How Much Does a Gorilla Weigh? Silverback Size and Height

Average gorilla weight

Gorillas show one of the biggest size differences between the sexes of any primate. Adult males, called silverbacks after the gray saddle of hair on their backs, are roughly twice as heavy as adult females. Weights vary with species, subspecies, age, season and whether the animal lives in the wild or in a zoo.

Figures for wild gorillas are based on relatively few animals, because wild gorillas are almost never weighed, so all of them should be read as approximate ranges.

How tall is a gorilla?

Gorillas usually move on all fours by knuckle-walking, so their everyday height is measured at the shoulder rather than standing up. When they do rise onto two legs, adult males stand about 1.4–1.8 m (4 ft 7 in–5 ft 11 in) tall and females about 1.25–1.5 m (4 ft 1 in–4 ft 11 in). That means a big silverback is about as tall as an average man, but far heavier and broader.

Gorillas have short legs and a long, barrel-shaped trunk. Their bulk comes mainly from a deep chest, wide shoulders and a big belly, which holds the long gut needed to digest leaves and stems.

How long are a gorilla’s arms?

A gorilla’s arms are longer than its legs, and the arm span is far greater than its standing height. Adult males have an arm span of about 2.3–2.6 m (7 ft 7 in–8 ft 6 in), compared with roughly 1.7–1.9 m (5 ft 7 in–6 ft 3 in) for a typical adult man. Females have an arm span of about 2 m (6 ft 7 in). These long arms help gorillas climb, reach food and support their weight while knuckle-walking.

Which gorilla is the biggest?

There are two gorilla species. The eastern gorilla is on average the larger of the two, and its subspecies Grauer’s gorilla, also called the eastern lowland gorilla, is the largest living primate. Mountain gorillas, the other eastern subspecies, are slightly smaller than Grauer’s gorillas but still bigger on average than western gorillas.

The western gorilla is a little smaller and lighter. Its western lowland subspecies is generally considered the smallest gorilla, though the difference is modest and a large western silverback is still an enormous animal. The rare Cross River gorilla is similar in body size to the western lowland gorilla.

Wild vs zoo gorillas

Gorillas in zoos tend to be heavier than wild ones. Zoo food is richer and more predictable, and captive gorillas walk and climb less than wild gorillas, which may travel a kilometer or more a day in search of food. Captive western lowland males have weighed up to about 275 kg (605 lb), and a few very overweight males have reached around 310 kg (683 lb).

Good zoos now manage gorilla diets carefully, with large amounts of leafy browse and vegetables and less sugary fruit, because excess weight is linked to health problems such as heart disease in older males.

Record sizes

The heaviest wild gorilla on record was an adult male from Ambam in southern Cameroon, reported to weigh 267 kg (589 lb). The tallest wild gorilla on record was a male from the Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo that stood about 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) tall and had an arm span of about 2.7 m (8 ft 10 in). Both measurements date from the first half of the 20th century and are exceptional, not typical.

Popular claims of wild gorillas weighing 300 kg (660 lb) or more are not supported by reliable records.

How big are baby gorillas?

A newborn gorilla weighs only about 1.8–2 kg (4–4.4 lb), less than an average human baby. Infants grow quickly, roughly twice as fast as human babies, and can crawl and cling to their mother at around 3 months old. Males keep growing much longer than females and do not reach full adult size and silver coloring until they are about 12–15 years old.

Size compared with other great apes

Gorillas are by far the heaviest of the great apes. A wild male chimpanzee weighs about 34–70 kg (75–154 lb), so a big silverback may weigh three times as much. Male Bornean orangutans weigh roughly 50–100 kg (110–220 lb). This bulk is the main reason gorillas are so powerful; see How strong is a gorilla?