Or rather Gigantopithecus (giant ape). When you read “giant ape,” a King Kong image must come to mind, but this ape was nowhere near as towering as Kong. Gigantopithecus is estimated to have been 9 – 10 ft (2.7 – 3 m) when standing erect and weighing in at 600 – 1200 lbs (272 – 544 kg). I use “estimated” because only their mandibles have been found (image below compares Gigantopithecus mandible with one of a human). “Based only on the jaws and teeth, however, researches can attempt to reconstruct both the animal and its way of life.”
The mandibles of the the Gigantopithecus have only been found in India and China to be more exact. Much like the hobbit of the last FFF, the Gigantopithecus was found by chance. The first recorded finding, or realization was done in 1935 by a German paleoanthropologist, Ralph von Koenigswald, when visiting an apothecary in Hong Kong. After realizing what he had found (it was a huge molar tooth), he continued by naming it “Gigantopithecus blacki;” blacki in honour of Davidson Black, the discoverer of Peking Man (earlier blog about Peking Man: http://anthropologicalconcepts.weebly.com/blog/-Homo-erectus-pekinensis). Another “sighting” of Gigantopithecus was not until 33 years later, but this time, in India, and, once again, this just happened to...happen. An Indian native, Sunkha Ram, was in possession of a Gigantopithecus mandible since 1944, by the suggestion of his father to keep it because “they might come in handy some day, and in 1968 they did. Sunkha heard of a Yale paleoanthropological expedition, and taking a piece of the mandible he went to find them. When he found Grant Meyer, the paleoanthropologist, Mayer immediately gave him some rupees for it, and requested that Sunkha sell him the entire mandible. Mayer was going to name this “new” fossil find Gigantopithecus “bilaspurensis,” but later changed it to Gigantopithecus “giganteus,” because the species had been named “Dryopithicus giganteus,” by the first man, Guy Pilgrim, who had found trace of the Gigantopithecus in India, but in 1915.
So when did this giant of an ape live? Gigantopithecus lived from 13 million years ago (the start of the Pleistocene Era), til 200,000 years ago. That is right, we missed out on seeing/meeting giants and hobbits. But the extinction of Gigantopithecus was simply because they could not adapt as we can. Reason being is their diet was mostly of fruit and/or bamboo, and with the drastically changing climates of Earth, which include a few ice ages, the Gigantopithecus basically starved to death. There are hopefuls that think the legend of big foot in the United States is true and thus evidence Gigantopithecus still lives, but when you stop to think about where the mandibles were found. It seems very unlikely Gigantopithecus could survive in the drastically changing weather of the U.S. Although, that said, Jane Goodall, does believe that there is a bigfoot (Sasquatch, yeti). Her reasons are when speaking with Native Americans they have described hearing the same sounds and two have seen it...them.
It is exciting to think that even though we have passed our chance to meet hobbits, Jane Goodall's extensive research may have uncovered that Gigantopithecus, or at least a descendant is roaming the United States. As we look back on what has come before our species, before humans, and how long they roamed the Earth, our species is still in its infancy. Yes, we have agriculture, technology, and so on, our true test will be time. The Gigantopithecus for example, they were here for 12,800,000 years, while our time here is just a spit in the bucket compared to theirs. After a million years will Homo sapiens still be here or will we too go extinct? We can only wait.
With that thought, ends another fun, and exciting, fact for this Friday. If you have an itching to get to the bottom of a small fact that has been festering in your mind, or if you have a blog topic you would like me to cover, or if you would just like to express your thoughts on this first Fun Fact Friday, please feel free to comment below.
So when did this giant of an ape live? Gigantopithecus lived from 13 million years ago (the start of the Pleistocene Era), til 200,000 years ago. That is right, we missed out on seeing/meeting giants and hobbits. But the extinction of Gigantopithecus was simply because they could not adapt as we can. Reason being is their diet was mostly of fruit and/or bamboo, and with the drastically changing climates of Earth, which include a few ice ages, the Gigantopithecus basically starved to death. There are hopefuls that think the legend of big foot in the United States is true and thus evidence Gigantopithecus still lives, but when you stop to think about where the mandibles were found. It seems very unlikely Gigantopithecus could survive in the drastically changing weather of the U.S. Although, that said, Jane Goodall, does believe that there is a bigfoot (Sasquatch, yeti). Her reasons are when speaking with Native Americans they have described hearing the same sounds and two have seen it...them.
It is exciting to think that even though we have passed our chance to meet hobbits, Jane Goodall's extensive research may have uncovered that Gigantopithecus, or at least a descendant is roaming the United States. As we look back on what has come before our species, before humans, and how long they roamed the Earth, our species is still in its infancy. Yes, we have agriculture, technology, and so on, our true test will be time. The Gigantopithecus for example, they were here for 12,800,000 years, while our time here is just a spit in the bucket compared to theirs. After a million years will Homo sapiens still be here or will we too go extinct? We can only wait.
With that thought, ends another fun, and exciting, fact for this Friday. If you have an itching to get to the bottom of a small fact that has been festering in your mind, or if you have a blog topic you would like me to cover, or if you would just like to express your thoughts on this first Fun Fact Friday, please feel free to comment below.
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