When evaluating eyewitness reports, not only is the credibility of the witness on trial, but also their individual powers of observation and interpretation. Someone inexperienced in the outdoors may be quite convinced that any bump in the night or blur of dark fur in the twilight was nothing else than the legendary sasquatch. What is the likelihood that en-counters in the wilds of North America ascribed to sasquatch could be simply explained away as cases of mistaken identity?
The following excerpt is from "Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science" by Dr. Jeff Meldrum which can be purchased here.
The most likely candidate for potential confusion in the northwestern woods of the United States is limited to the American black bear (Ursus americanus), although in some regions of the United States and Canada grizzlies (Ursus arctos) are an additional possibility. The superficial re-semblance of a bear standing on its hind legs to reports of an upright sasquatch are obvious. The musculoskeletal anatomy of the bear is remarkably human-like. Many a hunter has been struck by the re-semblance of a skinned bear carcass to a man.
The five-toed hind paws of a bear also display an uncanny similarity to human feet, save the presence of claws and the fact that the shortest toe of the bear paw is the inside or medial toe, opposite the condition of the human foot. Occasionally, skeletal remains found in the forest have been initially mistaken for the remains of a missing person or long lost hunter or hiker, or for the elusive physical evidence of sasquatch, only to eventually be identified as those of a bear. One leading forensic anthropology textbook includes a discussion of the similarity of the skeleton of the human hand and foot to that of bear paws. However, even that scholarly reference confused the description by misidentifying the skeleton of a right fore and hind paw of the bear as being from the left side.
Recently, a photograph of a five-toed dismembered foot created a bit of excitement. The partially decomposed foot was found along a road in Oregon. Only a fringe of black hair remained on the skin and there were no visible claws. I determined it to be a bear appendage on the basis of the shape of the ankle and heel bones, and the arrangement of the toes. More discussion of these distinctions of the bear foot will fol-low later in the chapter.
In behavior and appearance, no other animal is more subject to anthropomorphism than is the bear. It apparently held a position of distinction in prehistoric cultures. Many Native American and circumpolar cultures consider the bear either an ancestor or a brother. They point to the similarity of their organs, their appendages, their ability to stand upright, and their intelligence and power. The bear figures prominently in many native ceremonial initiations and rites of passage. This long-standing theme was successfully transformed into a recent Disney movie, Brother Bear.
Dr. Lynn Rogers, bear biologist at Minnesota's Wildlife Research Institute, has been referred to as the "man who walks with beam." Based on his intimate familiarity with these ursine denizens of the woodlands, he considers the chances of mistaking a bear sighting for a sasquatch possible, but unlikely for a knowledgeable observer. In fact, it should be considered that the very opposite may more likely be the case. The initial reaction of many eyewitnesses to a possible sasquatch sighting is to rationalize the experience by assuming that they have simply seen a bear. Their inclination is to account for their experience within an existing framework of familiarity—"It was brown and hairy and upright, so it must have been a standing bear." The fact is, bears do have the ability to briefly stand upright on their hind legs, but they rarely walk for more than a few steps in that posture before dropping again to all fours. Their gait is usually halting and awkward on relatively short hind limbs, and their forelimbs do not alternately swing with each step, but instead are held out forward in front of the body. They also have characteristic physical features that distinguish them from the typical description of sasquatch. These "field marks" that aid in quick identification include: prominent rounded ears atop their heads, long snouts, sloping shoulders due to their lack of collarbones (clavicles), and short legs.
The above excerpt is from the musta have bigfoot book, "Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science" by Dr. Jeff Meldrum, which can be purchased here.
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