Gigantopithecus Blacki

The Greatest Ape

Photo by James Lee on Unsplash

Gigantopithecus Blacki

K.L. Orion

The Indian Subcontinent. 

Approximately three hundred thousand years ago.

The last gargantua calls this place home. 

A lanky arm stretches out towards a shoot of tall bamboo. Long, red hair drapes down from it as its powerful black hand grabs hold of the giant grass. With a swift snap, the arm pulls away, the bamboo stalk clenched in its hand. This arm belongs to the largest of all primates of every age; the greatest ape, gigantopithecus blacki. It’s a relative of modern orangutans, who are already extremely large apes. However, gigantopithecus is even bigger. Far bigger. So big that it betrays its arboreal cousin of the modern day, being so heavy that it's forced to live permanently on the ground as an adult. There is not a tree in the jungle that could support its massive weight, at least for long. As an ape who’s over ten feet tall when reared up on its hind legs, there’s not much of anything that can support its weight other than the ground. With that said, the bulk of this primate’s mass comes from pure muscles, making it possibly one of the strongest things to have ever lived. 

Despite being the strongest, Gargantua here doesn’t need to use that strength to fight very often. Sure, there’s the occasional tiger attack, but that is about the only threat he faces in his jungle home. That and possibly a conflict with another strange great ape: humans. However, human encounters are rare. For the most part, Gargantua is peacefully alone here. He does as he pleases and nothing is there to oppose him. Not even members of his own kind. In fact, he hasn’t seen another gigantopithecus since his mother years earlier. Even while he was with his mother, he didn’t see many to begin with. He had gone looking before. In prior years, he searched the jungles for a potential mate or even just a companion of his own kind. Unfortunately, years of searching found him nothing. The weight of loneliness crushed this poor giant for a long time, but he eventually got used to it. At least for the most part. Now, he’s grown mostly comfortable alone, even if it’s not the ideal lifestyle. Sometimes he does wish he could interact with anything remotely like him, whether it be another gigantopithecus or just some other great ape. Regardless, he knows he is alone, but that’s okay. He’s got a lifetime supply of bamboo growing all around him, so he can’t really complain. 

This is how Gargantua spends most of his days; sitting back and munching on bamboo. That and other vegetarian snacks, like fruit and leaves. He rarely has to move his massive body to get anything. His species evolved long arms to take care of that for them. That is a very useful adaptation when one considers how heavy Gargantua must be. His arms are not the only noticeable trait he has. Like male orangutans, Gargantua possesses iconic flanges on his cheeks and a large throat sack that both help him with amplifying his vocalizations. These traits plus his long dreads of red hair make him and his kin look almost mythical. But even he is not the only mythic giant who roams these woods. 

To his left side, Gargantua hears trees and bamboo being knocked out of the way. He turns and watches as an elephant bull crashes through the vegetation. Palaeoloxodon namadicus. By weight, this elephant species is the largest land mammal to have ever existed. This one towers over Gargantua, even if he stood on his hind legs. During this time period, they coexist with gigantopithecus like Gargantua on the Indian subcontinent. Though he is strong, the elephant is far stronger than Gargantua. Its strength plus its long tusks and powerful trunk could easily mess up even the most powerful of primates. Luckily for this ape, the enormous bull doesn’t seem interested in fighting. Rather, it's here to do something fairly similar to Gargantua. It’s here to eat. The behemoth reaches into a tall tree and plucks off a thick branch with ease, demonstrating its immense strength. 

Gargantua watches, bewildered by one of the few things in this forest that rival his own strength and size. Just like his human relatives, this ape can feel wonder; and while beholding this titan, he is overcome by the feeling. Eventually, Gargantua goes back to feeding, just like the elephant. The two mystic giants feast on in silence, both the stuff of legends. 

And to the humans of this region, they both are. 

An orangutan at the Saint Louis Zoo.

Homo erectus. The upright man. This human species is a relative and potential ancestor of the modern man, made clear by their many similarities with homo sapiens. This hominin is among the first human species in the Indian subcontinent, thus subjecting them to many wonders unseen by the rest of their relatives. Throughout the world, humans were familiar with many giant animals. However, none interacted with such giant ones as they did here. Interactions with the largest land mammal to ever live, palaeoloxodon, weren’t uncommon. These elephants quickly gained legendary status among the humans within this region. With that said, something else became even more legendary among the erectus tribes. 

