Update: Zana DNA Test Results
Posted by: Craig Woolheater on November 22nd, 2013
Rhettman A. Mullis of Team Bigfootology offered clarification of the Zana DNA Test Results:
Bryan and I have been receiving a lot of inquiries based on what people are reading in various blogs or Bigfoot groups and so we are setting the record straight so there is no more misinformation being spread around.
Regarding Zana, Bryan has tested both the mitochondria and the nuclear DNA and both sides revealed that Zana’s mother and father are both human. Bryan is currently working on a way to further determine if her African lineage is a modern or relic human. When he is successful at that determination we will announce the findings. Bryan did test Kwit’s tooth but was only able to acquire the mitochondria side of the DNA. Still, of the six descendants of Zana tested by Bryan all showed human lineage – just as the result were announced that she is human with half of her DNA being sub-Saharan African. When we discovered this outcome late last spring I told Bryan that there would be a great disappointment when some learn that she was indeed human and nothing else, but for some of us who are more scientific-focused will still be excited that there is now a concrete answer to the Zana mystery. When we received that result it made me fall back on my own expertise in psychology and propose the likelihood of Zana being a feral woman, potentially abandoned as a child, with a case of hypertrichosis and that would affect her physiology as well as cognitive abilities. All of these related indicators fall in line with Zana’s historic description.
There is another issue that keeps popping up in dialogue and that is that Bryan is not a friend of Bigfoot or that he is a government funded scientist that is involved in some government cover-up, and for the reasonable minded person these accusations are laughable. Bryan is an independent scientists that has his own lab facility and has funded this entire DNA project, including all of the travel, not asking a dime from anyone. We opened up the invitation for all who wanted to could submit a sample to the study. Some took him up on the offer for free testing of the samples and all we can do is report on what has been submitted. There has not been hundreds of sample as some have unsubstantiatedly claim, and we did not test all samples submitted without considering the provenance and other factors about the sample. We tested those that had the best provenance and closely matched some of the physiological characteristics that have been assigned to probable “Bigfoot” hairs in the past.
Bryan does believe, as do I and everyone else at Bigfootology, that there is something out there and we continue our work to discover “WHAT” they are, not “IF” they exist. When Bryan began this project with us he had a healthy skepticism for the Bigfoot phenomenon. Bigfootology team member, Thomas Finley, presented Bryan with an honorary team member certificate in the UK and when Bryan began traveling with me and spending hours upon hours with other Bigfooters and going out into the field with us he began to realize that there is something genuine to the reality that there is something unknown out there, more than just a bear. Very quickly into this DNA project Bryan became an official member of Bigfootology and has been one of our lead scientists since and his goal is the same as ours which is to find the answer to the Bigfoot phenomenon, “What are they?” Bryan’s rally cry to all of us is, “Get the real evidence.”
This is why Bryan is still willing to test more hairs even after the acquisition period of this study is finished, and is even willing to refund a person the expense of testing if indeed their hair tests to be a “Bigfoot” hair – what we have termed the “golden hair”. The time for free testing is passed because the acquisition period for the study is finished. Bryan’s reasoning is that with the expense of testing now falling on the sample submitter is that it eliminates the hoaxers, the unsure, and will make sure that a person submitting a sample is absolutely positive that the sample is from a Bigfoot as the cost of testing is high as well as the time commitment to do so.
There is a paper that is in peer-review and more outcomes from testing will be released then, and Bryan is also diligently working on his book about all of this and his adventures with the Bigfoot community. Bigfootology’s work continues as there is still much to do and we have several projects at various stages of fruition. Two of which are finished or in the process of being finished (e.g., Zana and the general DNA project). Another project that we have been working on is exploring the claim from indigenous tribes all over the world of Bigfoot/Human pairing in their history. To this date we have located and tested three individuals and we are still searching for two others that we are aware of. Exciting things are still happening and many other projects, again, are still planned or in some stage of planning to make happen.
If Bryan was not curious and has a degree of belief in this phenomenon then surely he would not have spent his time and money as he has, and continues to do, to continue to investigate these claims. The answer is there and the right moment, people, and circumstances being in place will bring us to that answer.
Rhettman A. Mullis, Jr., MS, PhD-ABD, CAF, MHP
Bigfootology
Co-founder of Cryptomundo in 2005.
I have appeared in or contributed to the following TV programs, documentaries and films:
OLN's Mysterious Encounters: "Caddo Critter", Southern Fried Bigfoot, Travel Channel's Weird Travels: "Bigfoot", History Channel's MonsterQuest: "Swamp Stalker", The Wild Man of the Navidad, Destination America's Monsters and Mysteries in America: Texas Terror - Lake Worth Monster, Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot: Return to Boggy Creek and Beast of the Bayou.
sykes is the downfall of all you hoaxers.
its about damn time!
submit your bigfoot samples.
bring your best ones.
let him test them and tell you what it REALLY is.
