"Climate Change and Diet Shift Led to Extinction of Giganto, the Largest Primate"

Scientists have determined that the largest primate, Gigantopithecus blacki, went extinct between 295,000 and 215,000 years ago due to a shift in its environment and diet. The research suggests that as the climate changed, the dense forests with year-round fruit that giganto relied on shifted to more open forests with scarce fruit during drier periods. Unable to adapt, giganto, which primarily ate fibrous plants like bark and twigs, ultimately succumbed to the environmental changes. This study sheds light on how primates respond to environmental stresses and the factors that make some species more vulnerable to extinction.