Ancient giant orangutans evolved smaller bodies surprisingly slowly
The now-extinct animals were still considerably larger than their modern kin
![an orangutan holding onto a vine](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/111721_bb_orangutan_feat.jpg?fit=1030%2C580&ssl=1)
Fossil discoveries in southern China suggest that a now-extinct orangutan species gradually shrank in size over nearly 2 million years, but still remained considerably larger than modern orangutans such as this one.
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