Sorry Bigfoot believers, DNA debunks Sasquatch samples
Jul 1, 2014, 4:45 PM | Updated: 5:29 pm
An alleged Sasquatch walks through the woods in this iconic shot from 1967. (AP file)
(AP file)
The search for positive proof of Bigfoot will continue, despite a new debunking by British researchers studying hair samples of supposed Sasquatch.
While there have been numerous eyewitness accounts, questionable footprints and even some dubious photos and films, the only supposed evidence turned in over the years has been dozens of hair samples collected by museums and enthusiasts.
A team of scientists led by Oxford geneticist Bryan Sykes has just released the first ever systematic DNA analysis of alleged Bigfoot or Yeti hair samples in a peer-reviewed journal.
The study, published Tuesday in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, finds the samples didn’t come from some mysterious creature. Rather, what they thought was Bigfoot was actually a bear, wolf, coyote or other animal.
The team performed DNA analyses on 37 samples submitted from around the world, mostly from the Pacific Northwest, along with Texas, California, Arizona, Russia, India, Bhutan, Nepal and Sumatra.
Perhaps the most interesting findings from the study were two hair samples from the Himalayas, which are most closely related to an ancient species of polar bear. CNET reports that suggests a previously-unknown polar bear descendant or brown bear-polar bear hybrid might remain in the region.
Despite the study, some experts say the evidence does not disprove the existence of Yeti, Almasty, Sasquatch or any of their other mysterious brethren.
“All that can be said with confidence is that the results obtained by the Sykes team for the 29 [sic] samples that yielded DNA sequences failed to reject the null hypothesis that these samples came from species already known to science,” wrote Norman MacLeod of the London Natural History Museum. In other words, Bigfoot could still be out there.
