Gigantopithecus: Difference between revisions

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| authority = [[von Koenigswald]], 1935<ref name=Koenigswald1935>{{cite journal|last1=von Koenigswald|first1=G. H. R.|title=Eine fossile Säugetierfauna mit Simia aus Südchina|journal=Proceedings of the Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen te Amsterdam|date=1935|volume=38|issue=8|pages=874–879|url=http://www.dwc.knaw.nl/DL/publications/PU00016780.pdf|access-date=12 December 2017|archive-date=12 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171212084230/http://www.dwc.knaw.nl/DL/publications/PU00016780.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

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'''''Gigantopithecus''''' ({{IPAc-en|d|ʒ|aɪ|ˌ|g|æ|n|t|oʊ|p|ɪ|ˈ|θ|i|k|ə|s|,_|ˈ|p|ɪ|θ|ɪ|k|ə|s|,_|d|ʒ|ɪ|-}} {{respell|jy|gan|toh|pih|THEE|kəs|,_|-PITH|ih|kəs|,_|jih-}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dictionary.com/browse/gigantopithecus|title=Definition of gigantopithecus {{!}} Dictionary.com|website=dictionary.com|language=en|access-date=2 October 2022|archive-date=3 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221003015831/https://www.dictionary.com/browse/gigantopithecus|url-status=live}}</ref>){{efn|name=title|{{lit|giant ape}}; from [[Ancient Greek]] {{lang|grc|γίγας}} (''{{translit|grc|gígas''}}), meaning "'giant"', and {{lang|grc|πίθηκος}} (''{{translit|grc|píthekos''}}), meaning "'ape"'}} is an [[extinct]] [[genus]] of [[ape]] that lived in southern [[China]] from 2 million to approximately 300,000-200000–200,000 years ago during the [[Early Pleistocene|Early]] to [[Middle Pleistocene]], represented by one species, '''''Gigantopithecus blacki'''''.<ref name="NAT-20240110">{{cite journal |last1=Zhang |first1=Yingqi |last2=Westaway |first2=Kira E. |last3=Haberle |first3=Simon |last4=Lubeek |first4=Juliën K. |last5=Bailey |first5=Marian |last6=Ciochon |first6=Russell |author-link6=Russell Ciochon |last7=Morley |first7=Mike W. |last8=Roberts |first8=Patrick |last9=Zhao |first9=Jian-xin |last10=Duval |first10=Mathieu |last11=Dosseto |first11=Anthony |last12=Pan |first12=Yue |last13=Rule |first13=Sue |last14=Liao |first14=Wei |last15=Gully |first15=Grant A. |last16=Lucas |first16=Mary |last17=Mo |first17=Jinyou |last18=Yang |first18=Liyun |last19=Cai |first19=Yanjun |last20=Wang |first20=Wei |last21=Joannes-Boyau |first21=Renaud |year=2024 |title=The demise of the giant ape ''Gigantopithecus blacki'' |language=en-US |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=625 |issue=7995 |pages=535–539 |bibcode=2024Natur.625..535Z |doi=10.1038/s41586-023-06900-0 |doi-access=free |pmc=10794149 |pmid=38200315}}</ref> Potential identifications have also been made in [[Thailand]], [[Vietnam]], and [[Indonesia]], but most of these were likely misidentified remains of the [[Chinese orangutan]] (''Pongo weidenreichi''). The first remains of ''Gigantopithecus'', two third [[molar teeth]], were identified in a drugstore by anthropologist [[Ralph von Koenigswald]] in 1935, who subsequently [[species description|described]] the ape. In 1956, the first mandible and more than 1,000 teeth were found in [[Liucheng County|Liucheng]], and numerous more remains have since been found in at least 16 sites. Only teeth and four mandibles are known currently, and other skeletal elements were likely consumed by [[Old World porcupine|porcupines]] before they could fossilise.<ref name=ZhangHarrison2017/> ''Gigantopithecus'' was once argued to be a [[hominin]], a member of the [[human]] line, but it is now thought to be closely allied with [[orangutan]]s, classified in the [[subfamily]] [[Ponginae]].

''Gigantopithecus'' has traditionally been restored as a massive, [[gorilla]]-like ape, potentially {{convert|200|-|300|kg|abbr=in}} when alive, but the paucity of remains make total size estimates highly speculative. The species may have been [[sexual dimorphism|sexually dimorphic]], with males much bigger than females. The incisors are reduced and the canines appear to have functioned like [[cheek teeth]] ([[premolar]]s and molars). The premolars are high-[[crown (tooth)|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 [[tooth enamel|enamel]] by absolute measure of any ape, up to {{convert|6|mm|in|abbr=in|frac=4}} in some areas, though this is only fairly thick when tooth size is taken into account.

''Gigantopithecus'' appears to have been a [[generalist and specialist species|generalist]] [[herbivore]] of [[C3 carbon fixation|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 [[tuber]]s 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. ''Gigantopithecus'' has become popular in [[cryptozoology]] circles as the identity of the Tibetan [[yeti]] or the American [[bigfoot]], apelike creatures in local folklore.

