June 30, 2007
As the 40th anniversary of the Patterson-Gimlin footage nears, it is time to re-read a contribution of Darren Naish, Ph. D., formerly of the School of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Portsmouth, UK. Naish wrote a thoughtful blog on “Frame 352, and all that.”
In his lengthy essay, in one portion Naish specifically addresses anthropologist John Napier’s criticism of the Patterson-Gimlin footage:
What evidence has been marshaled by those who assert that the film is faked? To date, none. No analysis has been performed which shows that the creature can be explained as a man in a suit. Published objections have either asserted that the animal walks in a manner “consistent in general terms with the bipedal striding gait of modern man” (Napier 1974), or have pointed to the presence of furry breasts, the presence of a sagittal cranial crest in a female, or the presence of breasts in a creature without female-like hips and a waist, as problems showing that the film must have been faked.
These objections are all clearly erroneous (e.g. it is difficult to be confident that furry breasts are somehow impossible – while many primates do sport naked pectoral skin around their nipples and areolae, human breasts are hairy, it’s just that the hairs are very small and thin; sagittal crests are size-related, and only absent in the females of most hominid species because females do not match adult males in the size of their cranial musculature; broad hips and a waist are characters of our species, and not of other hominids or primates). Napier’s objections were vague and have not been supported by those more experienced in biomechanics than he was. Anyway, at the end of his book he writes “One is forced to conclude that a manlike life-form of gigantic proportions is living at the present time in the wild areas of the northwestern United States and British Columbia.”Darren Naish
Additionally, I might add Paranthropus did display sagittal crests in males and females. I consider Sasquatch aligned with Paranthropus, not Gigantopithecus. I have examined this issue here in my blog, “Bigfoot: Gigantopithecus or Paranthropus?”
Pictured above and below is the Black Skull (Paranthropus aethiopicus, specimen KNM-WT 17000), which had the largest sagittal crest known in the hominid lineage (excluding Bigfoot, of course, which, for now, must remain “unknown”).
Paranthropus/Black Skull image courtesy of Skulls Unlimited.
Read Dr. Naish’s complete blog for the rest of what he has to share.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Filed under Bigfoot, Breaking News, Cryptotourism, CryptoZoo News, Cryptozoologists, Cryptozoology, Extinct, Forensic Science, Public Forum, Sasquatch