There have been a limited number of formal scientific studies of Bigfoot or Sasquatch, and a small number of scientists with mainstream training have examined the evidence. Sasquatch redirects here. ...

1950s

Zoologist Bernard Heuvelmans’s 1955 magnum opus, On The Track of Unknown Animals, did not specifically discuss Bigfoot, but did discuss Yeti accounts and is often seen as the root of cryptozoology. Bernard Heuvelmans (October 10, 1916 – August 22, 2001) was a scientist, explorer, researcher, and a writer probably best known as a founder of cryptozoology. ... Magnum opus (sometimes Opus magnum, plural magna opera), from the Latin meaning great work,[1] refers to the best, most popular, or most renowned achievement of an author, artist, or composer, and most commonly one who has contributed a very large amount of material. ...

1960s

Zoologist Ivan T. Sanderson’s articles on mysterious animals, some appearing in the Saturday Evening Post, as well as his book Abominable Snowmen: Legend Comes To Life (ISBN 0-515-04444-X) that went through several printings, were aimed at popular audiences. Krantz characterizes Sanderson’s writing as "'enthusiastic' ... reporting data from a variety of sources with what seemed to be little concern for consistency or verification," an approach which "certainly lowered his credibility in the eyes of the few scientists who read his work" (Krantz, 1). Sanderson’s book remains notable as perhaps the first book-length survey of enigmatic "hairy hominids", and certainly helped popularize Yeti, Bigfoot and other mysterious primates, reported worldwide. Ivan T. Sanderson is also credited for interviewing Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin four months after the filming of the Patterson-Gimlin film in 1968 February issue of Argosy magazine. In his last year of life, Sanderson gave up on conventional explanations and adopted a paranormal view of Bigfoot. (Pursuit Magazine, 1980) Ivan Terrance Sanderson (January 30, 1911 – February 19, 1973) was a naturalist and writer born in Edinburgh, Scotland. ... There have been many publications called the Saturday Evening Post; several were/are local British newspapers. ... Frame 352 from the film, allegedly capturing a bigfoot mid-stride. ...

1970s

Perhaps, the first mainstream scientific study of available evidence was by Napier. Bigfoot: The Yeti and Sasquatch in Myth and Reality (ISBN 0-525-06658-6) offers an even-handed and sympathetic examination of the subject. While giving high marks to some earlier researchers ("Ivan T. Sanderson and John Green and René Dahinden... have made a far better job of recording the major events of the sasquatch saga than I could ever hope to do." (Napier, 73)), Napier also wrote that if we are to form a conclusion based on scant extant "'hard' evidence," science must declare "Bigfoot does not exist" (ibid, 197). René Dahinden (born 1930; died 2001) was a well-known Bigfoot (Sasquatch) researcher who was born in Switzerland but moved to Canada in 1953, where he would live for the rest of his life. ...

Yet this conclusion is qualified, as Napier seemed willing to leave the question unresolved. He found it difficult to entirely reject thousands of alleged tracks, "scattered over 125,000 square miles” or to dismiss all "the many hundreds" of eyewitnesses. He also adds that "if one track is genuine and one report is true-bill, then myth must be chucked out the window and reality admitted through the front door" (ibid, 203). In the end, Napier writes, "I am convinced that Sasquatch exists, but whether it is all it is cracked up to be is another matter altogether. There must be something in north-west America that needs explaining, and that something leaves man-like footprints." (ibid, 205) Decades later, Krantz suggests that Napier "stuck his neck out a lot further than most primatologists by writing a book about hairy bipeds in which he took the subject quite seriously" (Krantz, 240).

In 1974, the National Wildlife Federation funded a field study, seeking Bigfoot evidence. No formal federation members were involved, and the study made no notable discoveries (Bourne, 295). The National Wildlife Federation is the largest and most prominent American conservation organization, with over 5 million members and supporters in 47 state-affiliated organizations; its annual budget is over $125 million as of 2006. ...

