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Re: gigantopithecus blacki....stance
V. Cicero (v.cicero@ix.netcom.com)
Sun, 24 Nov 1996 19:36:32 -0800
Susan S. Chin wrote:
>
> Jos Herculano (herculano@mail.telepac.pt) wrote:
> : > or does the conensus argue
> : > that it was quadriped, like all modern great apes
>
> : Great apes are not quadriped. Correct term is knuckle walkers.
>
> : --
> : Jos Herculano
>
> A quadruped is any creature using all four limbs for moving around on the
> ground. In that sense, apes are quadrupedal knuckle walkers.
> Quadrupedalism and knuckle walking are not mutually exclusive.
>
> Regarding Gigantopithecus, it has some hominid like features in it's
> dental anatomy such as relatively small and vertically implanted
> incisors, reduced canines (worn down by chewing of vegetable matter),
> lack of diastema, which lead some to propose a possible hominid ancestry.
> Whether Gigantopithecus is a hominid or not is impossible to say, unless
> the cranial regions and postcranial anatomy has been recovered. The
> alternate interpretation of Gigantopithecus dental similiarities to later
> Australopithecines is that of parallel evolution, adaptations to an open
> environment, and the "small-object-feeding complex." Gigantopithecus is
> often considered a large miocene to late pleistocene aged ape. It's
> hominid affinities probably go the way of Ramapithecus.
>
> Susan
> --
> susansf@netcom.com.......................................................................
Some have suggested that Gigantopithecus could be the modern day
Big Foot.
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