What allows animals such as gorillas and alligators to remain so powerful when they rarely use that power? Alligators, for example, eat rarely and so only have to use their strength to catch prey once every so often. Why don’t they lose muscle mass during periods of inactivity in the way that humans, who have to work out regularly in order to maintain muscle mass, would?
• Gorillas and alligators get plenty of exercise. Gorillas are knuckle-walkers so their arms are in use all the time. They also climb trees, break off branches and tear up vegetation that they eat. Every night they construct a new nest out of tree branches.
The silverbacks are always on the go, keeping the troop together, looking for predators and making the younger males toe the line. As they age they do lose muscle bulk and become weaker, eventually being replaced by a younger male and being cast out of the troop. From this point on they get weaker and weaker and ultimately die from old age.
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Alligators and crocodiles also get lots of exercise: they live on food that they must first catch. Saltwater crocodiles have been found a long way out to sea where they have to swim all the time or sink.
So I suspect that the vision of lazy gorillas and alligators described in the question is incorrect.
Hilton Selvey, Mooloolah, Queensland, Australia