The largest ape on record stood almost 3 meters tall and weighed nearly twice as much as a gorilla. Why and when the legendary colossus — which has captivated the popular imagination as “the real King Kong” — disappeared is one of the biggest mysteries in paleontology. German-Dutch paleontologist G.H.R. von Koenigswald first identified Gigantopithecus blacki about a century ago from large teeth sold as medicinal “dragon bones” at a Hong Kong apothecary. Some 2,000 fossilized teeth and four jawbones from the extinct species have since been unearthed in caves in southern China. Now, new research on many of these rare fossils and the caves where they were found builds on preliminary evidence, revealing a timeline that sheds more light on the elusive circumstances surrounding the demise of Gigantopithecus. The authors believe the massive creature went extinct between 295,000 and 215,000 years ago, after the climate became more seasonal and the plant-eating primate struggled to adapt to changing vegetation. Before Gigantopithecus populations dwindled due to climate change, the species flourished starting from about 2 million years ago in a rich and diverse forest environment, primarily eating fruit, said study coauthor Kira Westaway, a professor and geochronologist at Macquarie University in Australia. “Around (700,000 or) 600,000 years ago we start to see large environmental changes and during that period we see a decline in the availability of fruit,” she explained. “Giganto (ate) less nutritious fallback foods. We’ve got evidence from looking at the teeth structure,” Westaway added. “Pits and scratches on the teeth suggest it was eating really fibrous food such as bark and twigs from the forest floor.” Over the course of nearly a decade, the team of Chinese and Australian scientists took sediment samples from 22 caves over a wide area of the Guangxi region in southern China that borders Vietnam. Half of the caves contained Gigantopithecus fossils, while half did not. First, the researchers obtained accurate dates for the fossils and the sediment using several techniques. Next, the team analyzed pollen traces in the sediment samples to understand what plants and trees dominated the landscape. Isotope analysis of elements such as carbon and oxygen contained in the Gigantopithecus teeth helped the researchers understand how the animal’s diet may have changed over time. The team found that the giant ape did not adapt well to changing environmental conditions and displayed chronic stress and dwindling numbers. (SD-Agencies) Words to Learn 相關(guān)詞匯 【滅絕】mièjué extinct having no living members, no longer in existence 【纖維的】xiānwéi de fibrous containing, consisting of, or resembling fibers 有記錄以來最大的猿類高近3米，體重幾乎是大猩猩的兩倍。現(xiàn)實版“金剛”吸引著大眾的想象力，這一傳說中的龐然大物何時消失、怎么消失，則是古生物學中最大的謎團之一。 大約一個世紀前，德裔荷蘭籍古生物學家G.H.R. 馮?科尼格斯瓦爾德通過香港一家藥房出售的藥用龍骨（巨型牙齒）首次確認了黑猿的身份。此后在中國南方的洞穴中出土了約2000 顆來自這個已滅絕物種的牙齒化石和四塊顎骨。 基于這些發(fā)現(xiàn)，新研究對這些罕見化石和發(fā)現(xiàn)它們的洞穴進行分析，揭示了一個時間線，讓人們對巨齒獸滅絕的情形有了更多了解。 研究作者認為，在距今 29.5萬年到21.5萬年間，氣候產(chǎn)生了更明顯的季節(jié)變化，這種植食性的靈長類巨獸難以適應(yīng)植被的變化，因此滅絕了。 研究合著者、澳大利亞麥考瑞大學教授兼地球年代學家基拉?韋斯特韋說，在巨猿數(shù)量因氣候變化而減少之前，該物種從大約200萬年前開始在豐富多樣的森林環(huán)境中繁衍生息，主要吃水果。 她解釋說：“大約（70萬年或）60萬年前，我們開始看到環(huán)境巨變，作為食物的水果變少了。巨猿只能吃營養(yǎng)價值較低的替代食物。通過觀察牙齒結(jié)構(gòu)我們找到了證據(jù)。” 韋斯特韋補充說：“牙齒上的凹坑和劃痕表明，它吃的是高纖維食物，比如林地上的樹皮樹枝。” 在近十年的時間里，由中國和澳大利亞科學家組成的研究小組從中國南部與越南接壤的廣西地區(qū)的22個洞穴中采集了沉積物樣本。其中一半洞穴含有巨猿化石，另一半沒有。 首先，研究人員利用多種技術(shù)測得化石和沉積物的準確年代。 接下來，研究小組對沉積物樣本中的花粉痕跡進行了分析，以了解當時地表的植物和樹木構(gòu)成。對巨猿牙齒中所含的碳、氧等元素進行的同位素分析幫助研究人員了解這種動物的飲食如何隨著時間推移而發(fā)生變化。 研究小組發(fā)現(xiàn)，巨猿不能很好地適應(yīng)不斷變化的環(huán)境，在長期環(huán)境壓力下數(shù)量日漸減少。(Translated by Debra) | 