Bigfoot

[Lord Jim]

Animal Planet has been running a bunch of programs today about "The Search Fir Bigfoot", and we've watched a couple of segments...

I have to say, that of all the "off brand" ideas out there, (visitations from aliens, the Loch Ness monster, etc.) this is the only one that has ever seemed to me to have the tiniest degree of possibility....

Certainly more than the idea of a breeding population of plesiosaurs living in a lake that didn't even exist till millions of years after they were supposed to be wiped out...

Here are the interesting things about Bigfoot:

First, we know for a fact that a species of primate existed as recently as several hundred thousand hears ago(within the same time as the appearance of modern humans) that fits the profile of the Sasquatch; gigantopithecus:

Gigantopithecus (from the Ancient Greek γίγας gigas "giant", and πίθηκος pithekos "ape") is an extinct genus of ape that existed from roughly one million years to as recently as three hundred thousand years ago,[1] in what is now China, India, and Vietnam, placing Gigantopithecus in the same time frame and geographical location as several hominin species.[2] The fossil record suggests that the Gigantopithecus blacki species were the largest apes that ever lived, standing up to 3 metres (9.8 ft), and weighing up to 540 kilograms (1,200 lb).[1][3][4]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigantopithecus
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The second interesting thing to me about this is where this animal lived. Sightings of Yetis have been recorded in India and China going back almost as far they have had writing....

Also if you look at the geographic arc where historically the largest number of sightings have been concentrated, (forgetting about a lot of the sightings that started to take place all over the US after that phony film clip came out back in the late 60s) they track from where we know the creature once lived along the same migration route that humans took to reach North America; from China, through Mongolia, to Siberia, across to Alaska, western Canada and down to the Pacific Northwest of the US. (And these sightings were taking place in these regions long before the first gigantopithecus fossils were found, in 1935.)

However, that having been said, there are, uh, a few problems...

Most of the sightings from the most reputable sources are of single individuals; most primate species live and travel in groups. A lot of the sightings are at night; (when mis-identifications are most likely; I'm sure many of the reports aren't strictly speaking hoaxes; it would seem likely that large bears would be most frequently good candidates for mis-identifications) most primates, (large ones anyway) aren't most active at night.

Of course those two behaviors could just be adaptations;there is however one huge problem....

The complete and total lack of any physical evidence whatsoever....No scat, no fur, not so much as a single bone that has to date ever been gathered that couldn't be matched through DNA to a known species...

I seems highly unlikely, even if these animals live in the most remote areas, that if they have a large enough population to be sustainable for all this time, that we wouldn't have found one single bit of physical evidence.

[Gob]

Don't forget the Yowie Jim!

[loCAtek]

Well Jim, the Orangutan the "man of the forest", which was once considered the basis for some of these legends wasn't fully documented until fairly recently.

Some say, that Bigfoot is elusive because he doesn't want to be found.

[Long Run]

I seems highly unlikely, even if these animals live in the most remote areas, that if they have a large enough population to be sustainable for all this time, that we wouldn't have found one single bit of physical evidence.

You just don't want to believe because sasquatch like Slim Jims, not Slightly Corpulent Jims.

[eddieq]

Did someone say Big Foot? That was my oldest daughter's costume tonight

[Gob]

LOL!! Neat

[Sue U]

Did someone say Big Foot? That was my oldest daughter's costume tonight