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Kira and the real King Kong

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Kira Westaway (supplied KW)
Dr Kira Westaway spent almost ten years trying to find out why and when the real King Kong went extinct.(Supplied: Kira Westaway)

For nearly two million years a species of giant ape called Gigantopithecus Blacki (Giganto) roamed the Earth.

They were thought to have stood at 3 metres tall and weighed up to 300 kilograms.

Then, suddenly, Giganto disappeared from the fossil record, leaving nothing behind but a couple of bits of jawbone and thousands of teeth, hidden in caves mostly in southern China.

Dr Kira Westaway has been on a ten-year mission to solve the mystery of how, why and when this real-life King Kong became extinct, and why nothing remains of the beasts but teeth.

Her team has just solved one of those mysteries.

Further information

You can read more about The Giganto Project here.

The full peer-reviewed study has been published here.

Credits

Broadcast 
Archaeology, Palaeontology, Fossils, Ancient History, Geology, Human Interest, Animals, Animals and Nature, Climate Change
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