Bigfoot...Sasquatch, Legend Meets Science

I was watching an interesting show last night on The Discovery Channel. It was called Sasquatch, Legend Meets Science. Basically they had various scientists looking at the various data that we have (foot and body prints, hair and scat samples, audio samples, video footage, etc). They had a cast of scientists looking at the questions…and their conclusion? Over half of the scientists on the show concluded that in fact there is a large North American great ape out there somewhere. Especially compelling was that old 1960’s footage everyone has seen where the ape comes out of the woods, walks by looking back, and then goes off again.

Now, I was under the impression that this myth had pretty much been busted. I remember reading about that specific footage in Skeptical Inquirer…as well as other ‘data’. It was all either hoaxes or misidentification (bears and such). But after watching this show there seems to be enough evidence that…well, I’m not sure. But some of the conclusions drawn by the various scientists, especially those who were looking at the video footage, seem compelling.

Thoughts?

-XT

Tenacious D says they know his legend is real. That’s good enough for me.

OK, seriously. I doubt it. There is simply not enough credible data. The scientists that concluded that Sasquatch exists were probably not presented with complete data. Garbage in, garbage out.

Define “scientist.”

How did the program choose their cast of “scientists”? I’m pretty sure that famous Bigfoot footage has been specifically debunked as hoax - by confession of the perpetrators.

The Discovery channel, the Learning channel, and a few others used to be about facts and genuine education. Then, they found that they could get better ratings by showing programs that accepted ghosts, aliens, and sasquatch as reality. Many Dopers mourned at that time.

The myth has been busted. If bigfoot were real, there would be mountains of evidence-hair, droppings, bones, etc. There is no such evidence. The film has been repeatedly shown to be a fraud.

The Discovery channel lied to you.

What was the date the show was produced? Was an archived show from 15 or 20 years ago?

No, most scientists don’t think there is a large North American ape still undiscovered. There is ZERO physical evidence of such an ape. ZERO. As for the Patterson film, Bob Heironimus has admitted he was the guy dressed up in an ape suit for the shooting.

The moral of the story: Caveat emptor when watching TDC or THC.

Was this the same program that had the woman living in the backwoods, who claims to have grown up near a colony of Bigfoots? And that they occasionally come to her house to borrow garlic? (cloves, not powder- they make that quite clear)
I also got a kick out of the German miming the ritualistic slaughter of a deer by a Bigfoot in this woman’s backyard.

Though, that might have been a National Geographic special.

I found a couple of links about the show. I’ll post em and let folks look em over.

Trying to find a link detailing the scientists to answer bups questions. Sorry for the half assed OP…should have done all this up front but I’m at work and have limited resources atm. I’ll get it together at some point.

-XT

Or, when watching TDC while under the infuence to THC. :slight_smile:

What was the last large mammal of any sort discovered by scientists in N. America? Have thier been any in the last hundred years? While I suppose that some sort of undiscovered field mouse or something may have eluded the attention of taxonomists, I can’t imagine that a breeding population of anything as large (or unusual) as an ape has remained without any sort of indisputable evidence being found in the last 400 years.

Found another link . Still can’t find a list of all the scientists (or whatever they were) online but there are a bunch of hits on google I need to dig through.

As an aside, on the show this guy said that he felt the audio snippet he was studying was definitely not a hoax or a human and speculated that it MIGHT be a previously unidentified primate.
-XT

In one case, someone swear they saw a big, brown biped outside their window. When they went to check later, they found some hair.

Recently, it was genetically tested. Moose.

The response of some bigfoot enthusiasts was to suggest that maybe Bigfoot is related to moose, a lost common ancestor between hominids and moose.

Of course, it goes without saying that one of the people creationists often cite in attacking evolution happens to attack evolution… because it suggests against the existence of a bigfoot.

Ok, last link I have time to get for now…its just a PR website talking about the show.

I’ll now attempt to address some of the skeptics. :slight_smile:

Assuming for a moment they WERE scientists (I still haven’t found a list), then they wouldn’t draw conclusions from incomplete data…not if they were worth a damn. Also, at least in the show, they were pretty hands on with the data…and seemed to have full access to what there was.

My initial assumption is the same. Usually I watch TLC and TDC for laughs. Occationally they have interesting things on, but I generally agree. And I’m far from convinced. Thats why I started this thread to see what others thought about the actual show.

Do you have evidence of this? If so we can shut down the thread.

I believe it was done in 2003.

First I’ve heard someone admitting to dressing up in an ape suit. Do you have a cite for this? If so then I’m unsure why they bothered looking at the film at all…which sort of indicates that it was all BS.

-XT

A living thing requires ancestors. If Bigfoot is real, why have his bones/fossils never been found? Why are there no Sasquatch bones in the LaBrea Tar Pits, together with all those dire wolves, cave bears and sabertooth tigers? In fact, no remains of any ape or non-human hominid have ever been found in North America. See this thread: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=307809

I agree…the sasquatch is just about the hardest crypto-animal to swallow that ever came along. Unlike the “yeti”, nobody ever sees the thing, or even finds tracks. Plus, Oregon is pretty well peopled-unlike the Himalayas. Is there any money made in perpetrating this myth? i recall reading that the “Loch ness Monster” pumps a lot of pounds into Scottish coffers-but who the hell journies to Oregon to try to catch a glimpse of “bigfoot”? Nah, I would rather go toe Roswell, NM-they have a whole town devoted to the saucer men!

Perhaps it is because he’s Canadienne.

Bigfoots are cannibalistic. They eat their dead. The marrow is sucked from the bones. The bones themselves, and the teeth as well, are ground up into a powder, which are mixed with ground up grains and water to make a paste that is then eaten. No scat has been found because, like cats, Bigfoots bury it.

And remember that Mountain Gorillas were thought to be mythical until fairly recently! So, given that large apes took a long time to be discovered, Bigfoots do exist.

:wink:

This is a neat link…an image-stabilized version of the famous Patterson film.

It is up to you of course to determine whether or not it could be ergonimically replicated by a human in a suit.

To my eyes though, it looks like a suit.

You can even see the belt line.

Its worth noting that animals that live in acidic forests generally fossilize only very very rarely.

However, THAT IS TOTALLY A FUCKING GUY IN A SUIT