Scientists retrieve genetic materials from 1.9-mln-yr-old giant ape fossil

Undated file photo shows a 1.9-million-year-old fossil of mandible of Gigantopithecus blacki found in a cave in Tiandong County of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Chinese and Danish scientists have successfully retrieved genetic materials from a 1.9-million-year-old fossil of Gigantopithecus blacki, a species of great ape. The finding, published in a paper on the journal Nature on Wednesday, marks the first time that such ancient protein evidence from fossils in the subtropics was retrieved. Scientists said it sheds new light on the origins and evolution of the long-extinct great ape species. (Xinhua)