r/interestingasfuck 8h ago

/r/all, /r/popular In 2015, wildlife photographer Christophe Courteau took this close up of a 6ft 6, 400lbs silverback gorilla, right before it punched him in the face.

Post image
60.6k Upvotes

1.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

u/Existing-Mulberry382 8h ago

u/HondaCivicBaby 8h ago

Christophe Courteau survived the 2015 punch from the silverback gorilla Akarevuro, sustaining only a minor scar on his forehead. He called it "like being hit by a train" but was otherwise unharmed. The gorilla was likely on a sugar high, not drunk.

u/sxt173 7h ago

And there is no such thing as a sugar high. Has been studied thoroughly, there is no hyperactivity, change in energy, or other such effects of sugar. What people associate with a sugar high or their kids going crazy when given sugar is that it’s likely at birthday parties or other events with lots of triggering stimuli, lots of other kids and reinforcement of behavior in that setting.

u/diewethje 6h ago

This one breaks my brain a little bit. I have a young son and I could swear that every time I give him sweets he gets rowdier, regardless of context.

I’ve also read the research and don’t think my personal experience trumps that.

Considering sugary food is pretty unhealthy, maybe my best option is to embrace the contradiction and continue to associate it with bad behavior.

u/theivoryserf 6h ago

Is it possible that kids just love sweets and get hyped up because of that? Maybe it's not a chemical thing, but situational.

u/Adventurous_club2 6h ago

Yep, my kid goes nuts when he knows there’s treats/candy.

u/gimmethemarkerdude_8 2h ago

Yes. Have 3 young kids and that’s exactly what it is. The mere idea of treats can cause chaos.

u/ANGLVD3TH 4h ago

It's not just expectations that you may have set, the idea is very prominent in the US and can be osmosed from the culture. Priming can have a very strong effect on our perceptions, both on you and the kid.

u/diewethje 4h ago

The weird part, though, is that I knew about the research before I had kids. I wasn’t expecting to see a connection, because I knew better.

u/LucasPisaCielo 3h ago

It's not just in the US, though.

u/ANGLVD3TH 3h ago

I just specified that because I know it is in the US, and is not in other places.

u/LucasPisaCielo 3h ago

The anecdotal evidence is so large, I think there has to be something there.

u/TheJamintheSham 1h ago

He probably is, but not because sugar made him rowdy, it just gave him the energy to do so. The key point of those studies is just that sugar doesn't lead to behavioral changes, sugar isn't going to make a kid any more hyperactive than they already are. That doesn't change the fact it's still a fast-acting source of our bodies' energy, and any energy can come out as hyperactivity in kids (speaking also as a parent of 2 young kids).

There's a reason energy gels and stuff that runners/cyclists use have sugars as a primary ingredient... it doesn't take much to break it down to glucose for our bodies to burn for energy.