Gigantopithecus was the largest primate to ever live, an extinct genus of giant apes that roamed southern China and Southeast Asia during the Pleistocene epoch (around 2 million to 300,000 years ago). Known from fossilized teeth and jawbones, it stood up to 10 feet tall and weighed up to 1,100 pounds, with a diet of tough vegetation like bamboo, and is considered a distant relative of modern orangutans. Its extinction is linked to climate change, which reduced its forest habitat and food supply,

How Fossils Are Formed

Fossil Types for beginners