BIGFOOT has long been thought of as a potential ‘missing link’ between apes and humans and now scientists think they’ve found evidence of an “original” version of the mythical creature.
A new study proposes that the ‘original Bigfoot’ was a 10-foot tall ape that roamed the Earth two million years ago.
Archaeological evidence of the creature has been found in southeastern China.
It is being referred to as Gigantopithecus blacki or G. blacki for short.
It’s being likened to modern-day orangutans.
The researchers found that G. Blacki is actually related to orangutans by conducting a new kind of protein analysis on some of the tooth enamel from fossilised remains.
Study co-author Enrico Cappellini explained: “By sequencing proteins retrieved from dental enamel about 2 million years old, we showed it is possible to confidently reconstruct the evolutionary relationships of animal species that went extinct too far away in time for their DNA to survive till now.
“In this study, we can even conclude that the lineages of orangutan and Gigantopithecus split up about 12 million years ago.”
The researchers have worked out that G. blacki likely weighed up to 595 pounds and diverged from orangutans around 12 million years ago.
However, it’s not thought to be closely related to humans.
The study’s lead author Frido Welker said: “With this study, we show that we can use protein sequencing to retrieve ancient genetic information from primates living in subtropical areas even when the fossil is two million years old.
“Until now, it has only been possible to retrieve genetic information from up to 10,000-year-old fossils in warm, humid areas.
“This is interesting, because ancient remains of the supposed ancestors of our species, Homo sapiens, are also mainly found in subtropical areas, particularly for the early part of human evolution.
“This means that we can potentially retrieve similar information on the evolutionary line leading to humans.”
Fossils of the ‘original Bigfoot’ are very rare and only four parital jaws have ever been found.
However, thousands of teeth have been discovered.
We don’t know for sure what G. blacki would have looked like but some artistic impressions depict the species as an oversized orangutan.
This study has been published in the scientific journal Nature.
The history of the planet in years...
In other archaeology news, Hitler’s secret vegetable garden has been uncovered at a Poland bunker.
Gold dentures with ‘hippo ivory’ teeth will be auctioned later this month after being dug up in a field near Oxford.
And, the face of a 1,000-year-old Viking warrior woman with a gruesome battle wound across her skull has been revealed.
What do you make of this giant ape? Let us know in the comments…
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