Update: Zana DNA Test Results

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.