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By Jonathanrex1
04/02/2009 - 14:22:30

Type: Creature
Rating: 0.14 (Not rated)
Tags: ape, asia, china, cryptid, extinct, giant, jonathanrex1, omnivore, prehisotric

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Description

The largest ape known to science, Gigantopithecus blacki, appeared in the fossil record during the Miocence epoch, about 6.3 million years ago. It thrived in Southeast Asia untill the Middle Pleistocene (about 800,000 years ago), when Homo erectus invaded the great primate?s territory. A deadly conflict then presumably ensued, with early humans hunting the apes, while ?Giganto? was forced to compete with men and giant pandas for bamboo, its primary food source. Most researchers believe Giganto was driven to extinction sometime within the past 500,000 to 1 million years ? but is it true ?Giganto was unknown to science until 1935, when German paleontologist Ralph von Koenigswald founa a ?dragon tooth? offered for sale in a Hong Kong pharmacy. He recognized it as a molar of an unknown primate, and search of local shops revealed 3 more similar teeth. The proprietors told Koenigswald that the teeth came from Guanxi Province, China Their mixture with Middle Pleistocence panda a elephant fossil prompted Koenigswald to date the teeth between 125,000 and 700,000 years old. WWII interrupted Koenigswlad?s research, but he survived a Japanese prison camp to resume his studies in 1946. In the 1950s, several Giganto mandibles were uncovered, and while no complete remains have yet been found, the samples in hand permit scientists to reconstruct Giganto?s skull, and thus to calculate the creature?s overall based on a formulae from known primates. According to those calculations, Giganto stood 10 feet tall at maturity, resembling a giant gorilla. Estimates of its mature weight range from 650 to 1,250 pounds.The major controversy surrounding Giganto today concerns the date of its extinction ? or whether it may still survive in the modern world. Cryptozoologists including Bernard Heuvelmans a Grover Krantz speculate that Giganto was not wiped out by Homo Erectus in Asia, but instead withdrew to more remote areas, perhaps including the Himalayas of Nepal, where it survives today as the Yeti. An extension of that theory sees Giganto crossing the frozen Bering Strait from Asia to North America, establishing viable populations in wilderness regions where it would later be known as Bigfoot.Info from ?Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology?(This creation belongs to me, Jonathanrex1. If you see it anywhere else it?s stolen.)