was the largest of the primates.
(Copyright Lee Krystek 1996)
During the Pleistocene Era (1.8 million to 10,000
years ago) large mammals ruled the Earth. One of these mammals
was the great ape Gigantopithecus.
Gigantopithecus is known to have lived in what
is now China and Southeast Asia. (In fact he was discovered,
by Professor Gustav von Koenigswald, when the professor
bought a set of fossil teeth from a Chinese druggist selling
what he claimed were "dragon's teeth" for medicinal purposes.)
Gigantopithecus was the largest primate
that ever walked the Earth. He would have risen 9 to 10 feet
high if he choose to stand up on only his hind legs, and probably
weighed about 600 lbs (A few scientists suggest the largest
of the males might have weighted almost 1,200 lbs.). In comparison,
the largest gorilla stands only 6 feet tall and weighs about
300 to 400 lbs.
Both todays gorilla and Gigantopithecus
probably used their arms and knuckles to move about in quadrupedal
fashion. Though Gigantopithecus sounds like a terror
he probably was a very gentle and retiring vegetarian, if we
can use Mountain Gorilla behavior as
a guide. Gorilla's, despite inaccurate stories about them, are
fairly shy creatures that only put on aggressive displays of
chestbeating and snarling when their territory is threatened.
Gigantopithecus actually arose before
the start of the Pleistocene Era (perhaps 13 million years ago)
and went extinct about halfway through (500,000 years ago) the
ice age before the other giant mammals did. Exactly why he went
extinct is unknown, but it probably was due to changes in the
climate to which Gigantopithecus was not able to adapt.
Some suggest that Gigantopithecus is not
extinct, but is hiding in remote areas of the Himalaya Mountains
or the forests of North-West America. Could a Gigantopithecus,
or his descendants, be the source of the Yeti
or Bigfoot tales?
More about Gigantopithecus