A team of scientists believe that they have discovered the most likely reason why a giant ape -- known as Gigantopithecus -- died more than 100,000 years ago.

The Agence France Press reported that the Gigantopithecus, which is usually dubbed as the real-life King Kong, died because climate change took its usual food. According to the report, climate change also led to the disappearance of large animals that lived hundreds of years ago in Asia.

While scientists were only able to recover few fossil such as large teeth and bones, the Gigantopithecus is said to be more than nine-foot tall and is a 1,000-pound ape.

Using the large teeth that were recovered in China and Thailand, the group of scientists were able to conclude that the giant ape relied on large food. It failed to survive when climate change turned forests to savannahs. Large vegetarians like the Gigantopithecus failed to adapt to the changes due to lack of food.

"Due to its size, Gigantopithecus presumably depended on a large amount of food," Hervé Bocherens, a researcher at the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, told Daily Mail. "When during the Pleistocene era more and more forested areas turned into savanna landscapes, there was simply an insufficient food supply for the giant ape."

Bocherens, who is also a professor at the University of Tubingen, said that Gigantopithecus was restricted to one type of habitat and its size also led to its extinction. Unlike their modern descendants, the so-called real-life King Kong were unable to scale tall trees for food.

"Our results indicate that the large primates only lived in the forest and obtained their food from this habitat," Bocherens said. "Gigantopithecus was an exclusive vegetarian, but it did not specialize on bamboo."

Bocherens also explained that relatives of the giant ape were able to survive because they managed to adapt to their new environment quickly. Like the giant ape, Orangutans are also known to be restricted to just one type of habitat but were able to dodge extinction because of its ability to survive on limited resources.

"Relatives of the giant ape, such as the recent orangutan, have been able to survive despite their specialization on a certain habitat," he added. "However, orangutans have a slow metabolism and are able to survive on limited food."

The study also indicated that early humans in Africa and other apes have similar dental gear, which suggests that they also relied on the food the Gigantopithecus was eating before ice age struck Earth. They were able to survive by eating grass, leaves and roots, which are not enough for Gigantopithecus to live.