Largest primate ever

The largest primate of all time was Gigantopithecus blacki, an enormous extinct cousin of the modern-day south-east Asian orangutan (Pongo spp.), which lived in southern China and the Indochinese Peninsula between 2.15 million and 300,000 years ago; reasons for its eventual extinction remain unclear. Estimates derived from its fossilized 2.5-cm-wide (1-in) cheek teeth and huge jawbones suggest that Gigantopithecus stood up to 3.7 m (12 ft) tall when propped on its hind legs, and weighed up to 280–300 kg (617–661 lb), though more conservative estimates favour a standing height of 2.5–3 m (8 ft 2 in–9 ft 10 in) and mass of 200–300 kg (440–661 lb). Based on the latter, its estimated shoulder height in a quadruped (fist/palm-walking) posture would have been 1.5–1.7 m (4 ft 11 in–5 ft 7 in) and its sitting height would be around 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in). By contrast, a full-grown male (silverback) of an eastern lowland gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri), today’s largest primate, stands at just over 2 m (6 ft 6 in) tall on two legs and weighs up to 209 kg (460 lb).

In spite of its imposing stature that may have struck fear into our ancestors, Gigantopithecus was strictly herbivorous. Its massively robust jaws and teeth indicate ability to chew on tough, abrasive plant materials. Tiny starch grains found bonded to Gigantopithecus teeth indicate it occasionally fed on tubers. Whereas a high incidence of dental caries on fossil Gigantopithecus teeth from various cave sites in southern China indicate consumption of sugary tropical fruits such as figs, also supported by study of microscopic plant remnants found adhered to these teeth.

Gigantopithecus was first discovered based on two isolated lower wisdom teeth purchased in 1935 from a traditional Chinese apothecary in Hong Kong, China, by German-Dutch palaeontologist G H R von Koenigswald. Fossilized mammalian teeth were a staple ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine for millennia, interpreted by the ancient Chinese as “dragon teeth”. Their true nature as testaments to the Earth’s actual ancient past was only realized by travelling Western naturalists in the 19th century. In the early years of Chinese palaeontology, many extinct species were discovered based on Chinese pharmaceutical purchases, including ancient horses, tapirs, rhinos and a giant short-faced hyena the size of a lioness.

Although traces for the activities of the earliest humans in south-east Asia over this period are not too uncommon in regions where Gigantopithecus inhabited, encounters were probably rare between the "original King Kong" and our ancestors. Prof. Russell Ciochon (University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA) theorized that whereas Gigantopithecus inhabited dense subtropical jungles or bamboo forests, early humans preferred more open parkland-savannahs.