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Giant chimpanzee5/18/2023 ![]() ![]() The northernmost sites are Longgupo and Longgudong, just south of the Yangtze River, and southernmost on Hainan Island in the South China Sea. Ĭonfirmed Gigantopithecus remains have since been found in 16 different sites across southern China. From 1957 to 1963, the IVPP survey team carried out excavations in this area and recovered two more mandibles and more than 1,000 teeth. Also in 1956, Liucheng farmer Xiuhuai Qin discovered more teeth and the first mandible on his field. In 1956, the team discovered the first in situ remains, a third molar and premolar, in a cave (subsequently named " Gigantopithecus Cave") in Niusui Mountain, Guangxi. They collected 47 teeth among shipments of "dragon bones" in Guangdong and Guangxi. In 1955, a survey team that was led by Chinese palaeontologist Pei Wenzhong was tasked by the Chinese Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology (IVPP) with finding the original Gigantopithecus locality. The originally discovered teeth are part of the collection of the University of Utrecht. He could not formally describe the type specimen until 1952 due to his internment by Japanese forces during World War II. By 1939, after purchasing more teeth, he determined they had originated somewhere in Guangdong or Guangxi. Von Koenigswald, working for the Dutch East Indies Mineralogical Survey on Java, had found the teeth in a drugstore in Hong Kong where they were being sold as " dragon bones" to be used in traditional Chinese medicine. The specific name blacki is in honour of Canadian palaeoanthropologist Davidson Black, who had studied human evolution in China and had died the previous year. Gigantopithecus blacki was named by anthropologist Ralph von Koenigswald in 1935 based on two third lower molar teeth, which, he noted, were of enormous size (the first was " Ein gewaltig grosser (.) Molar", the second was described as " der enorme Grösse besitzt"), measuring 20 mm × 22 mm (0.79 in × 0.87 in). Gigantopithecus has become popular in cryptozoology circles as the identity of the Tibetan yeti or the American bigfoot, humanlike creatures in local folklore.ĭiscovery Research history įriedemann Schrenk holding the holotype Gigantopithecus blacki molar It primarily lived in subtropical to tropical forest, and went extinct about 300,000 years ago likely because of the retreat of preferred habitat due to climate change, and potentially archaic human activity. Some teeth bear traces of fig family fruits, which may have been important dietary components. Gigantopithecus appears to have been a generalist herbivore of C 3 forest plants, with the jaw adapted to grinding, crushing, and cutting through tough, fibrous plants, and the thick enamel functioning to resist foods with abrasive particles such as stems, roots, and tubers with dirt. Gigantopithecus had the thickest enamel by absolute measure of any ape, up to 6 mm (a quarter of an inch) in some areas, though this is only fairly thick when tooth size is taken into account. The molars are the largest of any known ape, and have a relatively flat surface. The premolars are high- crowned, and the fourth premolar is very molar-like. The incisors are reduced and the canines appear to have functioned like cheek teeth ( premolars and molars). The species may have been sexually dimorphic, with males much bigger than females. Gigantopithecus has traditionally been restored as a massive, gorilla-like ape, potentially 200–300 kg (440–660 lb) when alive, but the paucity of remains make total size estimates highly speculative. Gigantopithecus was once argued to be a hominin, a member of the human line, but it is now thought to be closely allied with orangutans, classified in the subfamily Ponginae. Only teeth and four mandibles are known currently, and other skeletal elements were likely consumed by porcupines before they could fossilise. ![]() ![]() In 1956, the first mandible and more than 1,000 teeth were found in Liucheng, and numerous more remains have since been found in at least 16 sites. The first remains of Gigantopithecus, two third molar teeth, were identified in a drugstore by anthropologist Ralph von Koenigswald in 1935, who subsequently described the ape. Potential identifications have also been made in Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia. ![]() 'giant ape') is an extinct genus of ape from roughly 2 million to 350,000 years ago during the Early to Middle Pleistocene of southern China, represented by one species, Gigantopithecus blacki. Gigantopithecus ( / d ʒ aɪ ˌ ɡ æ n t oʊ p ɪ ˈ θ i k ə s, ˈ p ɪ θ ɪ k ə s, d ʒ ɪ-/ jahy-gan-toh-pi-thee-kuhs, pith-i-kuhs, ji- lit. ![]()
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