Mystery extinct ape discovered in ancient Chinese imperial tomb
An entirely new species of ape has been discovered buried in an ancient tomb in central China.
The remains of the now-extinct gibbon, which researchers have named Junzi imperialis, were found in a burial chamber in Shaanxi Province that dates back around 2,300 years.
Researchers believe it may be the first ape species to have perished as a direct result of human activities such as hunting.
“All of the world’s apes - chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans and gibbons - are threatened with extinction today due to human activities, but no ape species were thought to have become extinct as a result of historic hunting or habitat loss,” note scientists at the Zoological Society of London, who led the research.
“However, the discovery of the recently extinct Junzi changes this, and highlights the vulnerability of gibbons in particular.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/06/22/mystery-extinct-ape-discovered-ancient-chinese-imperial-tomb/
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In a study published Thursday, scientists describe a new species of gibbon, long-extinct, that lived in China as recently as 2,200 years ago. Junzi imperialis is named for its imperial living situation, as the pet of a grandmother of China's first emperor.
"Having gibbons as pets appears to have been common among Chinese royals during ancient times," explains one of the study's authors, Alejandra Ortiz of the Zoological Society of London and New York University. Gibbons, along with other animals such as rhinoceroses, panthers, pandas and bears, were seen as elegant status symbols.
In the case of J. imperialis, the status-seeking royal in question may have been a woman known as Lady Xia. Her grandson, Qin Shi Huang, famously united the independent states of what is now central China, becoming the country's first emperor in 221 B.C.
When Qin died, he ordered that his mausoleum be guarded by the famous terra cotta warriors, which were discovered in the 1970s and offered a window into China's imperial history.
https://www.npr.org/2018/06/21/621487897/long-extinct-gibbon-found-inside-tomb-of-chinese-emperors-grandmother
