- Idaho State University Researcher Coordinates Analysis
of Body Imprint That May Belong to a Sasquatch
-
- Pocatello - Dr. Jeff Meldrum, associate professor of
anatomy and anthropology at Idaho State University, is a member of the
scientific team examining a plaster cast of what may be the first documented
body imprint of a Sasquatch.
-
- The imprint of what appears to be a large animal's left
forearm, hip, thigh, and heel was discovered Sept. 22 in a muddy wallow
near Mt. Adams in southern Washington state by a Bigfoot Field Researchers
Organization (www.BFRO.net) expedition in the Gifford Pinchot National
Forest.
-
- The investigating team, including Meldrum; Dr. Grover
Krantz, retired physical anthropologist from Washington State University;
Dr. John Bindernagel, Canadian wildlife biologist; John Green, retired
Canadian journalist and author; and Dr. Ron Brown, exotic animal handler
and health care administrator, all examined the cast and agreed that it
cannot be attributed to any commonly known Northwest animal and may represent
an unknown primate.
-
- Meldrum, whose research includes comparative primate
anatomy and the emergence of human walking supervised the careful cleaning
of the cast, and will coordinate its analysis by a scientific team. He
first became actively interested in the question of the existence of a
North American ape after examining fresh Sasquatch (popularly called Bigfoot)
tracks in 1996.
-
- "While not definitively proving the existence of
a species of North American ape, the cast constitutes significant and compelling
new evidence that will hopefully stimulate further serious research and
investigation into the presence of these primates in the Northwest mountains
and elsewhere," Meldrum said.
-
- Dr. LeRoy Fish, a retired wildlife ecologist from Triangles
Lake, Ore., with a doctorate in zoology from Washington State University;
Derek Randles, a landscape architect from Belfair, Wash.; and Richard Noll,
a tooling metrologist from Edmonds, Wash.; discovered and cast the partial
body imprint during the BFRO expedition.
-
- More than 200 pounds of plaster were needed to produce
the 3-1/2 x 5-foot cast of the entire impression, which was reinforced
with researchers' aluminum tent poles. Other Sasquatch evidence documented
by the BFRO expedition includes voice recordings and indistinct 17-inch
footprints.
-
- Trace evidence attributed to Sasquatch is usually footprints,
but impressions of other body parts, including hands, knuckles, and buttocks,
have occasionally been found. This unique instance of a partial body impression
provides further insights about this elusive ape species' anatomy. Preliminary
measurements indicate its body dimensions are 40 to 50 percent greater
than those of a six- foot tall human.
-
- After the cast was cleaned, extensive impressions of
hair on the buttock and thigh surfaces and a fringe of longer hair along
the forearm were evident. Meldrum identified what appear to be skin ridge
patterns on the heel, comparable to fingerprints, that are characteristic
of primates.
-
- The ridge characteristics are consistent with other examples
from Sasquatch footprints Meldrum has studied in collaboration with officer
Jimmy Chilcutt, a latent fingerprint examiner with the Conroe, Texas, Police
Department. The anatomy of the heel, ankle, and Achilles tendon are also
distinct and consistent with models of the Sasquatch foot derived by Meldrum
after examining hundreds of alleged Sasquatch footprints.
-
- Hair samples collected at the scene and from the cast
itself and examined by Dr. Henner Fahrenbach, a biomedical research scientist
from Beaverton, Ore., were primarily of deer, elk, coyote, and bear, as
was expected since tracks in the wallow were mostly of those animals. However,
based on characteristics matching those of otherwise indeterminate primate
hairs collected in association with other Sasquatch sightings, he identified
a single distinctly primate hair as "Sasquatch."
-
- Sasquatch is a species of North American ape suspected
to inhabit the mountainous forests of the Northwest. Its existence remains
controversial despite numerous eyewitness sightings and the discovery of
enormous footprints.
-
-
-
- MainPage
http://www.rense.com
-
-
-
- This
Site Served by TheHostPros
|