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18th May 2021

Ten percent of men believe they could beat a lion in a fist fight, according to survey

Charlie Herbert

The male mind never ceases to amaze

These are the YouGov surveys that really matter. You can keep your opinion polls and voting intentions, I want to know who Americans think would win in a series of 1v1 matchup between animals.

The survey put 34 different animals, along with humans, against one another in a series of random match-ups, with 1,224 US adults then asked who they thought would win in each contest.

Coming out on top was the elephant, which had a win-rate of 74 percent, with the tiger in close second with 70%. Humans came second-to-last with a win-percentage of 17%, just ahead of the humble goose with 14%. This is despite the fact that we all know geese are absolutely terrifying and always up for a scrap.

However, perhaps the most enlightening findings come when people were asked to rate their own chances against each animal.

Eight percent of American men (and 7% of women) reckon they could beat a lion in a fist fight. Even more reckon they could take on an elephant or gorilla, with 9% of men and 8% of women backing themselves in a fight against both.

On the flip-side, almost a quarter of men and a third of women don’t think they could beat a rat in a fight.

The largest disparities between the sexes came with the medium-sized animals. Seventy-one percent of men think they could beat a goose in a fight, compared to just 51% of women, whilst 60% percent of men reckon they’d be the victor against a medium-sized dog, far more than the 39% of women who think they’d be able to conquer a canine.

It’s the people that reckon they could beat a goose that I question most. They’d batter you and wouldn’t give it a second thought.