Giant people. 

If a modern human looks at a gigantopithecus, they would probably be fairly impressed yet consider it a “big monkey.” Due to hundreds of years of comedic, social, and religious bias, modern mankind looks at nearly all non-human apes and compares them more to monkeys than they do to themselves. However, erectus individuals are not raised with this stigma, meaning they view the gigantopithecus in a different way. To them, they see the uncanny similarities the giant apes have with humans. That added to the mystic physical differences these apes have caused members of the erectus species to deem them as mythical giants. This is similar to the way many modern human cultures developed stories about giant humanoids. The difference here is the fact that gigantopithecus is real. 

The idea of a mythic giant fascinates and terrifies early humans, immediately making gigantopithecus a thing of legends. The fact that gigantopithecus numbers are dropping greatly also encourages this legendary status, now that they are rarely seen. To many young erectus individuals, the red giant is only a myth. Many have never even seen one. However, the elders know better. While sightings are rare, there are enough to keep erectus communities in fear of the mysterious giants. 

Such a community is currently passing through Gargantua’s area now. A small tribe consisting of fifteen to twenty adults is on the move through the jungle. Guards with primitive wooden spears surround the group as they pass, ready to fight off any potential attackers. For now, all is silent. Still, they do not let their guard down. Silence is a predator’s best friend. Leading the guards is a young man whose name literally translates to “Guardian.” Young and aggressive, Guardian was born to parents who had a higher social standing in their group, giving him more power than he should have. He’s power hungry and self-centered, causing him to constantly abuse his higher social status. Of all the corrupt things he does, though, none even come close to his most despicable pastime. 

A woman in their group glares at him. She tightly holds a toddler in her arms. Guardian looks back for a moment, almost unnerved by this female’s intimidating stare. Her name roughly means “Peacekeeper” in their tongue. Guardian and Peacekeeper have a history to say the very least. A horrible, disgusting history. Peacekeeper is among Guardian’s victims when he commits his ultimate sin. Rape. The erectus male uses his high social standing to get away with abusing women for fun. In fact, out of the nine toddlers in their group, four of them can call Guardian their father. Peacekeeper’s child is one of them. The other three mothers belong to a very low social standing within their tribe, meaning they could do little to retaliate. However, Peacekeeper is from a family higher up within the ranks. Guardian was a fool to ever abuse her, and Peacekeeper constantly reminds him of that. Though she doesn’t have much power, she does have enough to cause him problems, and she has the confidence others lack to do so. She has made it clear to everyone within their tribe that her child is also Guardian’s and thus has also made it clear that she expects Guardian to pitch in somehow. 

And now that the group has stopped to rest, Guardian watches in horror as she marches up to him with her child resting in her arms, knowing damn well what she wants him to do. 

Peacekeeper demands he keep an eye on their child while she goes out and collects fruit for the group. Reluctantly, Guardian agrees, taking the child into his arms as she turns away and ventures into the surrounding jungle. Once she’s gone, Guardian sets the toddler down. He has no intention of looking after Peacekeeper’s son. The damn boy is a burden on him and his reputation. Though he still has extremely high status, the child’s paternity scratched it. It pains him to think that this only happened for a few moments of pleasure. Well, pleasure for him, anyway. The entire ordeal scarred Peacekeeper. Of course, Guardian doesn’t care. Rape is a fairly common thing in these tribes, and it is surprisingly easy to get away with. Even easier when you help lead the group. 

The arrogant early man turns away, trying to ignore his “son.” Unfortunately, the child wants to play with his papa, gently patting him on the leg for attention. At first, Guardian ignores this, but as the child’s patting gets more and more relentless, he snaps. The aggressive male circles around and smacks the poor tot across the face. The boy falls over and begins to cry, betrayed. For a moment, Guardian considers slapping the child again to get him to shut up, but when he looks back down, the toddler springs to his feet and darts into the thick jungle brush. The escape was too fast for Guardian to react, and when he tried to get the child, he got tangled up in plants. The smaller boy is surprisingly agile and uses his size to squeeze through the foliage, quickly disappearing from sight. Guardian is horrified. If he lost this child for good, it could permanently scar his reputation. He needs to fix this. He needs to fix this fast. 

