Gigantopithecus
 

http://comp.uark.edu/~dmorton/images/misc/giganto.jpg

This is a life-sized sculpture of Gigantopithecus blacki, the largest ape that ever existed. An adult male would have stood ten feet tall and weighed 1200 pounds. It was first discovered by paleoanthropologist G.H.R. von Koenigswald, when he walked into an apothecary shop in Hong Kong and found that they were selling "dragons teeth".

So far, the creature is known only by 3 jaw bones and over a thousand teeth. The earliest fossils date to around 300,000 B.C., so it is assumed that this is when the creature went extinct. Homo erectus was living in Southeast Asia by that time, so it is thought that Homo erectus contributed to it's extinction, either by competing for it's food sources (bamboo and fruit), or by outright hunting it.

Some people believe that this creature is a direct ancestor of Sasquatch and the Yeti. Paleoanthropologists are not convinced of this however. This essay suggests, "an actual creature the size of Gigantopithecus blacki existing in numbers sufficient to qualify as a breeding population would not only leave physical remains, but would have an observable effect on their environment".

Here's one more reconstruction that I found.

http://www.ratsnest.net/bigfoot/giganto.jpg

So that explains the one in front, but what about the big ape-like beast behind him?

(rim shot)

c'mon -- everyone is just waiting for it
 

current sighting:
http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/ebarsamian/05.jpg

Another day, another cliche born.