‘Gorillas always go crazy when they see me’: 7ft Shaquille O’Neal explained why silverbacks feel intimidated when he shows up at zoos

‘Gorillas always go crazy when they see me’: 7ft Shaquille O’Neal explained why silverbacks feel intimidated when he shows up at zoos

Shaquille O’Neal is a massive man, standing well over the average person. It appears he also has a huge influence on gorillas whenever he shows up to zoos.

The LA legend was the catalyst of the Lakers dynasty in the 2000s. He was the star of a team that won three titles in a row, forming a dynamic duo with Kobe Bryant.

There was nobody who could stop Shaq back in the day. He was the most dominant physical force to have ever played basketball, and he completely owned the paint.

Shaq was a menace on both sides of the ball. He could control the paint with his size, deterring anyone who dared to enter. We haven’t seen anyone dominant the inside game quite like Shaq since his glory days. Back then, he was an absolute beast to watch.

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Shaquille O’Neal claims he intimidates gorillas

Shaq’s size doesn’t just scare NBA players, however. Apparently, his presence at zoos has some sort of weird effect on the silverbacks.

In Shaq’s words, “True story, I’ve been to every zoo in the world, and every time I go to the gorilla section, they look at me like, ‘Hey man, where your fur at?’ For real. For real. That’s how they look at me. They also look at me like, ‘What am I doing in here and you out there?’ And they always go crazy when they see me.”

Shaq is a crazy 7’1″, 325 pounds while an average gorilla grows up to maybe four to six feet tall and can weigh up to 484 pounds. If Shaq’s capable of scaring that kind of animal, you can understand how dominating he must have been against NBA players.

Zookeepers even confirmed this story by Shaq. A zookeeper at the Miami zoo, Ron Magill, explained that the gorilla “gets intimated, and he looks at Shaq and thinks that Shaq is going to take away his girls, and he gets tight-lipped and tries to stand up and make himself look as big as possible. But at the end of the day, he backs off. He knows who’s boss.”

“Every zoo in the world they go crazy,” Shaq added. “They try to break out the damn thing and try to fight me.”

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Post Edited By: Tonoy Sengupta
Los Angeles Lakers NBA Shaquille O'Neal

About the author

Ashish Priyadarshi

Ashish Priyadarshi is The SportsRush's content manager and editor. Ashish freelanced for 1 year in the NFL division before taking on an editorial role in the company. He then tacked on managing content while adding on a writing role in the NBA division. Ashish has been closely following the NFL and NBA since the 2012 season when the Patriots lost the Super Bowl and Derrick Rose was at the height of his powers. Since then, Ashish has focused on honing his knowledge for both leagues in, even writing crossover pieces. In his free time, Ashish is an avid basketball player, he loves to watch movies and TV shows, immersing himself in the cinematic world. Ashish studies computer science and data science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and would love to mesh his love for sports with his technical skills.

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