10 Terrifying Creatures That You’ll Be Glad Are Extinct
7. Gigantopithecus
Gigantopithecus is a giant species of ape that could well have existed as recently as 300,000 years ago in eastern and central Asia. The fossilised teeth of the hairy giants suggest that they subsisted on a diet of tough vegetation (rather than the flesh of early man), but, at that size, this is still not a creature that you'd want to get stuck in a lift with.
With the location, size and description of this enormous primate in mind, could this be the truth behind the myriad myths and legends regarding Bigfoot/The Abominable Snowman/Yeti? Could they still be wandering around in the remote mountains of Tibet? Probably not.
Sorry Sasquatch hunters, but it appears that these great apes shuffled off that mortal coil quite some time ago due to environmental changes and a decline in their natural habitat.