Bigfoot and Science
Posted by: Adam Davies on November 27th, 2013
by Adam Davies, Cryptozoologist
I find myself uniquely placed in relation to this documentary series, as I have actually been on expeditions to search for Yetis and Bigfoots in all three of the countries visited: the US.A. Russia, and Nepal. I have also been featured in a documentary on the Yeti in Nepal — Abominable Snowman for the MonsterQuest series, and another one aired by National Geographic entitled Russian Bigfoot. It was on this show (not MonsterQuest, bloggers on this subject should note) where Zana’s skull was first subjected to forensic testing by Dr. Todd Disotell of New York University.
As there has been so much discussion on the findings of the show, I thought I would produce my own analysis which benefits from a firsthand background in all of the countries visited.
So let’s turn to the episodes:
The first one dealt with the Yeti in Nepal. As to the findings in this episode, then they certainly don’t settle “The mystery of the Yeti once and for all” as the documentary makers claim (not Professor Sykes you will note). Rather, they point to a consistency with local legends, which point to two or three possible Yetis, one of which is a bear. So this exciting discovery seems to vindicate local legends rather then contradict them.
The account Reinhold Messner mentions in the documentary which he uses as validation that the Yeti is a bear, dates to only 300 years ago. There are accounts many centuries older than that. For example, that of the shamanistic B`on religion describes rituals involving sacrifices needing the blood of a horse, dog , black bear, goat, pig, raven, man and WILD MAN (Yeti). Nor do they explain the personal eyewitness testimony I received from people whilst I was in Nepal, who know the difference between a bear and a yeti, whether they are walking on two legs or four!
The analysis of footprint anatomy was poor, with the terrible bear print comparison, which bore no relation at all to the Shipton print featured in the show. There could be a whole article on this alone, but if I focus on one specific point. No explanation of the divergent toe found in Yeti prints was even touched upon!
The discovery of a large previously undetected predator (a bear) by Prof Sykes was a very exciting development. This it seems to me, is in agreement with the ancient accounts rather than a contradiction of them. The second episode was rather dismissive of Bigfooters I felt, and was also inaccurate in some of the portrayals it indulged in.
Let’s deal with Justin Smeja first, who many of you will know has claimed to have shot a Bigfoot. Justin Smeja had worn the boots that were analysed for many months before they were handed in for analysis. He also never claimed that the hair sample he sent for analysis were from the Bigfoot he claimed to have shot, merely that they were found in the vicinity. Most importantly, he passed lie detector tests over his account. So the events really did happen as he says they did, or he is mistaken. He is not a liar though.
I thought Derek Randles came across well, but other than him, all other evidence/and individuals are dismissed. The very cynical and patronising presenter (and crew) actually became excited by the tree knocking I am informed by a friend who was there (Nadia Moore), but in the show they give it a cursory brush off as probably being other people in the forest, despite making no attempt to investigate if that was so for themselves.
The third episode dealt with Russia. As I mentioned earlier, Zana’s skull was first tested several years ago, so the fact that it came back as human should warrant as no surprise. What is very interesting is the African lineage . There are many centuries of stories of an Almasty in that region, so I feel that an explanation that Zana is a feral human is probably incorrect. It will be an enormously profound discovery if she is found to be part of a migration out of Africa which predates our migration, so I hope that this is the eventual conclusion that is drawn, rather than her being an Ottoman slave. As an aside though, I believe this to be a different species to that potentially found in Mongolia, and other parts of Russia.
As for the science…
The science provided by Professor Sykes, was first rate however. I know Professor Sykes personally, and consider him to be an honourable man. He has not been involved in any government cover up nor is he motivated by money as has also been suggested by some. He simply says it as he sees it and analyses what he finds in an objective manner. He is the most outstanding mind in his field.
His research is not over. There is a possible paper, and a definite book to come. I am not claiming any inside knowledge of his results.
But. Let’s. Wait and see.
I am an explorer, adventurer, and a cryptozoologist. I've traveled to some of the most remote and dangerous parts of the world in search yet-to-be-discovered animal species. From the dense jungles of the Congo and Sumatra, to the deserts of Mongolia, and the mountains of Nepal, I have traveled the world in search of scientific evidence of the existence of these creatures.
Thank you for posting my article Craig
Yes. Let’s do.
Adam, insightful as usual.
appreciate the post. 🙂
the steak guy… he told them his shoes had blood…. even if he had worn them, the blood would still be there in some way shape or form…. even moreso in labs vs the human eye.
don’t you think?
