| Named By: | Gustav Heinrich Ralph von Koenigswald in 1935 |
| Time Period: | Late Miocene to Mid Pleistocene~9-0.1 Ma |
| Location: | China, India and Vietnam |
| Size: | Roughly estimated to be up to 3 meters tall and up to 540 kilograms in weight for largest species G. blacki, while smaller species like G. giganteus are only half this size. However the lack of other known fossils makes these estimates far from certain |
| Diet: | Herbivore |
| Fossil(s): | Hundreds of teeth and a few mandibles (lower jaws) |
| Classification: | | Chordata | Mammalia | Primates | Hominidae | Ponginae | |
Gigantopithecus (from the Ancient Greek gigas gigas "giant", and pithekos pithekos "ape") is an extinct genus of ape that existed from perhaps nine million years to as recently as one hundred thousand years ago, in what is now China, India, and Vietnam, placing Gigantopithecus in the same time frame and geographical location as several hominin species. The fossil record suggests that individuals of the species Gigantopithecus blacki were the largest known apes that ever lived, standing up to 3 m (9.8 ft), and weighing up to 540-600 kg (1,190-1,320 lb).