Closely related to both modern humans and Neanderthals, the Denisovans were a group of hominins who lived across Asia from roughly 400,000 to about 30,000 years ago. The now-extinct species was first identified in 2010 and, since then, only a handful of additional fossils have surfaced, leaving many open questions about their physiology, behavior and eventual disappearance.

Now, new research based on Denisovan leg bones suggests at least some individuals were relatively large. Scientists report their findings in a new study published August 8 on the preprint server bioRxiv. The findings, which have not been peer reviewed, could offer new clues about the physical appearance of these long-lost cousins.

The study is based on fossilized leg bones from two Denisovan individuals—known as Penghu 2 and Penghu 3—who lived between 45,000 and 43,000 years ago. The femur and tibia bones were originally discovered by fishermen in the Penghu Channel and eventually ended up in the collection of the National Museum of Natural Science in Taiwan.

Based on their analysis of the bones, scientists think Penghu 2 and Penghu 3 were both males. In life, they think Penghu 2 weighed around 183 pounds and stood nearly 5 feet 11 inches tall. They think Penghu 3 was even larger, weighing in at around 200 pounds and standing more than 6 feet 2 inches tall.

This means that Penghu 2 and Penghu 3 likely towered over other hominins living in the region around the same time, such as Homo erectus. The researchers note that these Denisovans may have been as much as nearly a foot taller and more than 60 pounds heavier than H. erectus.

If the researchers’ estimates prove right, these Denisovans were “big and imposing humans,” Adam Brumm, an archaeologist at Griffith University who was not involved with the research, tells NewScientist’s James Woodford.

“Penghu 3 would have been roughly similar in height and weight to Erling Haaland—though hopefully with a better haircut,” says Brumm, referencing the Norwegian soccer player whose popularity skyrocketed during this summer’s World Cup.

The Denisovan’s large size makes sense, given what scientists suspect about their lifestyle. Their hulking figures probably gave them an advantage while hunting elephants and other large animals, as well as covering long distances on foot in search of food, Brumm adds.

“If I were an early modern human moving through this part of the world and coming into conflict with their long-established hominin cousins, I think I’d much rather have come face to face with one of the tiny, so-called hobbits of Flores (H. floresiensis) than a Denisovan from Taiwan,” he says.

Did you know? Denisovan discovery

The first evidence of the Denisovans’ existence came from a finger bone discovered in 2008 in Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains of Siberia in Russia. Scientists sequenced ancient DNA from the bone, revealing a previously unknown lineage of hominins related to both Neanderthals and modern humans.During their investigation, the researchers discovered that some aspects of the Denisovan leg bones were surprisingly human-like, including a well-developed, vertical ridge known as a pilaster on the thigh. The pilaster might have been a helpful adaptation for the Denisovans’ on-the-go lifestyle, the researchers speculate. Or, perhaps, they inherited from Homo sapiens through interbreeding.

Some modern humans carry small amounts of Denisovan DNA, and researchers suspect H. sapiens and Denisovans might have mated and had children more than once—so the interbreeding hypothesis is not out of the question. But, until the researchers can test the idea using genomic data from Denisovan fossils, they say it’s just a hypothesis.

John Hawks, an anthropologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, describes the paper as a “fascinating set of findings.” However, beyond the insights into the Denisovans’ potential stature, he points out to IFLScience’s Tom Hale that they help fill in a major gap in our understanding of Denisovans living in East and Southeast Asia toward the end of the species’ existence.

Scientists have found evidence of Denisovans in Russia and Tibet, but “in the coastal region and river valleys of China, and in mainland Southeast Asia, there is almost no information about them,” Hawks says. “Moreover, there is no information on later Denisovans from island Southeast Asia.”

As a result, “we have no idea what Denisovans were in these regions, or what their biology may have looked like,” he adds.

Though the 45,000-year-old leg bones from the Penghu Channel may reveal only a small piece of the Denisovan story, they’re significant because they provide “the first information we have from this time across a large region,” he says.