Code for Zhang et al The demise of the giant ape Gigantopithecus blacki

The largest ever primate, and one of the largest of the southeast Asian megafauna, Gigantopithecus blacki1, persevered in China from ~2.0 million years until the late middle Pleistocene when it went extinct2,3,4. Its demise is enigmatic considering that it was one of the few Asian great apes to go extinct in the last 2.6 million years when other great apes, including orang-utan, survived up to the present5. The cause of G. blacki's abrupt disappearance remains unresolved but could shed light on primate resilience and the fate of other megafauna in this region6. Here, we applied three combined multidisciplinary analyses concerning the; 1) chronology, 2) past environments, and 3) behaviour of G. blacki, to 22 caves in two regions of southern China. 157 radiometric ages from six dating techniques were modelled to establish a timeline for G. blacki demise. We show that from 2.3 Ma the environment was a mosaic of forests and grasses, which supported the flourishing G. blacki, and many other primate populations. However, just prior to and during the extinction window between 295-215,000 yrs ago (ka) there was enhanced environmental variability due to an increase in seasonality, which caused a change in forest plant communities and an increase in open forest environments. The data reveal that although its taxonomic relative Pongo weidenreichi was able to adapt its dietary preferences and behaviour to this variability, G. blacki displayed signs of chronic stress and struggled to adapt, causing dwindling populations and ultimately this led to the demise of the greatest hominid to walk the Earth.