What Caused the Mysterious Extinction of ‘Giganto,’ the World’s Largest Ape?

[Chim Chim]

“One thing seems almost certain: Their actual geographical range through time would have been much greater than current fossils indicate,” he tells the publication. “How much this will affect the timing of the global extinction of the species is impossible to tell.”
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/what-caused-mysterious-extinction-giganto-worlds-largest-ape-180983582/

Yep, assuming they went extinct.
 

[Catmandoo]

Size of Giganto is total speculation.  Large molars are an evolutionary mutation to enhance the chewing of bamboo and other vegetation ( think Paleo Euell Gibbons ). It is believed that porcupine activity consumed bones. A full skeleton does not exist at this time.

From the above link :

" the complete fossil record of the animals consists of a mere four jawbones and roughly 2,000 isolated teeth". 

The teeth were being sold for medicinal purposes as 'dragon teeth'.

The porcupines must have had some wicked quills.

 

[norseman]

On 2/10/2024 at 9:18 PM, Chim Chim said:

“One thing seems almost certain: Their actual geographical range through time would have been much greater than current fossils indicate,” he tells the publication. “How much this will affect the timing of the global extinction of the species is impossible to tell.”
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/what-caused-mysterious-extinction-giganto-worlds-largest-ape-180983582/

Yep, assuming they went extinct.
 

I disagree. I think it had a lot more to do with cousins running around in land wolf packs with pointy sticks than anything else.

 

The Orangutan in the background of the picture still remains because Homo Erectus wasn’t gonna climb to the jungle canopy to get it. Giganto was terrestrial like us. Which is bad for them. And modern humans are sometimes blamed for the mega fauna die out in the Americas? Why not China?

 

I don’t think anyone or anything would want 20 Homo Erectus (or Homo anything) armed with spears on your back trail.

[Catmandoo]

An interesting article on the demise of 'Gigantopithecus blacki' :

 

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06900-0

 

During the lifetime of 'Giganto', the human population in China and Southeast Asia was small. Consisting of archaic and early modern  humans. The thoughts about thundering herds of short stocky guys with pointed sticks roaming the country side are a stretch.

[xspider1]

On 2/16/2024 at 5:23 PM, norseman said:

I disagree. I think it had a lot more to do with cousins running around in land wolf packs with pointy sticks than anything else.

 

That is possible I suppose, but how many Homo Erectus would be willing to have their arms ripped off engaging a 10 foot tall Giganto (or, a troop of Giganto) with spears?  As I'm sure you know, the gorilla in the picture above was shot by poachers during a slaughter in the Virunga National Park, not killed by humans with spears.  

[norseman]

34 minutes ago, xspider1 said:

 

That is possible I suppose, but how many Homo Erectus would be willing to have their arms ripped off engaging a 10 foot tall Giganto (or, a troop of Giganto) with spears?  As I'm sure you know, the gorilla in the picture above was shot by poachers during a slaughter in the Virunga National Park, not killed by humans with spears.  

Gorillas have been killed for millennia with spears before the introduction of firearms. As where every other animal on the planet….

 

If your stabbing woolly rhino, mastodon and cave bears to death with spears? What’s a giant ape?

 

Here is a relatively modern film with Africans using spears to kill almost all of the dangerous game of Africa. Is it dangerous? Absolutely! Does it stop them? Absolutely not. It’s graphic you got to follow the link.
 

 

 

[Catmandoo]

The video is graphic. It does not show the hunters that were gored, injured or killed. And what about the lions, leopards, cheetah, hyenas etc that were on the periphery picking off the humans who strayed too far from their group /  lost their spear? Tough and chewy on the outside, pink and crunchy on the inside. Lions and tigers and leopards, oh my.

 

 Research the population numbers of archaic and nearly modern humans during the time of Giganto. Not very many. Research the porcupine population because a lot of them were required to chow down on Giganto bones. Wicked quills.

 

Gigantopithecus blacki is gone. Stop monkeying around.

[xspider1]

44 minutes ago, norseman said:

Gorillas have been killed for millennia with spears before the introduction of firearms. As where every other animal on the planet….

 

Didn't need to see that : ( . 

 

Thankfully, no gorillas are being killed with spears in that video.  Still, unlike hippos and elephants, Gigantopithecus lived in the forest.  They were also almost certainly far more intelligent than the animals in that video.  And, they were apparently twice the size of gorillas.  So, I still contend that ancient humans hunting troops of Giganto with adult males in the 10' tall range at 700 lbs through forests using spears is a long shot.

