The demise of the giant ape Gigantopithecus blacki

Yingqi Zhang (), Kira E. Westaway (), Simon Haberle, Juliën K. Lubeek, Marian Bailey, Russell Ciochon, Mike W. Morley, Patrick Roberts, Jian-xin Zhao, Mathieu Duval, Anthony Dosseto, Yue Pan, Sue Rule, Wei Liao, Grant A. Gully, Mary Lucas, Jinyou Mo, Liyun Yang, Yanjun Cai, Wei Wang () and Renaud Joannes-Boyau ()
Additional contact information
Yingqi Zhang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Kira E. Westaway: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Simon Haberle: Australian National University
Juliën K. Lubeek: Macquarie University
Marian Bailey: Southern Cross University
Russell Ciochon: University of Iowa
Mike W. Morley: Flinders University
Patrick Roberts: Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology
Jian-xin Zhao: University of Queensland
Mathieu Duval: National Research Centre on Human Evolution CENIEH
Anthony Dosseto: University of Wollongong
Yue Pan: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Sue Rule: Australian National University
Wei Liao: Shandong University
Grant A. Gully: Flinders University
Mary Lucas: Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology
Jinyou Mo: Natural History Museum of Guangxi
Liyun Yang: Chongzuo Zhuang Ethnological Musuem
Yanjun Cai: Xi’an Jiaotong University
Wei Wang: Shandong University
Renaud Joannes-Boyau: Chinese Academy of Sciences

Nature, 2024, vol. 625, issue 7995, 535-539

Abstract: Abstract The largest ever primate and one of the largest of the southeast Asian megafauna, Gigantopithecus blacki1, persisted in China from about 2.0 million years until the late middle Pleistocene when it became extinct2–4. Its demise is enigmatic considering that it was one of the few Asian great apes to go extinct in the last 2.6 million years, whereas others, including orangutan, survived until the present5. The cause of the disappearance of G. blacki remains unresolved but could shed light on primate resilience and the fate of megafauna in this region6. Here we applied three multidisciplinary analyses—timing, past environments and behaviour—to 22 caves in southern China. We used 157 radiometric ages from six dating techniques to establish a timeline for the demise of G. blacki. We show that from 2.3 million years ago the environment was a mosaic of forests and grasses, providing ideal conditions for thriving G. blacki populations. However, just before and during the extinction window between 295,000 and 215,000 years ago there was enhanced environmental variability from increased seasonality, which caused changes in plant communities and an increase in open forest environments. Although its close relative Pongo weidenreichi managed to adapt its dietary preferences and behaviour to this variability, G. blacki showed signs of chronic stress and dwindling populations. Ultimately its struggle to adapt led to the extinction of the greatest primate to ever inhabit the Earth.

Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06900-0 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:625:y:2024:i:7995:d:10.1038_s41586-023-06900-0

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06900-0

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().