|
RETURN
TO THE WORLD SCIENCE HOME PAGE
Researcher: giant ape lived alongside humans
Nov. 11, 2005
Courtesy McMaster University
and World Science staff
An ape taller than a moose lived alongside early humans, and may have been among
the early casualties of competition from humans, a researcher has found.
The ape was about 10 feet (3 meters) tall and weighed as much as 1,200 pounds (544 kg), said Jack Rink of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.
 |
Gigantopithecus blackii, the largest primate that ever lived.
|
Rink, associate professor of geography and earth sciences, found that Gigantopithecus blackii, the largest primate that ever lived, roamed southeast Asia for nearly a million years before the species died out 100,000 years ago. This was known as the Pleistocene period, by which time humans had already existed for a million years.
“A missing piece of the puzzle has always focused on pinpointing when Gigantopithecus existed,” said Rink.
“This is a primate that co-existed with humans at a time when humans were undergoing a major evolutionary change. Guangxi province in southern China, where the
Gigantopithecus fossils were found, is the same region where some believe the modern human race originated.”
Research into the beast began in 1935, when the Dutch paleontologist G.H. von Koenigswald discovered a yellowish molar among the “dragon bones” for sale in a Hong Kong pharmacy. Traditional Chinese medicine maintains that dragon bones, basically fossil bones and teeth, possess curative powers when the fossils are ground into a fine powder and eaten.
For nearly 80 years, the animal has intrigued scientists, who have pieced together a description using nothing more than a handful of teeth and a set of jawbones.
“The size of these specimens – the crown of the molar, for instance, measures about an inch across – helped us understand the extraordinary size of the primate,” said Rink, who said he used high-precision absolute-dating methods to determine their age.
Sample studies further revealed Gigantopithecus was an herbivore, feasting mainly on bamboo, he added. Some believe
its voracious appetite for bamboo ultimately placed it at the losing end of the evolutionary scale against
its more nimble human competition.
* * *
Send us a comment
on this story, or send
it to a friend
|