Is Gigantopithecus Bigfoot?

For the sake of this post, I am going to take the assumption that their is an unknown North American ape that is commonly called Bigfoot. Assuming that Bigfoot is real, I am going to explore possible root animals from which Bigfoot evolved from and look into the prominent Bigfoot theory; that Bigfoot is a direct decsendant of Gigantopithecus.

First of all, let's take a look at the some of the prominent Bigfoot theories.

1. Most Bigfoot beleivers believe that Bigfoot is a creature with a very wide range that goes throughout most of the contental Uninted States and much of Canada. The Bigfoot Feild Research Organization (BFRO) has documented sightings throughout North America.

2. Bigfoot is bipedal.

3. Bigfoot lives in cold weather climates as well as warm weather climates.

4. Bigfoot is between 6-10 feet tall and weights over 400 lbs, probably significantly more.

Ok, for the sake of argument, for the purpose of this blog post, I am going to assume that the above four mentioned details are true. Now let's get started....

There are three seperate species of Gigantopithecus. There is Gigantopithecus blacki, Gigantopithecus bilaspurensis, and Gigantopithecus giganteus.
Gigantopithecus bilaspurensis was the first to go extinct around 6 million years ago.
Gigantopithecus giganteus lived in modern day India and was approx the same size as modern day gorrilas. Little is known of G. giganeus, as few fossils have been found.
Gigantopithecus blacki was the largest of the Gigantopithecus species and lived in modern day China and India and is believed to have went extinct approx 100,000 years ago. It is thought that G. blacki teeth found in caves were the insperation of many of the Chinese dragon myths, as G. blacki teeth are still sold as dragon teeth in Chinese shops today. G. blacki had the largest range of the giganto species and lived side by side with both Homo Erectus and Homo sapiens.
What we know about gigantopithecus is limited to jaw bones and teeth. The prominent view by most paleobiologists is that giganto was not bipedal and walked on all fours. The fossil evidence from the teeth point to all three species of giganto having a very similar diet; bambo. Wear patterns on giganto teeth are very similar to that of the giant panda, who giganto shared a home range with. Giganto fossils are often found in the same areas as giant panda fossils.
The theory that giganto was bipedal was pushed by former Washington State professor of physical anthropology Grover Krantz. Gigantopithecus's jaw bones are u-shaped and widen toward the rear. This allows room for the windpipe to be within the jaw, allowing the skull to sit squarely upon a fully erect spine like modern humans, rather than roughly in front of it, like the other great apes. However, giganto may have developed this to allow for easy consumption of large amount of vegetation while sitting upright and using its hands to eat, simialar to the way giant panda's eat today.
What is known about gigantopithecus leads us to some problems with the giganto-is-bigfoot theory. While is is possible that giganto may have been bipedal, it is unlikely, as their would have been no genetic benifit for bipedal locomotion in giganto's lifestyle of eating bambo in the bambo forrests of ancient India and China. Also, there have been many teeth and jaw bone framents from gigantopithecus found throughout southern China and India. However, there have been no evidence of gigantopithecus found in northern Asia or North America. Considering the fossil evidence supports that giganto was a bambo eater, it is extremely unlikey that giganto would have migrated north to cross the Bering land bridge into North America. The fossil evidence in the known giganto range (combined with the lack of evidence of giganto living in northern Asia) make it highly unlikely that gigantopithecus could be the answer to the Bigfoot problem.

So, if Bigfoot is NOT gigantopithecus, what is he? There is another theory that needs to be explored. Could Bigfoot be Paranthropus? Paranthropus was a bipedal ape who lived in Africa about 2.7 to 2 milion years ago. Paranthropus was about 4.5 feet tall and heavily muscled and was a forrest dwelling ground ape. It was not as adapatable as the early species of the Homo genius who started to appear about the same time and is believed to have been displaced. Although Paranthropus cleary could not be Bigfoot, as it was stricktly an African animal, it does leave a very intriguing possibility. There are many similar animals in both Africa and South America. Leopards and Jaguars are very similar, and both continents are home to many species of monkey. Although there is no fossil evidence to support this, it is possible (although highly unlikely) that paranthropus may have evolved from an animal that existed on both South America and Africa both. It may have been possible for animals to have traveled between Africa and South America as recently as 100 million years ago. Obviously monkeys developed on both sides of the Atlantic. Is it possible that in the depths of the Amazon rain forest a large upright ape developed? Perhaps the "out of Asia" theory supported by most Bigfoot believers is wrong, and Bigfoot developed first in the jungles of South and Central America and migrated north from there. This theory has no physical evidence though, and some physical bases must be found before and serious scientific theroy can be based on this hypthosis.