I think the dangerousness of Chimpanzees, and the other tree dwelling apes is that we're not accustomed to their kind of strength. A humans arm span is proport

I think the dangerousness of Chimpanzees, and the other tree dwelling apes is that we're not accustomed to their kind of strength. A humans arm span is proportional to their height, so a 5'7" human has an arm span of 5'7" (roughly). A 5'7" chimp or orangutan has an armspan of around 8'. Which anyone who's a boxing fan knows that it's exceptionally difficult for someone to win against an opponent that can outreach them, especially if it's as significant as a foot. Furthermore apes have significantly higher upper body strengths than humans. This is especially noticeable in young chimps and orangutans that look more like Popeye than a person. Even worse for humans is that we're accustomed to punching and kicking. Apes are accustomed to grappling with both hands and feet. Flanged orangutans are considered highly dangerous, not only because they're significantly bigger, heavier and stronger than humans, but that it really doesn't matter if they get you with a hand or a foot, they've got enough strength in that limb that you can't let go. So why does the media find all this amazing? Because humans are weak, and it seems like a divine intervention or something that made us survive because they play to their audiences naivety. So how did we survive these brutal apes? Because we didn't evolve anywhere near them. Ape territories don't really overlap much, the different species have their niche to live in. So by the time humans encountered apes we'd already evolved tool use and sharpened sticks and heavy clubs were likely intimidating enough to keep the chimpanzee pack from messing with our ancestors. This likely extended to other predator species of early humans too. Predators aren't dumb, they want an easy meal not something that could kill them. Once early humans started defending themselves with spears, wolves and lions would likely have looked elsewhere for food.