Gigantopithecus

I just got banned from TheFossilForum.Com for trying to discuss fossil evidence of Gigantopithecus. One would think that people on a fossil forum would be interested in discussing fossils, but, alas, no. The forces of mental retardation continue unabated.

Pilbeam, D., Gigantopithecus and the Origins of Hominidae, Nature, Volume 225, Pages 516-519, Feb 1970

A re-examination of the available Gigantopithecus material has revealed that most of the supposed "man-like" characteristics of this fossil primate are not, in fact, hominid at all.

Ciochon, R., Dated Co-Occurrence of Homo Erectus and Gigantopithecus from Tham Khuyen Cave Vietnam, PNAS, Volume 93, Number 7, Pages 3016-3020, Apr 1996

The dated co-occurrence of Homo erectus and Gigantopithecus blacki at Tham Khuyen helps to establish the long co-existence of these two species throughout east Asia during the Early and Middle Pleistocene.

Giant Ape Lived Alongside Humans, Science Daily, Nov 2005

ScienceDaily (Nov. 13, 2005) — A gigantic ape, measuring about 10 feet tall and weighing up to 1,200 pounds, co-existed alongside humans, a geochronologist at McMaster University has discovered.

Carey, B., Gigantic Apes Coexisted with Early Humans, Study Finds, Live Science, Nov 2005

Now Jack Rink, a geochronologist at McMaster University in Ontario, has used a high-precision absolute-dating method to determine that this ape – the largest primate ever – roamed Southeast Asia for nearly a million years before the species died out 100,000 years ago during the Pleistocene period. By this time, humans had existed for a million years.

Harder, B., Giant Asian Ape and Humans Coexisted, May Have Interacted, National Geographic, Dec 2005

Stalking through the forest, an early human hunter might have glimpsed an oversize ape through a thicket of bamboo.

We may never know the outcome of such a prehistoric encounter—or even if a meeting occurred. The mysterious ape, called Gigantopithecus blacki, has long since vanished from the Earth, and so has the early human species.

But researchers have determined that the giant ape—which might have been the closest thing to a real King Kong—did in fact live at the same time and in roughly the same place as early humans.

In China 300,000 years ago the two species might well have crossed paths, according to W. Jack Rink of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.