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Mystery as extinct ape is found buried in ancient Chinese tomb

The gibbon is extinct (Picture ZSL)
The gibbon is extinct (Picture ZSL)

A long-extinct species of gibbon, unknown to science, has been found buried in an ancient Chinese tomb from 2,300 years ago.

The gibbon skull was found in a burial chamber in Shaanxi province in central China, alongside the bones of other animals including leopards and a black bear.

The find hints that humans wiped out populations of primates before the modern age began.

The bones were found in a tomb which may have belonged to Lady Xia, the grandmother of China’s first emperor, Qin Shihuang, who was behind the construction of the Great Wall of China.

The gibbon was an entirely new species (Picture Getty)
The gibbon was an entirely new species (Picture Getty)

The tomb had been investigated in 2004, and the bones were found by chance in a drawer.

The new species of gibbon, Junzi Imperialis, may be the first to have been wiped out by man, scientists at the Zoological Society of London say.

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Lead author Dr Samuel Turvey said, ‘All of the world’s apes – chimpanzees, gorillas, orang-utans 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 hunting or habitat loss.

‘However, the discovery of the recently extinct Junzi changes this, and highlights the vulnerability of gibbons in particular.’