TIL that the largest ape species to ever have existed, Gigantopithecus blacki, a relative to orangutan, was discovered in a Hong Kong drugstore that sold molar teeth from it. (en.wikipedia.org)

submitted 10 months ago by garfaagel@sh.itjust.works to c/til@lemmy.ca

5 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] antonim@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

And yet that's not even the weirdest part of the article...

In 1956, the first mandible and more than 1,000 teeth were found in Liucheng, and numerous more remains have since been found in at least 16 sites. Only teeth and four mandibles are known currently, and other skeletal elements were likely consumed by porcupines before they could fossilise.

Edit: Also, how are you supposed to pronounce the species name "blacki"? Is that Latin or English?

[-] QuinceDaPence@kbin.social 13 points 10 months ago

So a prickle of picky porcupines only partook in parts of prehistoric primates? Preposterous!

this post was submitted on 17 Jan 2024

86 points (98.9% liked)

Today I Learned (TIL)

6546 readers

1 users here now

You learn something new every day; what did you learn today?

/c/til is a community for any true knowledge that you would like to share, regardless of topic or of source.

Share your knowledge and experience!

Rules

Information must be true
Follow site rules
No, you don't have to have literally learned the fact today
Posts must be about something you learned

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

Kokomheart@lemmy.ca

JCSpark@lemmy.ca