==Discovery==

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In 1935, von Koenigswald considered ''Gigantopithecus'' to be closely allied with the [[Late Miocene]] ''[[Sivapithecus]]'' from India.<ref name=Koenigswald1935/> In 1939, South African palaeontologist [[Robert Broom]] hypothesised that it was closely allied with ''[[Australopithecus]]'' and the [[last common ancestor]] of humans and other apes.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Broom|first=R.|author-link=Robert Broom|year=1939|title=The dentition of the Transvaal Pleistocene anthropoids, ''Plesianthropus'' and ''Paranthropus''|journal=Annals of the Transvaal Museum|volume=19|issue=3|pages=303–314|url=https://journals.co.za/docserver/fulltext/nfi_annalstm/19/3/484.pdf?expires=1587575563&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=2AB75E7DD6F91D015A8D2145BD8137F9}}</ref> In 1946, Jewish German anthropologist [[Franz Weidenreich]] described ''Gigantopithecus'' as a human ancestor as "''Gigantanthropus''", believing that the human lineage went through a gigantic phase. He stated that the teeth are more similar to those of modern humans and ''[[Homo erectus]]'' (at the time "''Pithecanthropus''" for [[Java Man|early Javan specimens]]), and envisioned a lineage from ''Gigantopithecus'', to the Javan ape ''[[Meganthropus]]'' (then considered a human ancestor), to "''Pithecanthropus''", to "''[[Solo Man|Javanthropus]]''", and finally [[Aboriginal Australian]]s. This was part of his [[multiregional origin of modern humans|multiregional hypothesis]], that all modern races and ethnicities evolved independently from a local archaic human species, rather than sharing a more recent and fully modern common ancestor.<ref name=Weidenreich1946>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.531106|first=F.|last=Weidenreich|author-link=Franz Weidenreich|year=1946|title=Apes, Giants, and Man|publisher=University of Chicago Press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.531106/page/n68 58]–66}}</ref> In 1952, von Koenigswald agreed that ''Gigantopithecus'' was a [[hominin]], but believed it was an offshoot rather than a human ancestor.<ref>{{cite journal|last=von Koenigswald|first=G. H. R.|author-link=Gustav Heinrich Ralph von Koenigswald|year=1952|title=''Gigantopithecus blacki'' von Koenigswald, a giant fossil hominoid from the Pleistocene of southern China|journal=Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History|volume=43|pages=292–325|hdl=2246/298}}</ref> Much debate followed whether ''Gigantopithecus'' was a hominin or not for the next three decades until the [[Out of Africa theory|Out of Africa]] hypothesis overturned the {{ill|Out of Asia|nl|Out of Asia-theorie}} and multiregional hypotheses, firmly placing humanity's origins in Africa.<ref name=ZhangHarrison2017/><ref name=Hartwig2002/>

''Gigantopithecus'' is now classified in the [[subfamily]] [[Ponginae]], closely allied with ''Sivapithecus'' and ''Indopithecus''. This would make its closest living relatives the [[orangutan]]s. However, there are few similar traits ([[synapomorphies]]) linking ''Gigantopithecus'' and orangutans due to fragmentary remains, with the main morphological argument being its close affinities to ''Sivapithecus'', which is better established as a pongine based on skull features. In 2017, Chinese palaeoanthropologist Yingqi Zhang and American anthropologist Terry Harrison suggested that ''Gigantopithecus'' is most closely allied to the Chinese ''[[Lufengpithecus]]'', which went extinct 4 million years prior to ''Gigantopithecus''.<ref name=ZhangHarrison2017/>

In 2019, [[peptide sequencing]] of [[dentine]] and [[Tooth enamel|enamel]] proteins of a ''Gigantopithecus'' molar from [[Chuifeng Cave]] indicates that ''Gigantopithecus'' was indeed closely allied with orangutans, and, assuming the current [[mutation rate]] in orangutans has remained constant, shared a common ancestor about 12–10 million years ago in the [[Middle Miocene|Middle]] to Late Miocene. Their last common ancestor would have been a part of the Miocene [[Adaptive radiation|radiation]] of apes. The same study calculated a divergence time between the Ponginae and African [[great ape]]s about 26–17.7 million years ago.<ref name= "Welker2019">{{cite journal|last1= Welker|first1= F.|last2= Ramos-Madrigal|first2= J.|last3= Kuhlwilm|first3= M.|last4= Liao|first4= W.|last5= Gutenbrunner|first5= P.|last6=de Manuel|first6= M.|last7= Samodova|first7= D.|last8= Mackie|first8= M.|last9= Allentoft|first9=M. E.|last10= Bacon|first10= A.-M.|last11= Collins|first11=M. J.|last12= Cox|first12= J.|last13= Lalueza-Fox|first13 =C.|last14= Olsen|first14=J. V.|last15= Demeter|first15= F.|last16= Wang|first16= W.|last17= Marques-Bonet|first17= T.|last18= Cappellini|first18= E.|display-authors= 3|title= Enamel proteome shows that ''Gigantopithecus'' was an early diverging pongine|journal= Nature|year= 2019|doi= 10.1038/s41586-019-1728-8|pmc= 6908745|pmid= 31723270|volume= 576|issue= 7786|pages= 262–265|bibcode= 2019Natur.576..262W}}</ref>