Extinct Animals News

[HyperNova]

Giganthopithecus blacki size has been vastly exagerrated.

''Given the very large size of the cheek teeth and massiveness of the mandible it can be presumed that G. blacki was larger than any living hominoid, including extant gorillas (with an average male body weight of 169 kg; Smith & Jungers, 1987). Weidenreich (1945) speculated that it was twice the size of Gorilla. Others have proposed an estimated body mass of 225–300 kg (Ciochon et al., 1990; Dean & Schrenk, 2003; Fleagle, 2013; Simons, 1972; Simons & Ettel, 1970) and a standing height of 9–12 ft (2.7–3.7 m) (Ciochon et al., 1990; Pei, 1957b; Simons, 1972). Johnson (1979) argued that the limb bones of G. blacki would have been 20–25% larger than those of extant gorillas. Based on M1area to body mass correlations (Conroy, 1987; Gingerich, Smith, & Rosenberg, 1982), we are able to calculate an estimated body mass of 204 kg (using the Gingerich formula) and 280 kg (using the Conroy formula for apes). Obviously, the use of dental size as a predictor of body mass in fossil primates is problematic because dental size varies considerably within any body size class for a variety of functional and phylogenetic factors (Delson et al., 2000). Nevertheless, one might make a reasonable case from what is known about its anatomy that G. blacki was likely to have been a relatively megadont hominoid, and that any body mass prediction based on molar size will probably represent an overestimation. Without postcranial remains it is simply not possible to obtain a reliable estimate of the body mass for G. blacki, but 200–300 kg does seem like a reasonable guide. Such a size (which overlaps with the upper end of the body mass range for extant male gorillas) may have precluded or greatly restricted arboreal behaviors in G. blacki, but once again postcranial remains are needed in order to determine its inferred locomotor repertoire.''

Source : Gigantopithecus blacki: a giant ape from the Pleistocene of Asia revisited Reply