He quickly alerts the rest of the group, conveniently failing to mention how he slapped the boy to begin with. Peacekeeper is clearly devastated, hearing her son has disappeared. Luckily for her, Guardian and his gathered men vow to return the child to her, making the dramatic promise in front of everyone to ensure he gives off a good and strong impression. Then, he and his group of armed warriors set off into the dangerous Indian jungle, ready to spear whatever gets in their way. 

A sleepy gorilla from the Henry Doorly Zoo.

Gargantua lies back, his hands on his round belly. For once, he’s stuffed. The palaeoloxodon bull moved on a while ago, leaving him alone once again with the colorful songbirds in the trees. The giant ape curiously watches the little birds zip from one tree to another, singing beautiful little tunes as they do. He’s always been fascinated with birds. One time when he was an infant, his mother had her back turned, allowing him to escape into a tree in the disastrous attempt to catch a bird. Needless to say, he didn’t catch a bird. Rather, he fell out of a tree and hung by his right foot when a vine got tangled around it. It was terrifying at the time, but the red giant chuckles at the memory of it now. Yes, everything is so peaceful right now. Listening to the songs of the little birds, his eyes grow heavy. Slowly, the great ape drifts to sleep. 

As he dreams, he remembers something. One of the few other gigantopithecus individuals he’s seen in his life. Long ago, he and his mother encountered another mother with her young daughter. The mothers peacefully met with one another while he and the small female had a tickle fight. They tickled and tickled and tickled, laughing the entire afternoon away. It was one of the rare occasions Gargantua met with another gigantopithecus, let alone one his age. Even with her tickling, there was something soothing in feeling the touch of something so much like himself. He reminisces about it in his sleep, growing lonely again. He longs for the touch of another ape, whether it be a gentle embrace or relentless tickling. Unfortunately, that time has passed. All he can do now is remember what it was like, and he remembers it fondly. He dreams about their tickle fight. He dreams about their laughter. Her laughter. But then her laughter turns into crying. The crying grows louder. Louder. Even louder-

Gargantua wakes up from his previously pleasant nap, but the crying doesn’t stop. He gets up and turns around as a tiny homo erectus child falls flat on his face out of the thick jungle wall. The boy is crying relentlessly. Gargantua isn’t sure what to do, so he stays still for a while in hopes of not scaring the already terrified child. Unfortunately, the toddler lifts his head and screams upon seeing the gigantic primate. He curls up, scared out of his mind. The gigantopithecus slumps over, thinking of what to do. Finally, he begins to coo softly, leaning closer to the crying child. He gently strokes the toddler’s back with his enormous finger. The child begins to calm down, slowly looking up at the gentle giant. Gargantua smiles softly. The boy sits all the way up, staring at the hairy titan with awe. The child-like wonder and admiration fills Gargantua with a warm feeling. The child stands and walks up to the gigantopithecus’ belly, looking up bewildered at the ape’s face. It seems as if this boy hasn’t seen anything this big before. 

After allowing the human child to enjoy his wonder for a little while longer, Gargantua reaches down and gently tickles his side. The boy giggles, drawing back but still within range of the gigantopithecus’ hand. He too wants to play. Gargantua begins to use both of his pointer fingers, carefully tickling the far smaller primate. All the while, the boy howled with laughter. The joy is infectious, for Gargantua himself is soon laughing loudly. The two laugh and laugh until they both fall back and end their tickle fight. The two lay sprawled out on the ground, continuing to giggle. Finally, once their giggle fit is out, both apes sit back up and smile at each other. The child doesn’t seem afraid anymore, and Gargantua doesn’t feel as lonely anymore- 

Eyes. Two glowing eyes hidden within the shadow of vegetation catch Gargantua’s attention. They sit just under some large leaves right behind the child. And that’s when Gargantua realizes what they are. Those are the eyes of- 

A tiger!

