It is remarkable for its large size compared to other Old World monkeys. One source projects a specimen of Theropithecus oswaldi to have weighed 72 kg (159 lb).[5]Postcranialfossils found of this species are much greater in size than extant papionins, including the mandrill.[6]
Palaeoecology
According to δ13C values from fossils of the species from Swartkrans, it was a specialised grazer.[7] A dental microwear study based on fossils from the Omo Valley suggests that the diet of T. oswaldi, like that of the modern day gelada, consisted primarily of the aerial parts of herbaceous monocots and dicots.[8]T. oswaldi fossils are also known from Elandsfontein,[9] where they subsided on diets mainly composed of C3 plants as both browsers and grazers.[10]
^Faith, J.T., 2014. "Late Pleistocene and Holocene mammal extinctions on continental Africa". Earth-Science Reviews 128: 105–121
^Shipman, Pat; Bosler, Wendy (June 1981). "Butchering of Giant Geladas at an Acheulian Site". Current Anthropology. 22: 257–288. doi:10.1086/202663. JSTOR2742201. S2CID87006937.
^Getahun, D. A., Delson, E., & Seyoum, C. M. (2023). "A review of Theropithecus oswaldi with the proposal of a new subspecies". Journal of Human Evolution, 180, 103373. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103373