Scientists reported on Wednesday that an ancient species of large ape may have gone extinct hundreds of thousands of years ago due to climate change that made their preferred fruits inaccessible during dry seasons.

Gigantopithecus blacki, a species that inhabited southern China, is recognized as the largest known great ape by scientists. It stood at a height of 10 feet and weighed up to 650 pounds.

However, its dimensions could potentially be a disadvantage.

According to Renaud Joannes-Boyau, a member of the research team from Southern Cross University in Australia, the animal in question is extremely large. In situations where food is scarce, its size becomes a hindrance as it is unable to climb trees to search for alternative food sources. This information was reported in a study published in the journal Nature.

The large primates, which were similar to present-day orangutans, thrived for approximately 2 million years in the wooded lands of Guangxi, China. They consumed plant-based meals, feeding on fruits and flowers in lush rainforests, until the surroundings started to transform.

The scientists studied pollen and sediment samples that were stored in caves in Guangxi, along with fossil teeth, in order to understand why the number of fruits produced by forests decreased approximately 600,000 years ago, coinciding with an increase in dry seasons in the region.

According to the researchers, the giant apes did not disappear abruptly, but instead became extinct at some point between 215,000 and 295,000 years ago.

Although smaller apes may have had the ability to climb trees in search of varied food sources, the study conducted by the researchers indicates that larger apes consumed more tree bark, reeds, and other types of non-nutritious food.

According to co-author Zhang Yingqi from China’s Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, the species did not have access to sufficient amounts of their preferred food when the forest underwent change.

The majority of knowledge on the extinct great apes is derived from the analysis of fossilized teeth and four sizable lower jaw bones, all discovered in southern China. There have been no complete remains of these animals found thus far.

Between approximately 2 and 22 million years ago, there were numerous types of large apes living in Africa, Europe, and Asia as evidenced by fossil findings. Presently, the only surviving species include gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, and humans.

According to Rick Potts, who leads the Human Origins Program at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and was not part of the research, while the initial humans appeared in Africa, it remains unknown on which continent the great ape family originated.

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The Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group provides support to the Associated Press Health and Science Department. The AP is fully responsible for all of its content.

Source: wral.com