The striped cat leaps out from the shelter of the jungle. Its mouth is wide open, showcasing its sharp teeth. It bears its claws, ready for attack. Its enormous body is stretched out in a pouncing position as it comes down on the small human boy, but not before a powerful fist slams into its muzzle. Gargantua, in haste, punches the tiger in the face, throwing it away from the child. Had the punch been more deliberate, it’s possible it could’ve shattered the feline’s skull. However, Gargantua acted in surprise, causing him to graze the beast’s face more than punch it. Still, the force was enough to knock it away from the child and to bash out a tooth. The tiger quickly gets back to its feet, staring menacingly at the gigantopithecus. Gargantua bravely steps forward to where his body acts as a shelter for the boy, shielding him from the predator. The cat roars then pounces, landing on the giant ape’s shoulder. It tears into his back with its claws and teeth. Gargantua howls as he throws his opposite arm to the shoulder that is getting attacked. He grabs hold of the tiger’s neck and squeezes down tightly. He yanks the tiger off of himself and slams it into the ground. The carnivore, struggling for air, frantically throws its claws around. At one point, those claws slice into the arm holding it down, causing Gargantua to pull back, freeing the cat. 

The tiger leaps back to its feet, but before it can attack, Gargantua punches it in the left shoulder. With a loud crack its shoulder bones are shattered. The feline falls back, whimpering. The gigantopithecus rears up on his hind legs and roars, beating his chest with great power. The cat looks up at it in horror. He slams his fists back into the ground and continues to roar at the carnivore. The tiger backs away slightly, but when it doesn’t leave, Gargantua slams his hands down into the ground in front of it. He does this more and more until the tiger limps back into the woods. Inflating his throat sack, Gargantua howls and roars more, his calls amplified by the flanges on his cheeks. The tiger might’ve left sight, but just to make sure it's gone, he puts on an aggressive intimidation display. He pounds his chest, slams his hands into the ground, roars, and howls as loud as he possibly can. Every time he opens his mouth to scream, his long canine teeth are shown, further adding to his intimidating show. His calls carry on for miles in every direction, making sure every beast in this jungle knows the incredible power of the last red giant. 

All the while, the human child cowers literally just beneath him. 

The boy is curled up and screaming again, terrified. Gargantua knows he’s frightening him, but this is for his own good. He’s just making sure the tiger and any other threats are gone. After a while, he’ll stop and comfort the boy. He feels bad for scaring him so bad, but if it’s in order to save him it is what must be done. So the titan continues his loud and violent display of power. He roars and beats on the ground while the human child trembles with fear beneath him, which is an awful first impression for the group of human warriors who just happened to stumble upon them at this horrible time. 

An orangutan from the Saint Louis Zoo.

Led by Guardian, the warriors were attracted to the angry ape sounds, believing they could have some relation to their missing child. And sure enough, they did. The onlooking humans were petrified when they saw this giant seemingly attacking a young child. Of course, Gargantua isn’t attacking the child, though the warriors don’t know that. They did not see the tiger. All they saw was a red beast throwing itself around a helpless child. 

So they attack. 

Guardian is the first to launch his wooden spear into Gargantua’s side. The gigantopithecus didn’t have time to stop his display before he was being swarmed by aggressive humans. This gives these wretched creatures the firm belief that he is the true monster here. There is no time to negotiate as spears from all sides come raining down on the poor ape. To protect the child from the onslaught of weapons, Gargantua creates a sort of box out of himself to shield the child. Of course, the humans seeing this think that this action isn’t to protect the child but rather to attack him, causing their aggression to get far worse. They close their circle around the giant, stabbing him repeatedly with their spears. He’s losing a lot of blood and fast. Finally, he springs up to his full height, sharply breathes in, then belts out a deafening roar that causes the erectus warriors to back away. He slams his knuckles forcefully in the ground, then throws his arms in every direction. He doesn’t intend on hitting the humans, only causing them to back away. 

At one point, Guardian tries to move in, a stone knife in his hand. He tries to stab Gargantua’s hand, but the ape outsmarts him. He pulls his hand away from Guardian, surprising the human. Then, when Guardian tries to charge, Gargantua surprises him yet again, throwing his gigantic hand back into the human. He only uses a fraction of his strength, but that’s enough to send the smaller ape flying backwards. The other warriors, shaken by what they saw happen to their leader, begin to increase their attack. They brandish their weapons as spears begin to rain down on Gargantua yet again. Some nearly hit the boy beneath him, but he knocks those to the side. He roars then begins throwing his arms around again, keeping the humans at bay. 

