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.
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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.
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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.
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.”
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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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