The world's heaviest primates are morbidly obese humans, who can weigh over 1,000 pounds. After that come gorillas, the largest non-human primates, with males weighing up to 440 pounds in the wild.
Heaviest Primates: Humans Win This Unfortunate Record
When you think of the largest primates, silverback gorillas probably come to mind—those massive, muscle-bound apes that can tear through bamboo like tissue paper. But there's a sobering twist to this biological ranking: the heaviest primates on Earth aren't gorillas. They're us.
Specifically, morbidly obese humans hold the unfortunate distinction of being the heaviest members of the primate order. The heaviest person ever recorded was Jon Brower Minnoch, an American man who reached an estimated 1,400 pounds (635 kg) in 1978. Much of that weight was attributed to severe fluid retention from congestive heart failure, but even his baseline weight hovered around 800-900 pounds throughout his adult life.
How Do Gorillas Compare?
Gorillas are the largest non-human primates, and adult male silverbacks are genuinely massive. In the wild, they typically weigh between 300-440 pounds, with exceptional individuals reaching up to 485 pounds. That's still only about a third of Minnoch's peak weight.
The heaviest gorilla ever recorded was a captive silverback named Phil at the St. Louis Zoo, who tipped the scales at 860 pounds in the early 1970s. Even this extreme outlier—likely overfed in captivity—was still significantly lighter than the heaviest humans on record.
A Question of Evolution vs. Environment
The comparison highlights an uncomfortable truth about modern human environments. Gorillas evolved to be large and powerful for survival—dominance displays, foraging efficiency, and protection from predators. Their size is genetically programmed and ecologically functional.
Extreme human obesity, on the other hand, is a pathological condition often resulting from metabolic disorders, sedentary lifestyles, and calorie-dense processed foods—factors our hunter-gatherer ancestors never encountered. While gorillas in the wild maintain their muscular physiques on a diet of mostly plants, the heaviest humans achieved their weight through a tragic combination of medical conditions and environmental factors our bodies weren't designed to handle.
So yes, we're technically the heavyweight champions of the primate world. But it's a record no species should want to hold.