Gigantopithecus Blacki Jaw Replica

Description

Gigantopithecus Blacki Jaw Replica measures 8.2 inches. Gigantopithecus Blacki Jaw Replica is museum quality polyurethane cast. Made in USA. Replica is a partial jaw. Our precise jaw can be used as a teaching tool, museum jaw exhibit, home décor jaw, or office décor jaw.

The largest primate that ever lived, found in Pleistocene China and Vietnam. Gigantopithecus blacki or G. blacki was named in honor of the friend and colleague of von Koenigswald, Davidson Black, and is known only through fossil teeth and mandibles found in cave sites in South China and Vietnam.

Dating methods have shown that Gigantopithecus or G. blacki existed for at least a million years, going extinct about 100,000 years ago after having been contemporary with anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens) for tens of thousands of years. In 2014, for the first time, fossil teeth and mandible of G. blacki were found in Indonesia.

Only teeth and 4 mandibles are known currently, and other skeletal elements were likely consumed by porcupines before they could fossilize.

Gigantopithecus was once argued to be a hominin, a member of the human line, but it is now thought to be closely allied with orangutans, classified in the subfamily Ponginae.

Gigantopithecus or G. blacki traditionally been restored as a massive, gorilla-like ape, potentially 440 to 660 lbs. when alive. The species may have been sexually dimorphic, with males much bigger than females.

The incisors are reduced and the canines appear to have functioned like cheek teeth. The premolars are high crowned, and the fourth premolar is very molar-like. The molars are the largest of any known ape, and have a relatively flat surface.

Gigantopithecus or G. blacki had the thickest enamel by absolute measure of any ape, up to a quarter of an inch in some areas, though was only fairly thick when tooth size is taken into account.

Gigantopithecus or G. blacki appears to have been a generalist herbivore of C3 forest plants, with the jaw adapted to grinding, crushing, and cutting through tough, fibrous plants; and the thick enamel functioning to resist foods with abrasive particles such as stems, roots, and tubers with dirt. Some teeth bear traces of fig family fruits.

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