He could have convinced himself he shot one and passed a lie detector test, but the data showed his story didnt match up… so what are you making of this?
incredible story, but the facts didn’t match up and neither did the data.
the knocking was interesting also… no clue what that was…. but all the submitted samples weren’t bigfoots…. sadly.
The show was interesting…. i’m curious to find out more about the yeti… i cant just believe it’s ONLY a hybrid bear…. although thats still awesome to find a new species.
I think the good thing moving forward is there is now a place to send samples to let science prove what it is….
love all the attention bigfoot is getting now… hopefully we’re that much closer to finding what it is… and getting real solid evidence. 🙂
Adam: only way to look at this.
Sykes has reviewed what was brought to him, with whatever backstory accompanied it. He is contributing what he can from where he is which is all one can expect.
To me, the Ursus maritimus finding was considerably more exciting that “primate, unknown” would have been. Not only does it come up with an intriguing possibility for dzu-teh, but it stands bear biology on its head. What does a Himalayan ecotype of the polar bear look like? We know more about yeti than we do about that.
TV needs solutions, packaged for delivery with commercial interruption, and frequently crushes the most interesting parts of the discussion to that end. The money, time and intelligence wasted on that stupid bear double-print. That alone.
Zana’s skull has never been recovered. You mean her son Khvit’s skull.
dconstrukt : I think your points are fair.It is my understanding that after months of wearing them including having them immersed in water on several occasions that D.N.A could simply not be extracted from them.I think though that as we have no evidential basis to support his assertion we can take it no further. As for the bear I think it is a fantastic find and should encourage us all.Yes DWA as you suggest it was not well covered in the show .Much much more should have been made of this significant discovery.
Yes forgive me.Kwit’s skull
Or Khwit even 🙂
I didn’t like it one bit when Sykes claimed on one of the episodes that no serious academic has looked in the field (bigfoot, yeti etc) for 50 years. That was a slap in the face and an insult to those serious academics who actually HAVE.
As I mentioned elsewhere, Dr Grover Krantz examined Khvit’s skull decades ago and concluded it was modern homo sapien with not even a slight trace of non modern homo sapien. Krantz even wrote about this in his 1992 book.
I fully agree about the shoddy way they handled the footprint’s Adam.
Adam: as a modern-day adherent of Bon (the modern version, not the shamanistic, 18,000-year old vision you mention), it is not spelled with an apostrophe, but is correctly written with a diaresis over the o (sometimes erroneously called an umlaut).
Modern-day Bon (adherents of Bon are known as Bonpos) is superficially and substantially identical with Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism, (especially the Nyingma school).
Abbreviated suggested reading:
DRUNG, DEU AND BON: NARRATIONS, SYMBOLIC LANGUAGE AND THE BON TRADITION IN ANCIENT TIBET, by Namkhai Norbu
BO AND BON: ANCIENT SHAMANIC TRADITIONS OF SIBERIA AND TIBET IN THEIR RELATION TO THE TEACHINGS OF A CENTRAL ASIAN BUDDHA, by Dimitry Ermakov.
In regards to Justin Smeja, I believe what was said in the show is that there were no traces of blood found on his boots, and even if they were worn for months after the incident, there would likely be a good chance that some residue that could be identified as blood would be in them.
Sykes is the gent who pioneered getting DNA from ancient bone, I think finding the trace presence of blood on a boot would not be a challenge.
The fact he passed a polygraph or lie detector doesn’t really account for much. The National Academy of Sciences has said that polygraph research was “unreliable, unscientific and biased.” The Supreme Court has said that “There is simply no consensus that polygraph evidence is reliable.” This summer, a former OCPD officer, after saying for several decades that the spikes and dips on the polygraph do little to unmask a lie, was investigated by Federal agents when he started teaching people how to pass the polygraph. Getting a good night’s sleep, being calm and confident can be enough to pass it.
Kopite I do take your point.Goodfoot thank you for your very useful information.I do find shamanism very interesting,so any information is gratefully received.Insanity I think its right to doubt the veracity of polygraphs.I think that whichever way we look at this evidence and even if we were to take it at its highest then it could never be anything more than a good story now.The evidence is not there to verify any of the assertions.
Adam, you should chime in on that thermal of the bigfoot in another post…. these guys are convinced they’re seeing a bigfoot. LOL 🙂
Some can tell you, Adam: it’s only a “good story” until you have a personal experience.
dconstrukt: You’re exactly what’s know as a “bad actor”.