[norseman]

7 minutes ago, Catmandoo said:

The video is graphic. It does not show the hunters that were gored, injured or killed. And what about the lions, leopards, cheetah, hyenas etc that were on the periphery picking off the humans who strayed too far from their group /  lost their spear? Tough and chewy on the outside, pink and crunchy on the inside. Lions and tigers and leopards, oh my.

 

 Research the population numbers of archaic and nearly modern humans during the time of Giganto. Not very many. Research the porcupine population because a lot of them were required to chow down on Giganto bones. Wicked quills.

 

Gigantopithecus blacki is gone. Stop monkeying around.

I stated it was dangerous. People die every year from Hippos, Elephants, Rhinos, Leopards, Lions, etc…. And yet without firearms? The video clearly shows most of the beasts mentioned being systematically slaughtered by the genus Homo with spears, just as it undoubtedly was done for millennia….🤷‍♂️

 

Yes we know Giganto is gone, we were debating the finer points of WHY it was gone.

[Catmandoo]

Food, especially bamboo.

[norseman]

4 minutes ago, xspider1 said:

 

Didn't need to see that : ( . 

 

Thankfully, no gorillas are being killed with spears in that video.  Still, unlike hippos and elephants, Gigantopithecus lived in the forest.  They were also almost certainly far more intelligent than the animals in that video.  And, they were apparently twice the size of gorillas.  So, I still contend that ancient humans hunting troops of Giganto with adult males in the 10' tall range at 700 lbs through forests using spears is a long shot.

No. You DID need to see that. Because that is a very tiny snippet of the VAST history of humanity. It’s the very reason we are not in a jungle somewhere competing with Gorillas for course plant matter to chew on. Think about it! Sure, it is an affront to our very tender modern sensibilities as we munch on chicken nuggets and sit on our couches and watch TV…. But our past is a very very bloody one. 
 

A short faced bear would have turned a Giganto inside out. And just like all the rest of the mega fauna? Humans hunted them too. Our ancestors and previous Homo species were studs with a capital S. They went out of the cave every day looking to mix it up with some of the most terrifying creature the Pleistocene had to offer. And one species came out on top. And it’s why we eat snow cones at the zoo and observe what’s left of them behind the safety of plexiglass. Our ancestors conquered the planet.

3 minutes ago, Catmandoo said:

Food, especially bamboo.

And yet the Panda remains….

[norseman]

Oh yah….Lions? Yah they speared them as well.

 

 

[xspider1]

11 minutes ago, norseman said:

No. You DID need to see that.

 

No, I did not.  I am aware that such hunts take place and that is enough.  I do not need to see animals suffer, nobody does.

 

Still, what do you think a short-faced bear's IQ (and subsequent cognitive ability to avoid/defend against ancient humans) was compared to a great Ape?  Perhaps there was a band of suicidal Homo Erectus that got so hungry that they decided to go into the forest to hunt a Gigantopithicus, I don't know.  However, in my opinion, it is unlikely that such hunts caused the extinction of Gigantopithicus.  My understanding is that ancient humans hunting large, dangerous animals with spears resulted in more deaths of the hunters than the hunted.  But, they were hungry so, I get it did happen.  Much more likely though, environmental factors caused their extinction, which was the case with almost every other animal that went extinct before modern humans (which I think are the conquerors to which you refer).

[Catmandoo]

56 minutes ago, norseman said:

Our ancestors and previous Homo species were studs with a capital S

 

We are slow, can't jump and relatively weaker than our animal neighbors.  I just assume that our ancestors were carrion eaters.

 

1 hour ago, norseman said:

And yet the Panda remains….

 

Smaller animals need less food. Pandas can swim and climb trees.

[norseman]

11 hours ago, xspider1 said:

 

No, I did not.  I am aware that such hunts take place and that is enough.  I do not need to see animals suffer, nobody does.

 

Still, what do you think a short-faced bear's IQ (and subsequent cognitive ability to avoid/defend against ancient humans) was compared to a great Ape?  Perhaps there was a band of suicidal Homo Erectus that got so hungry that they decided to go into the forest to hunt a Gigantopithicus, I don't know.  However, in my opinion, it is unlikely that such hunts caused the extinction of Gigantopithicus.  My understanding is that ancient humans hunting large, dangerous animals with spears resulted in more deaths of the hunters than the hunted.  But, they were hungry so, I get it did happen.  Much more likely though, environmental factors caused their extinction, which was the case with almost every other animal that went extinct before modern humans (which I think are the conquerors to which you refer).

You’re contradicting yourself. Ok, well if you knew such hunts took place? Then you should be well aware of theories that pack of humans with pointy sticks caused mass die offs.

 

https://ourworldindata.org/quaternary-megafauna-extinction