Science and Medicine

Gigantopithecus

Gigantopithecus ( jy-gan-toh-pih-THEE-kəs, -⁠PITH-ih-kəs, jih-) is an extinct genus of great ape that lived in central to southern China from two million to approximately 215,000–295,000 years ago during the Early to Middle Pleistocene, represented by one species, Gigantopithecus blacki. The first remains of Gigantopithecus, two third-molar teeth, were identified in a drugstore by anthropologist Ralph von Koenigswald in 1935 in England, who subsequently described the ape. 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. Only teeth and four mandibles are known currently. Other skeletal elements were likely consumed by porcupines before they could fossilize. 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. Gigantopithecus has traditionally been restored as a massive, orangutan-like ape, potentially 200–300 kilograms (440–660 lb) when alive, but the few remains make total size estimates highly speculative. The species may have been sexually dimorphic, with males much bigger than females. The incisors are reduced and the canines appear to have functioned like cheek teeth (premolars and molars). The premolars are high-crowned, and the fourth premolar is very molar-like. The molars are the largest of any known ape, and have a relatively flat surface. Gigantopithecus had the thickest enamel by absolute measure of any ape, up to six millimetres (0.24 in) in some areas, though this is only fairly thick when tooth size is taken into account. Gigantopithecus appears to have been a generalist herbivore of C3 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. Some teeth bear traces of fig family fruits, which may have been important dietary components. 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.

Also on this shelf

See also

• ▸Epidemiology of measles
• ▸Aseem Malhotra
• ▸Conjoined twins

Uncatalogued shelf

Text from Wikipedia; plate via Wikimedia Commons. Text CC BY-SA 4.0; plate freely licensed (see Commons). Source record. Images and catalogue data are reproduced from open-access collections.