研究:“傳說(shuō)中的大腳怪”是猩猩的近親

The legendary Bigfoot has long been thought of as the “missing link” between apes and humans. In a stunning discovery, scientists have unearthed new evidence of the so-called “original Bigfoot,” a 10-foot tall ape that lived nearly 2 million years ago.

傳說(shuō)中的大腳怪一直被認(rèn)為是類人猿和人類之間“缺失的一環(huán)”?？茖W(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)了所謂“原始大腳”的新證據(jù)，這是一個(gè)驚人的發(fā)現(xiàn)。原始大腳是一種10英尺高的類人猿，生活在大約200萬(wàn)年前。

Known as Gigantopithecus blacki, researchers discovered that the giant primate lived in southeastern China approximately 1.9 million years ago. They also found that the animal was related to the modern-day orangutan after they conducted groundbreaking, new analysis of proteins in tooth enamel.

研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，這種巨型靈長(zhǎng)類動(dòng)物生活在大約190萬(wàn)年前的中國(guó)東南部。在對(duì)牙釉質(zhì)中的蛋白質(zhì)進(jìn)行了開(kāi)創(chuàng)性的新分析后，他們還發(fā)現(xiàn)這種動(dòng)物與現(xiàn)代的猩猩有親緣關(guān)系。

“By sequencing proteins retrieved from dental enamel about 2 million years old, we showed it is possible to confidently reconstruct the evolutionary relationships of animal species that went extinct too far away in time for their DNA to survive till now,” said one of the study’s co-authors, Enrico Cappellini, in a statement. “In this study, we can even conclude that the lineages of orangutan and Gigantopithecus split up about 12 million years ago.”

“通過(guò)對(duì)大約200萬(wàn)年前從牙釉質(zhì)中提取的蛋白質(zhì)進(jìn)行測(cè)序，我們顯示了有可能自信地重建出滅絕得太遠(yuǎn)的動(dòng)物物種的進(jìn)化關(guān)系，使它們的DNA能夠存活到現(xiàn)在，”該研究的一位合著者Enrico Cappellini在一份聲明中說(shuō)。“在這項(xiàng)研究中，我們甚至可以得出結(jié)論，猩猩和巨猿的譜系是在大約1200萬(wàn)年前分化的。”

The research also shows that G. blacki, which weighed up to 595 pounds, diverged from orangutans about 12 million years ago. Unlike chimpanzees or bonobos, it is not closely related to humans.

研究還表明，重達(dá)595磅的G. blacki在大約1200萬(wàn)年前從猩猩分化而來(lái)。與黑猩猩或倭黑猩猩不同，它與人類沒(méi)有密切的關(guān)系。

With this study, we show that we can use protein sequencing to retrieve ancient genetic information from primates living in subtropical areas even when the fossil is two million years old,” the study’s lead author, Frido Welker, added in the statement. “Until now, it has only been possible to retrieve genetic information from up to 10,000-year-old fossils in warm, humid areas.”

通過(guò)這項(xiàng)研究，我們表明，我們可以利用蛋白質(zhì)測(cè)序來(lái)檢索生活在亞熱帶地區(qū)的靈長(zhǎng)類動(dòng)物的古代遺傳信息，即使化石已經(jīng)有200萬(wàn)年了。”“到目前為止，只有在溫暖、潮濕的地區(qū)才能從一萬(wàn)年前的化石中獲取基因信息。”