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#gigantopithecus

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Continued thread

Let's also consider #Gigantopithecus, the largest ape in history, as an example of human-like anatomy in a very large, legitimately bipedal structure.

Estimates of Gigantopithecus range from 2.7 to 3.7 meters, well over that 2.5 m I was talking about with humans, and this is the average height for a species, meaning we know it must be stable because otherwise evolution would have selected against it. Gigantopithecus is believed to have gone extinct due to changing environmental factors, which means it might have been sensitive to environment, but that is less of a concern if we are just talking about whether something that size can be healthy.

Combining our knowledge of these species, and what makes humans unhealthy at that height, we get a picture of a human that is not simply tall, but wide, perhaps very wide, so that the legs can easily support that weight and a lot of organ mass can be held up in the midsection.

(continued)

#TIL the oversized ape King Louie in #Disney's most recent live action version of #TheJungleBook is not actually supposed to be an #orangutan but a remnant #gigantopithecus. This explains the character's baffling size as well as the fact that orangutans aren't native to India. Come to think of it, it even explains why Louie's the only one of his kind!

animals.howstuffworks.com/exti

HowStuffWorksMeet Gigantopithecus, the Extinct Giant Orangutan in 'The Jungle Book'By Laurie L. Dove