldest living male gorilla and the oldest male gorilla on record, turned 60 years old on Sunday. He enjoyed an ice cake filled with frozen fruit.

Open link

Meat! It's all the raw meat they eat!

Not me, at 64, I eat a lot every day - healthy food - but a lot 😏 I'm hungry all the time but I'm also working out every day altering cardio days & weight lifting days.

Yes, definitely, it's harder to maintain muscle mass as you age. I don't look anything like I did back in the 1980s when I was competing in bodybuilding.

The main reason for this is age-related declining hormones - particularly testosterone for men. Testosterone is the catalyst for protein synthesis and tissue growth & repair.

Is it true that they don't have to compete for females? Isn't it the big man on campus that controls most of the females?

I saw video once where a male gorilla smashed like 3 females in one day! 😯 I think in the next life I want to come back as a male gorilla. 😏

Gorillas eat a healthy diet - for gorillas.

Humans can be buff in old age too, but they have evolved to survive the degredation of their bodies much better than gorillas. Before the industrial age most humans, including old ones, were much fitter than the average adult today. A need to exercise or maintain fitness only came about when society and technology allowed some humans outside the elite to become unfit without it.

Gorillas in zoos age and lose muscle. Have you ever looked at former pro bodybuilders like Ronnie Coleman, Dorian Yates, Lee Haney, Arnold, Phil Heath, Jay Cutler?
they're all still huge muscular men now in their late 40s to 70s, but they're just smaller versions of what they were in their prime