Recently, there has been a heated but interesting argument on the internet. Participants have been trying to determine whether a hundred dedicated men can fight an adult silverback gorilla. Regardless of your stance, one thing is clear – animals love and can fight. The discussion discusses 100 men knowing full well that one can’t take on a gorilla.
As the gorilla vs 100 men argument continues, let’s look at other animals that can fight. Whether for territory, food, or survival, we examine animals that don’t shy away from using brute strength, sharp weapons, and clever tactics to win physical battles.
Why Do Animals Fight?
Animals fight primarily for survival. However, they can battle for mating rights, territory control, and dominance/hierarchy. The cost of combat is usually injuries, which could lead to infections and sometimes death. Interestingly, many animals have ritualized fighting behaviors, with the goal of intimidating, not killing.
Elephants
Being the biggest land mammals, elephants are generally gentle giants. However, that should not be confused with weakness, as they can fight until one dies. Despite looking slow-paced, elephants, especially the males, are fierce fighters. They are more aggressive during musth, a period when their testosterone is heightened.
Elephants mostly fight for territory. Bulls compete for dominance or the right to mate. They usually engage in pushing contests, tusk-to-tusk combat, and charging duels, which can last for hours.
The fights often result in serious injuries. Also, considering their massive sizes, elephant fights usually cause earth-shaking events in the savannah.
Roosters
Other than brooding hens, chickens are rarely aggressive. However, the story is different for roosters, especially against other males. They often fight for access to hens, territory-marking, and dominance.
Roosters use their spurs to kick and stab their rivals. Fighting in roosters is a way of determining the “pecking order” (literally). Although illegal in many countries, some people organize cockfighting events for entertainment.
Bears
Bears fight specifically for dominance and females – the results are often brutal. Fighting bears stand on their hind limbs, positioning themselves to swipe their claws, bite, and roar. Their jaws are bone-crashing and their strength is incredible.
Grizzly bears are perhaps the ones that primarily engage in fights. Since they are solitary by nature, they will fiercely fight when resources and females are scarce.
Tigers
Tigers are primarily solitary predators, so they dislike sharing their space. As such, encounters are usually violent and occasionally deadly if a tiger trespasses. Their fights involve ferocious biting, powerful swipes from massive paws, deep roars, and intimidation.
Chimpanzees
Chimpanzees are currently identified as the closest relatives to humans. They are surprisingly violent, though, especially in the wild. Scientists have observed that subordinate individuals can form alliances to overthrow an alpha male. They strategically patrol their territory and launch surprise attacks on their rivals. Interestingly, chimpanzees have been known to use weapons when fighting. Their fights are unsettlingly similar to those of humans.
Betta Fish
Usually, when we speak about animal fights, land battles are the first to come to mind, forgetting others like marine battles. Betta, or Siamese fighting fish, represent one of the most epic marine animal fights.
They are popular for their aggression, especially among males. Scientists have observed that, when two male bettas are placed in the same tank, they flare their gills, spread their fins, and charge, bite, and ram each other.
Ironically, fights between male betta fish are short-lived in the wild and are more deadly in captivity. In the wild, there is a chance that the weaker one will retreat after a few seconds or minutes. However, the encounters can be deadly when two male betta fish are stuck together.
Snakes
Given the many things snakes are famous for, it’s easy to forget they can fight. Intriguingly, these reptiles seem to have a memorandum of understanding not to bite as they fight. Even when the most venomous ones like cobras fight, they are surprisingly non-lethal.
Snakes often fight for females. They wrestle and push each other down. In other cases, they raise their upper bodies and intertwine to see who has the most strength.
Ants
This might come as a surprise, but there are epic battles behind the hard work and coordination that ants exhibit. They rarely engage in one-on-one fights – they wage all-out wars. Usually, colonies of army or fire ants invade each other’s nests, leading to thousands of casualties.
Interestingly, after successful raids, some ants can take slaves. Given their coordinated and well-organized nature, ants’ warfare is one of the most fascinating.
Gorillas
This is perhaps the one you have been waiting for, considering the current social media trends. Silverback gorillas often clash, especially when deciding on the troop leader. Their fights have everything, including “pre-match” limbering up. They chest beat, roar, stomp, and charge towards each other.
It’s only after the intimidations fail that fights begin. Fighting gorillas usually bite, tackle, and slam each other on the ground. They do this until one flees or is seriously injured.
The Key Takeaway
There is nothing strange about animals fighting. They do this every day for survival, dominance, and females. Popular animals that fight include bears, elephants, tigers, snakes, roosters, and ants. Interestingly, most animals don’t fight to kill; they do so to intimidate.
