King Kong

Kong was a giant ape, the second last member (last member in the remakes) of his species (Megaprimatus kong). The species is not native to Skull Island, but it is presumed that the species Gigantopithecus, a prehistoric ape that was bigger than any current modern apes (related to the orangutan), either came to the island via an ancient land bridge linked to Asia or brought into the island by the humans that lived in it. This of course happened many thousands of years ago. Kong was approximately 25 feet tall, and weighed nearly 9.5 tons. Kong's appearance was like that of an ordinary gorilla, except he was much larger and stronger, and he grew to a height of about 25 feet. Like any gorilla, his fur was a dark black and had the silver hair on his back and head common in all gorillas, hence the term 'silverback'.

In the original film, the character's name is Kong -- a name given to him by the inhabitants of "Skull Island" in the Indian Ocean, where Kong lived along with other over-sized animals such as snakes, pterosaurs and dinosaurs. 'King' is an appellation added by an American film crew led by Carl Denham who captures Kong and takes him to New York City to be exhibited. Kong escapes and climbs the Empire State Building (the World Trade Center in the 1976 remake) where he is shot and killed by aircraft. However, "it was beauty killed the beast," as he only climbed the building in the first place in an attempt to protect Ann Darrow (Dwan in the 1976 remake).