Prehistoric Apes

[GuateGojira]

About the size of Gigantophitecus, I posted some information in this topic "wildfact.com/forum/topic-wanhsien-tiger?page=4". I will like to share it again here, as this is a good topic about this theme. It seems that not all people belive that this big ape was a "giant" like big foot, judge by yourselves:
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It seems that Gigantopithecus was not that large as we popularly know. This link from Devianart present interesting information about the size of that large primate: https://www.deviantart.com/blazze92/art/...-456797219

Here is a reconstruction of bLAZZE92 of the  bones known of this primate:

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author


The conversation is interesting and it seems tha the Gigantophitecus was just slightly larger than the largest gorillas.

In Wikipedia there is the point of view of the giant of 3 meters tall and 600 kg and also that of the large 2 meters tall and 300 kg (which is still larger than the biggest gorilla recorded).

Check the link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigantopithecus

However there is one document that got my attencion and is "Gigantopithecus blacki: a giant ape from the Pleistocene of Asia revisited." from Zhang & Harrison of 2017. It says that the estimated weight is between 204 - 280 kg, however they recognize that without any post-cranial remain, it is very hard to reconstruct its weight, but they believe that a weight between 200-300 kg will be accurate.
Here is the link of this paper: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf...ajpa.23150

I think That if this primate do measured 3 meters, a weight of at least 400 kg will be correct and for a male of 2 or more meters tall a 300 kg will be accurate, but that depend of what type of animal it was: orangutan, gorilla, baboon or dryopithicine member, check this:

"According to Ciochon et al. (1990), Gigantopithecus blacki was 10 feet tall and weighed 1,200 pounds. This is speculative, since it is with some uncertainty that one reconstructs such a massive creature from a few jaw bones and teeth, however many. The way they arrived at this picture was first to estimate the size of the head from the jaw, and then to use a head/body ratio of 1:6.5 in order to determine the body size. For comparison they cite a head/body ratio of 1:8 for the Australopithecus afarensis specimen known as 'Lucy'. The more conservative ratio for Gigantopithecus was arrived at out of consideration of the massive jaw as an adaptation to the mastication of fibrous plant matter (probably bamboo). Gigantopithecus was probably proportionally a markedly big jawed creature. For the head shape they based their assumptions on the orangutan, since evolutionarily they place Gigantopithecus on the same line as the orangutan, finding a common ancestor for them both in Sivapithecus. However, the orangutan could not serve as a model for the body, since it is unlikely that a 1,200 pound ape would be as arboreal. Therefore they chose the largest primates known, the gorilla and the extinct giant baboon Theropithecus oswaldi, as their models for the body. They gave Gigantopithecus an intermembral index 108 (gorilla at 120 + Theropithecus at 95 divide by 2 = 108 rounded up - very scientific!) (Ciochon et al., 1990)."

Also in the same article:
"Elwyn L. Simons and Peter C. Ettel (1970) paint a somewhat different picture. They trace Gigantopithecus back to a dryopithicine origin and their corresponding reconstruction is essentially a giant gorilla, 9 feet tall, weighing 600 pounds. It is not nearly as attractive as the giant orangutan/gorilla cross created by Ciochon et al. and Bill Munn (1990)."

Link for the entire article: http://eric.pettifor.org/gigantopithecus

So I think that before to choose a side, it will be important if we can check both sides of the story, because this animal present a complicated case: a "big" animal with very few fossils, and all from theeth and a little mandible fragment with no apparent living relatives.
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Ok, take a read and show your ideas.


Greetings. Reply