Mystery of why "the greatest primate to ever inhabit the Earth" went extinct is finally solved, scientists say

The largest primate ever to walk the Earth went extinct because it could not adapt to its changing environment, with the mighty beast reduced to living off bark and twigs before dying off, scientists said on Wednesday.

Gigantopithecus blacki, which stood 10 feet tall and weighed up to 660 pounds, thrived in the forests of southern Asia until a little more than 200,000 years ago.

Exactly why the great ape died off after flourishing for hundreds of thousands of years has been one of the lasting mysteries of paleontology ever since German scientist G.H.R. von Koenigswald first stumbled on one of its teeth at a Hong Kong apothecary in the 1930s.