Editing Bigfoot (section)

===''Gigantopithecus''===
[[File:Gigantopithecus blacki mandible 010112.jpg|thumb|Fossil jaw of the extinct primate ''Gigantopithecus blacki'']]

Bigfoot proponents [[Grover Krantz]] and [[Geoffrey H. Bourne]] both believed that Bigfoot could be a [[relict (biology)|relict population]] of the extinct southeast Asian ape species ''[[Gigantopithecus blacki]]''. According to Bourne, ''G. blacki'' may have followed the many other species of animals that migrated across the [[Beringia|Bering land bridge]] to the Americas.<ref name=BourneCohen1975>{{cite book |title=The Gentle Giants: The Gorilla Story |last=Bourne |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9FcQAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Gigantopithecus%22 |first=Geoffrey H. |author2=Cohen, Maury |year=1975 |publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons |isbn=978-0-399-11528-8 |pages=296–300 |access-date=July 22, 2022 |archive-date=February 16, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240216153959/https://books.google.com/books?id=9FcQAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Gigantopithecus%22 |url-status=live }}</ref> To date, no ''Gigantopithecus'' fossils have been found in the Americas. In Asia, the only recovered fossils have been of [[mandible]]s and teeth, leaving uncertainty about ''G. blacki''{{'}}s locomotion. Krantz has argued that ''G. blacki'' could have been bipedal, based on his extrapolation from the shape of its mandible. However, the relevant part of the mandible is not present in any fossils.<ref>[[#Dae04|Daegling 2004]], p. 14</ref> The consensus view is that ''G. blacki'' was [[Quadrupedalism|quadrupedal]], as its enormous mass would have made it difficult for it to adopt a bipedal gait.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tarlach |first=Gemma |date=2019-11-23 |title=Ancient Proteins Tell Story Of Gigantopithecus, Largest-Ever Primate |url=https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/ancient-proteins-tell-story-of-gigantopithecus-largest-ever-primate |access-date=2024-02-18 |website=Discover Magazine |language=en}}</ref>

Anthropologist [[Matt Cartmill]] criticizes the ''G. blacki'' hypothesis:

<blockquote>The trouble with this account is that ''Gigantopithecus'' was not a hominin and maybe not even a [[crown group]] hominoid; yet the physical evidence implies that Bigfoot is an upright biped with buttocks and a long, stout, permanently adducted [[Toe|hallux]]. These are hominin autapomorphies, not found in other mammals or other bipeds. It seems unlikely that ''Gigantopithecus'' would have evolved these uniquely [[hominini|hominin]] traits in parallel.<ref>[[#Car08|Cartmill 2008]], p. 117</ref></blockquote>

Paleoanthropologist Bernard G. Campbell  writes: "That ''Gigantopithecus'' is in fact extinct has been questioned by those who believe it survives as the Yeti of the Himalayas and the Sasquatch of the north-west American coast. But the evidence for these creatures is not convincing."<ref name="Campbell2005">{{cite book |last1=Campbell |first1=Bernard Grant |last2=Loy |first2=James D. |last3=Cruz-Uribe |first3=Kathryn |title=Humankind Emerging |date=2005 |publisher=Pearson Allyn and Bacon |isbn=978-0-205-42380-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=12qqPwAACAAJ |access-date=December 16, 2023 |archive-date=December 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231212002435/https://books.google.com/books/?id=12qqPwAACAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>