Case file · Cryptid
A giant ape's tooth in a Hong Kong pharmacy
In 1935 the palaeontologist Ralph von Koenigswald found an enormous primate molar among 'dragon teeth' in a Hong Kong drugstore and named the ape Gigantopithecus.
1935 CE · 22.28, 114.15 · status: official
The account
Later finds in Guangxi caves showed an ape perhaps 3 m tall. Cryptozoologists have proposed it as the origin of the yeren, the yeti and Bigfoot.
The sceptical view
A 2024 study dated its extinction to about 215,000–295,000 years ago, as its forest habitat shrank; no recent remains exist.
The researched reading
A real giant ape known only from teeth and jaws, extinct for over 200,000 years. It is a fine discovery, but no evidence that a relict ape lives today.
| Explanation | Weight | Why |
|---|---|---|
| An unknown or out-of-place animal | 94% | The tooth was genuine. Later finds of four jaws and about 2,000 teeth confirm a real, very large extinct ape. Zhang et al. (2024) dated its extinction to 295,000–215,000 years ago, so it is a real animal, but not a living source for the yeti or Bigfoot. |
| A cultural story | 2% | The “dragon teeth” of Chinese medicine and the later link to the yeren and yeti are stories built on the fossil. |
| Something known, misidentified | 2% | With no skeleton below the jaws, its size and posture are estimates, but the teeth are certainly from an ape. |
| A hoax or fabrication | 1% | Many teeth from many excavated sites exclude fabrication. |
| Perception, memory or mind | 1% | Not relevant. |
| Genuinely anomalous | 0% | Ordinary palaeontology. |
Official position: An accepted fossil ape, Gigantopithecus blacki; specialists reject its survival into recent times.
Connections in the atlas
- Shennongjia cadres' wild-man sighting
- Chinese Academy of Sciences yeren expedition
- Grover Krantz, the scientist who believed