To all you phonies, cronies and jabronies here… “oh its bigfoot” “oh that was bigfoot”
hogwash.
bring your best evidence.
put it to the test.
If you don’t you’re an INSTANT-HOAX.
I wish Mr. Mullis would stop being the spokesperson for Dr. Sykes. I think he is perfectly capable of speaking on his own. I don’t need “Bigfootology” to announce findings when it will appear as a peer reviewed paper and Sykes’ backing organization will issue a press release.
I feel Mullis is riding the coattails of Sykes, setting the tone, describing him in the way that puts Mullis’ agenda in the best light. It’s uncomfortable to read, feels self-serving. Also, red flags fly when someone lists a whole pile of letters after their name as an obvious ploy to look more credible (scientific).
It’s better to let the people who deserve the spotlight enjoy it and Mr. Mullis would look more credible if he would step back a bit, not try to grab a piece for himself.
Fascinating….the possibility of her being of a relic African lineage. Heck, even if the opposite is true, that is only slightly less cool to me. I also find it reassuring that Sykes considers this an open question, and one he is willing to devote further time and resources to answer. When more take his example, we’ll be all the closer.
shill–I could not agree with you more. Good post and analysis!
Well I am well pleased with Rhettman informing us as to what is going on and making interesting reading. Dr Sykes looks as if he will pursue the matter to its ultimate and find the answers to enigma of the presence of relict hominids in a positive way
I am disappointed and pleased with some of the results which are coming out but while an open minded approach is followed progress in my opinion must eventually be made.
The world has changed since homo floriensis (but no dna) denesova (dna) red deer cave dwellers (no dna) afarensis sediba (no dna) rising star expedition hominids (no dna)
It seems rather petty and unscientific to object to R Mullis adding letters after his name I am sure you would jump all over him if there weren’t any to add!
Personally I am filled with gratitude for what Dr Sykes and Rhettman are doing and well entertained!
Same old dconstrukt. Same old, same old, same old. The future will be your “downfall”.
Seriously, “downfall”? Do you write that dribble in front of a mirror?
goodfoot WTF are you talking about?
whats wrong? all your hoaxers, cronies, phonies and jabronies aren’t gonna get to share their little BS tales and lame 3rd grade photoshop hoaxes anymore?
Sykes can now prove what the samples are… no more BS stories, no more BS this is a hair or scat of bigfoot.
if you think your evidence is legit, submit it and see for real what the data shows.
if someone has “evidence” yet refuses to send it for analyzation, immediately, I know they’re full of it and have something to hide.
in business, we make data driven decisions.
the data tells us what to do, not peoples opinions.
Same here.
So far, the data tells me that all the samples here he saw weren’t bigfoot…. so all those people are discredited by the DATA.
Does it mean bigfoot is fake? no
Does it mean bigfoot isn’t out there? no
I think there is something, not sure what the F it is, however the evidence hasn’t proved it yet.
Pah. Grover Krantz established Zana was a modern homo sapien decades ago. This is not news to me at all.
paleolinguist responds:
February 29th, 2016 at 2:55 am
“Almasty” Zana, the end of a fairy tale.
It’s absolutely clear since several years: Zana wasn’t a Neanderthal or any other non-sapiens hominid. And she wasn’t any kind of non-uman wild woman. This is the result of the DNA testing of the skull of Zana’s son Khwit, found by Igor Bourtsev in Abkhazia, done in the US.
Hard to explain why Igor even today declares: The examination of the skull hasn’t finished and the question is open yet. Scientific nonsense. There were so many comments, publications and speculations about Zana over the years and now it came out: Just the early critical voices on Zana’s Neanderthal origin were true. They underlined already 30 years ago Zana’s negroid physical characteristics: black skin, woolly hair, flat nose and thick lips. Eyewitnesses never described Almasty with thick, negroid lips.
And there is a another explanation for Zana’s african genes: Arab traders sold african slaves on the Abkhazian coast in the middle ages. Some of these slaves succeeded to flee into the forests and survived there in the semi-subtropical jungle as THE BLACK FOREST PEOPLE – so called by the native Abkhazians until present time. In summa, from a scientific point of view, all Almasty believers, especially in Moscow, should learn not to ignore critical voices, based on historical facts and genetic proof as well.
Nevertheless, with the end of the fairy tale about the Almasty called Zana, streched over 40 years of investigations and speculations, the game should be open for a further critical check of other Russian Almasty findings and investigations. Comments are welcome.