At this time, Peacekeeper emerges from the jungle and onto the scene. She stops dead in her tracks when she sees this giant monster towering above her child, frantically throwing his arms around in a terrifying display of power. The bleeding titan screams, enough to make Peacekeeper want to turn around and run. But then she sees what the warriors were too blind to observe. Tracks. Not just any tracks. Tiger tracks. The distinct footprints of a large cat can be seen limping away from the place the gigantopithecus is standing, little pools of extremely fresh blood in all of them. Even more damning is the tiger tooth sitting in the dirt, so fresh that the liquid blood hasn’t had time to fully soak into the ground yet. She looks back at the enraged giant, watching in complete shock when a spear thrown at him misses the beast and begins falling towards her curled up child beneath him. Then she becomes even more shocked when the gigantopithecus stops flinging his arms around in that moment and throws his hand in front of the child to shield him. The spear gets lodged in his hand, but the child is safe. The ape pulls the spear out of his hand and goes back to defending the boy. 

An orangutan from the Henry Vilas Zoo.

Peacekeeper can barely comprehend what she just witnessed, but she begins to act immediately. She starts waving her arms around and screaming, demanding the men to stop their attack. At first, they don’t hear her, and the attack continues. More spears get lodged into Gargantua’s skin as he howls with pain. Then, one of the warriors hoists up a small boulder and throws it at the back of Gargantua’s head. With a resounding crunch, it slams into the lower back of his skull, the top of his spine, and part of his shoulder. Gargantua squeals as he falls to his knees. The men prepare to amplify their attack on the dying giant, but it is then they finally hear the screeching pleas of Peacekeeper. The stop immediately as she runs down to the face of the crippled animal. 

As she approaches, Gargantua slowly looks up into her eyes. Almost instantly, he recognizes who this is in relation to the little boy. Breathing heavily, he laborly lifts up one of his limping arms to stop her. She halts, allowing the great ape to reach under himself and gently pick up the terrified boy in his hand. The little child is curled up in his massive palm. He extends his hand back to the mother, looking straight into her horrified eyes the entire time. As she pulls her child from his hand, he smiles at her. Tears welling up in the corners of her eyes, she smiles back. Then, hand still outstretched to the mother, he begins to softly stroke her face with his colossal finger. Surprised yet deeply moved, she embraces his finger with one of her hands, holding her child in the other. She pulls his finger to the side of her face, pressing it against her cheek. She holds it there, silent tears streaming down her face. Wheezing, the enormous ape smiles wider. 

Guardian, clenching his stomach, runs up to Peacekeeper and violently tries to pull her away from the downed beast. Now, Peacekeeper has had way more than enough with Guardian’s bossing around. He’s raped her, beaten her, lost her child, and now attacks this creature who gave more care for her son’s life than he had? He’s far more of a monster than this heroic ape they’re killing, yet he gains more power from it? Enough was enough. Peacekeeper flings herself around and, with as much force she could muster, sends her shin flying into Guardian’s crotch. Guardian screams and falls back, limping away. Peacekeeper turns back to Gargantua, pulling his great finger back to her face. 

Guardian had never seen one of these titans before. All he knew of the red giants were the stories. Peacekeeper had heard the stories too, but she had the chance to see two in her life before this one. Long ago when she was just a little girl, she and her mother encountered another mother and her baby. However, neither were humans. The pair were of gigantopithecus origin, and they scared her greatly. However, her mother was calm around them. She pointed out to Peacekeeper how these giants also cared for their young, how they were mothers too. Since that incredible experience, Peacekeeper has always held a sort of reverence for the red giants, and now that respect has only grown. 

As she stares into the oddly human eyes of this dying giant, she hugs his hand. Gargantua laughs. So, this is what it feels like to be touched by another ape? He had forgotten that feeling long ago. But now he remembers. She’s not a gigantopithecus, but she’s still so much like himself. She’s close enough, and that’s all that matters. Perhaps, finally, he’s not alone. He likes this feeling; not being alone. It’s nice. It’s so nice he feels he can just close his eyes and sleep, using the comfort of touch to ease himself right off to dreamland. In fact, he’d like to take a nap right about now. He’s beaten and tired, and breathing is becoming so hard. So he strokes her face one last time before he begins to lie down slowly, gently shutting his eyes to the sight of her face breaking down, sobbing. Don’t cry, woman. You and your son gave him this feeling. You and your son made him feel like he isn’t alone anymore. You and your son made him feel like he can finally rest forever now. 

And so he shuts his eyes, falling asleep one last time to the glorious truth that he isn’t alone; not anymore. And with that, the last red giant is at ease.  

The End