Gigantopithecus

Discovery

Gigantopithecus blacki was named in 1935 by anthropologist Ralph von Koenigswald based on two third lower molar teeth of enormous size, measuring 20 by 22 mm. The specific name honors Canadian palaeoanthropologist Davidson Black, who had died the previous year. Von Koenigswald, working for the Dutch East Indies Mineralogical Survey on Java, found the teeth in a Hong Kong drugstore where they were sold as dragon bones for traditional Chinese medicine.

By 1939, after purchasing more teeth, he determined they originated in Guangdong or Guangxi. He could not formally describe the type specimen until 1952 due to his internment by Japanese forces during World War II. The originally discovered teeth are part of the University of Utrecht collection. While on Java, von Koenigswald hid the teeth in a milk bottle buried in a friend's backyard before being interned; after the war, he recovered them and moved to New York City, unable to continue research.

In 1955, a survey team led by Chinese palaeontologist Pei Wenzhong, tasked by the Chinese Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology, collected 47 teeth from dragon bone shipments in Guangdong and Guangxi. In 1956, the team discovered the first in situ remains—a third molar and premolar—in a cave on Niusui Mountain, Guangxi, subsequently named Gigantopithecus Cave. That same year, farmer Tan Xiuhuai found more teeth and the first mandible on his field.

From 1957 to 1963, excavations at Yanyan Cave recovered two more mandibles and over 1,000 teeth. As of 2024, Yanyan Cave remains the most productive site. A fourth confirmed mandible was discovered in Yanliang, Central China, in 2014. Extensive rodent gnawing marks indicate that teeth accumulated in caves largely due to porcupine activity, as porcupines gnaw bones for nutrients and can haul large bones into dens, consuming everything except the hard enamel crowns.

Description

Total size estimates for Gigantopithecus are highly speculative because only tooth and jaw elements are known, and molar size does not always correlate with body weight. In 1946, Weidenreich hypothesized the ape was twice the size of male gorillas. Pei estimated a height of about 12 ft in 1957. In 1970, Simons and Peter Ettel approximated a height of almost 9 ft and a weight of up to 600 lb.

David P. Willoughby estimated a height of 1.85 m and a weight of 250 kg in 1978. In 1979, Alfred E. Johnson Jr. used gorilla dimensions to estimate femur and humerus lengths about 20–25% longer than those of gorillas. In 2017, Yingqi Zhang and Terry Harrison suggested a body mass of 200–300 kg, though they conceded a reliable estimate is impossible without more complete remains. In 2019, R. J. Hawley wrote that a bipedal standing height over 230 cm is unreasonable.

The average maximum length of upper canines for presumed males and females is 21.1 mm and 15.4 mm, respectively, and Mandible III (presumed male) is 40% larger than Mandible I (presumed female), implying sexual dimorphism surpassed only by gorillas in canine size and by none in mandibular disparity.

Palaeobiology

Gigantopithecus is considered a herbivore, with carbon isotope analysis indicating consumption of C3 plants such as fruits, leaves, and other forest plants. Its robust mandible could resist high strains while chewing tough or hard foods, though similar mandibular anatomy is seen in modern apes that eat soft leaves or seeds. The teeth show a lower rate of pitting than orangutans, more similar to chimpanzees, suggesting a generalist diet. The molar-like premolars, large molars, and long-rooted cheek teeth point to chewing, crushing, and grinding of bulky, fibrous materials.

Thick enamel would have resisted abrasive items like dirt particles on food gathered near the ground, such as bamboo shoots. Oxygen isotope analysis suggests it consumed more low-lying plants like stems, roots, and grasses than orangutans. Dental calculus indicates tuber consumption. It does not appear to have eaten savanna grasses, though a few opal phytoliths from four teeth at Gigantopithecus Cave originated from grasses; most phytoliths resemble hairs of fig family fruits, indicating fruit was a significant dietary component.

Extremely high δ44/42Ca values suggest frequent use of mineral licks from rocks and soils. Teeth from Hejiang Cave, dating to near the time of extinction, show a less level outer enamel surface with secondary crests and sharper major crests, possibly indicating local adaptation to a changing environment with different food resources.

Palaeoecology

Gigantopithecus remains are generally found in what were subtropical evergreen broadleaf forests in South China, except in Hainan, which featured tropical rainforest. Carbon and oxygen isotope analysis of Early Pleistocene enamel suggests it inhabited dense, humid, closed-canopy forest. Queque Cave featured mixed deciduous and evergreen forest dominated by birch, oak, and chinkapin, along with low-lying herbs and ferns. The Gigantopithecus fauna, a major mammalian faunal group of the Early Pleistocene of southern China, includes tropical or subtropical forest species and has been subdivided into three stages spanning 2.6–1.8, 1.8–1.2, and 1.2–0.8 million years ago.

The early stage is characterized by Neogene animals such as Sinomastodon, Hesperotherium, Hippopotamodon, Dorcabune, and Cervavitus. The middle stage includes the appearance of Ailuropoda wulingshanensis, Cuon antiquus, and Tapirus sinensis. The late stage features animals like Ailuropoda baconi and Stegodon. Other typical animals include orangutans, macaques, rhinos, Sus xiaozhu, Sus peii, muntjac, Cervus, gaur, Megalovis, and rarely Megantereon.

In 2009, Russell Ciochon hypothesized an undescribed, chimp-sized ape coexisted with Gigantopithecus, identified in 2019 as Meganthropus. Longgudong Cave may have been a transitional zone between the Palaearctic and Oriental realms, featuring boreal animals alongside the typical Gigantopithecus fauna.

Did You Know?

• Gigantopithecus has been used in cryptozoology as the identity of the Tibetan yeti or American bigfoot.
• The only scientist who continued trying to prove a connection between Gigantopithecus and bigfoot was anthropologist Grover Krantz, from 1970 until his death in 2002.
• Two possible Gigantopithecus teeth have been reported from a Late Pleistocene deposit in Vietnam, but they could belong to P. weidenreichi.