Orangutans are modern-day cousins of the largest ape that ever lived Getty Images
STANDING at least 2.5 metres tall, Gigantopithecus lived in the forests of South-East Asia between 2 million and 300,000 years ago. It was larger than any living great ape, but all we have found of it so far are teeth and fragments from jawbones, so we know little about its appearance or behaviour.
Now we have been able to glimpse its family tree, which suggests it split from orangutan-like cousins around 11 million years ago.
To create the family tree, Frido Welker at the University…
