Triops Galaxy reports on paleontological research into the biggest primate ever to walk the planet, the 600-pound Gigantopithecus blackii… without mentioning Bigfoot. Instead, they focus on the actual science behind the likely extinction of these 3-meter- (9.8-foot-) tall great, great apes:
German palaeontologist Gustav Heinrich Ralph von Koenigswald stumbled across his discovery in a pharmacy in Hong Kong in 1935. A strikingly large molar was offered for sale there as a dragon’s tooth. Despite intensive searches over decades, only four jawbones and almost 2,000 individual teeth from this primate are known to date, as Kira Westaway from Macquarie University in Sydney reports in the journal Nature.
Researchers have already gained some insights from these finds, including information on the ape’s size, weight and dietary habits. It was assumed that Gigantopithecus blacki lived in the forests, mainly in southern China, at least 2.2 million years ago, ate a purely plant-based diet and died out around 330,000 years ago. However, such dating has been controversial until now. In order to clarify the situation, the research team dated the layers of artefacts from 22 caves using six different methods. The results show that G. blacki already existed 2.3 million years ago, but only became extinct around 255,000 years ago.
Pollen analyses indicate that the environment of the giant apes changed significantly over the course of two million years: the original jungle with its dense tree canopy gave way to a grassy landscape with fewer trees but more ferns.
…
The great apes flourished until about 700,000 years ago and even increased in body size before a decline set in. Co-author of the studies, Yingqi Zhang from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, explains: “G. blacki was the ultimate specialist compared to agile adaptable species such as orangutans, and this ultimately led to its demise.” The research team cites the decreasing number of sites and fossils in the late phase as evidence of the decline.