Kong’s intelligence is also reflected in the fact that he’s a tool user, and even a tool maker. This could prove crucial in anticipating Big G’s fight moves and even give Kong the upper hand. Like real-world apes, he almost certainly possesses a ‘theory of mind’: an ability to work out the intentions and perspectives of others. As a primate and specifically a great ape, he’s able to plan ahead, modify his behaviour, and understand unfamiliar situations more than is typical for animals. Kong’s vastly greater size mean a bite force perhaps 100 times greater.įor all this brute strength and power, Kong’s greatest advantage is his intelligence. Gorillas can exert a bite force of around 91kg per square centimetre (or 1300 pounds per square inch).
He’s also fast and agile, and able to leap and run. A punch or even a slap from his hand would deliver a force measurable in millions of Newtons, and the fact that each of his arms is over 70 metres long make him extremely dangerous up close. We see him lift objects that are at least as heavy as he is, and throw massive punches too. With that in mind, we can still say that Kong is phenomenally strong. A caveat, though, is that reliable data on the strength of real-world apes is notoriously hard to obtain and many familiar statements – for example, that gorillas are 10 times stronger than people – are guesses based on anecdote rather than the result of careful study. The fact that Kong is built like a giant gorilla allows us to make some estimates about his abilities. Kong is an enormous gorilla standing at 103 metres tall © Warner Brothers Pictures Frankenstein’s monster would destroy humanity in 4,000 years.How do we know that the Loch Ness Monster doesn’t exist?.The closest analogue is perhaps the super-hot liquid spray made by bombardier beetles, released at temperatures of around 100☌. Abilities of this sort don’t exist in the real world. Godzilla’s ultimate weapon is something that gives him quite the advantage: he’s radioactive and blasts enemies with a beam of atomic breath that exceeds 500,000☌. And Godzilla’s tail is over 100 metres long, making it hard to approach him without the risk of being struck. By scaling up from work done on the weaponised tails of dinosaurs, we can conservatively estimate that Godzilla’s tail could strike with an astronomical force of over 22 million Newtons, equivalent to over 2,000 tonnes of mass. We know from previous battles that Godzilla’s tail can be used in club-like fashion. Godzilla scarcely needs to use his jaws though, since his massive, serrated tail serves as a long-range weapon. That’s over 900kg per square centimetre (12,000 pounds per square inch), enough to sever body parts and fracture bones.
Rigorous bite force tests haven’t been done on Godzilla, but he could generate forces tens or hundreds of times greater than those calculated for T. Godzilla’s size, conical teeth and chunky jaws imply a phenomenal bite. Attacks from above, or efforts to get him in a headlock, wouldn’t work without the opponent getting ripped to shreds. Godzilla is also defended by spiky-edged dorsal plates, tough enough to slice through metal. Ankylosaur plates possessed a Kevlar-like structure of criss-crossing fibres that would have prevented penetration by teeth. For starters, he’s armour-plated, his exterior recalling that of lizards like the Komodo dragon and dinosaurs like ankylosaurs, both of which have bony plates embedded in the skin. They don’t call him King of the Monsters for nothing. Godzilla’s spiky-edged dorsal plates can slice through metal © Alamy