Bigfoot - Scientific View

Scientific View

Bigfoot is more than just a silly slice of history. The beast's appearance on the national scene marked an important milestone: the first widely popularized example of pseudoscience in American culture. The debate over its legitimacy reached a zenith in the 1970s, with a slew of high-profile magazine stories and TV specials that gave prominent coverage to theories supporting the creature's existence, concocted by self-styled Bigfoot "experts" spouting factoids cherry-picked from bona fide scientific research. The controversy led anthropologists and other scientists to run for cover to avoid being tarred by association with such specious ideas. As a result, the "evidence" in Bigfoot's favor was presented essentially unchallenged, effectively legitimizing the pseudoscientific claims. Because the existence of the beast could not be disproved, many readers and viewers were left feeling that its existence was quite probable. By absenting themselves from the debate, the scientific community appeared out of touch and elitist. In the three intervening decades, the increasingly common use of pseudoscience—junk science, voodoo science, pathological science, or whatever you choose to call it—has transformed public debate.

The scientific community discounts the existence of Bigfoot, as there is no evidence supporting the survival of such a large, prehistoric ape-like creature. The evidence that does exist points more towards a hoax or delusion than to sightings of a genuine creature. In a 1996 USA Today article, Washington State zoologist John Crane said, "There is no such thing as Bigfoot. No data other than material that's clearly been fabricated has ever been presented." In addition to the lack of evidence, scientists cite the fact that Bigfoot is alleged to live in regions unusual for a large, nonhuman primate, i.e., temperate latitudes in the northern hemisphere; all recognized nonhuman apes are found in the tropics of Africa and Asia (although some smaller primates, such as Japanese macaques, are found in Asia up to the latitude of Northern California, and can cope with air temperatures to -20°C (-4°F)). Thus, as with other proposed megafauna cryptids, climate and food supply issues would make such a creature's survival in reported habitats unlikely. Furthermore, great apes are not found in the fossil record in the Americas, and no Bigfoot remains have ever been found. Indeed, scientific consensus is that the breeding population of such an animal would be so large that it would account for many more purported sightings than currently occur, making the existence of such an animal an almost certain impossibility.

A few scientists have been less skeptical about the claims of the existence of sasquatch. Jeffrey Meldrum characterizes the search for Sasquatch as "a valid scientific endeavor". and says that the fossil remains of an ancient giant ape called Gigantopithecus could turn out to be ancestors of today’s commonly known Bigfoot. John Napier asserts that the scientific community's attitude towards Bigfoot stems primarily from insufficient evidence. Other scientists who have shown varying degrees of interest in the legend are anthropologist David Daegling, field biologist George Shaller, Russell Mittermeier, Daris Swindler, Esteban Sarmiento, and discredited racial anthropologist Carleton S. Coon.

Jane Goodall, in a September 27, 2002 interview on National Public Radio's "Science Friday", expressed her ideas about the existence of Bigfoot. First stating "I'm sure they exist", she later went on to say, chuckling, "Well, I'm a romantic, so I always wanted them to exist", and finally: "You know, why isn't there a body? I can't answer that, and maybe they don't exist, but I want them to." However, the vast majority of evolutionary biologists, anthropologists and paleontologists completely dismiss the possibility of the existence of sasquatch.

In November 2012 it was reported that Idaho university professor and author of a book about Bigfoot, Jeffrey Meldrum, was planning to build a blimp with thermal-imaging cameras to hunt for Bigfoot from the skies. He says it will cost around US$300,000 to build, and was seeking private donors.