Today I Learned (TIL)

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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 2 years ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] antonim 15 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

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?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 years ago

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

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Wouldn't the discovery be whoever took the teeth out of the ape?

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 years ago (1 children)

If you don't document your findings, someone else will take the credit.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 years ago

As Adam Savage said: the difference between science and screwing around is if you write down your findings.