专题21 黑巨人因环境变化而灭绝-2024届高考英语时文阅读外刊精选精练

高中英语时文阅读外刊精选精练 专题21 黑巨人因环境变化而灭绝 【原文·外刊阅读】 Gigantopithecus blacki extinct after failure to adapt to environmental changes （文章来源：Global Times） Chinese, Australian and US researchers have revealed more about the extinction of the Gigantopithecus blacki great ape in their latest joint study, which was published in Nature on Thursday. The study found that Gigantopithecus blacki became extinct between 295,000 and 215,000 years ago due to being unable to adapt its food preferences and behavior, as well as being vulnerable to the changing climate, the Global Times learned from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). With a height of about three meters and weight of about 250 kilograms, Gigantopithecus blacki is the largest primate that has ever existed on the Earth. It is a very distant human ancestor. Gigantopithecus blacki once roamed the karst plains of southern China and became extinct before humans arrived in the region, leaving around 2,000 fossilized teeth and four jawbones among the only signs of their existence. "The story of Gigantopithecus blacki is an enigma in paleontology - how could such a mighty creature go extinct at a time when other primates were adapting and surviving? The unresolved cause of its disappearance has become a mystery in the field," said Zhang Yingqi, a Chinese paleontologist from the IVPP and co-lead author of the study. According to Zhang, the IVPP has been excavating for Gigantopithecus blacki remains in southern China for more than 10 years, but could figure out the cause of its extinction through consistent environmental analysis. Definitive evidence revealing the story of the giant ape's extinction came from a large-scale evidence collecting project on 22 cave sites spread across a wide region of South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. "It's a major challenge to present a defined cause for the extinction of a species. At first, we should figure out the e