The 1975 The Gentle Giants: The Gorilla Story (ISBN 0-399-11528-5) was co-authored by Geoffrey H. Bourne, another noted primatologist. Its final chapter is a brief summary of various mystery primate reports worldwide. Like Napier, he laments the dearth of physical evidence, but Bourne does not dismiss Sasquatch or Yeti as impossible.

From May 10-May 13, 1978, the University of British Columbia hosted a symposium, Anthropology of the Unknown: Sasquatch and Similar Phenomena, a Conference on Humanoid Monsters. Presented, were 35 papers (abstracts collected in Wasson, 141-154). Most attendees came from anthropology backgrounds, and Pyle writes that the conference "brought together twenty professors in various fields, along with several serious laymen, to consider the mythology, ethnology, ecology, biogeography, physiology, psychology, history and sociology of the subject. All took it seriously, and while few, if any, accepted the existence of Sasquatch outright, they jointly concluded 'that there are not reasonable grounds to dismiss all the evidence as misinterpretation or hoax'" (Pyle, 186). May 10 is the 130th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (131st in leap years). ... May 13 is the 133rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (134th in leap years). ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university with its main campus located at Point Grey, in the University Endowment Lands adjacent to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and another smaller campus known as UBC Okanagan located in Kelowna, British Columbia. ... Symposium originally referred to a drinking party (the Greek verb sympotein means to drink together) but has since come to refer to any academic conference, whether or not drinking takes place. ... // For the Derek Sherinian album, see Mythology (Derek Sherinian album). ... Ethnology (greek ethnos: (non-greek, barbarian) people) is a genre of anthropological study, involving the systematic comparison of the folklore, beliefs and practices of different societies. ... Ernst Haeckel coined the term oekologie in 1866. ... Biogeography is the science which deals with patterns of species distribution and the processes that result in such patterns. ... Leonardo da Vincis Vitruvian Man, an important early achievement in the study of physiology. ... Psychology is an academic and applied discipline involving the scientific study of mental processes and behavior. ... in 1930 was when the first traces of humans where discovered by cochroaches. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Following this modest peak in interest in the late 1970s, there has been little formal academic interest in the subject; many experts see further study as a waste of time. In more recent years, Krantz achieved a degree of notoriety as probably the leading accredited expert to devote considerable effort to the subject, though a few professionals have followed in his footsteps. Few have endorsed Krantz’ conclusions that Sasquatch is a real creature, but at the very least, such supporters argue that serious studies on the subject deserve fair consideration.

1980s

Some papers presented at the symposium were collected in 1980 as Manlike Monsters on Trial: Early Records and Modern Evidence, edited by Marjorie Halpin and Michael Ames. Michael M. Ames is a Canadian academic and Emeritus Professor of Anthropology of the department of anthropology-sociology at the University of British Columbia. ...

1990s

It’s worth noting that Pyle's Where Bigfoot Walks: Crossing the Dark Divide (ISBN 0-395-85701-5), as much a survey of Bigfoot’s cultural impact as of the likelihood of the creature’s reality, was researched and written with a grant from the Guggenheim Foundation. Pyle, author of Wintergreen, the acclaimed 1987 requiem for the forests of Washington's Willapa Hills, had well established his credentials as a scientist and nature writer. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation funds the Guggenheim Museums. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Willapa Hills is a range of hills in Pacific County, Washington State. ...

1997 - Italian mountaineer, Reinhold Messner, claimed to have come face to face with a Yeti. He has since written a book, My Quest for the Yeti: Confronting the Himalayas' Deepest Mystery (ISBN 0-312-27078-X), in which he argues that the Yeti was actually an endangered Himalayan brown bear that can walk upright or on all fours. Reinhold Messner (born September 17, 1944) is an Italian mountaineer and explorer, often cited [1] as the greatest mountain climber of all time, noted for making the first solo ascents of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen and for being the first climber to ascend all fourteen eight-thousanders (peaks over... Perspective view of the Himalaya and Mount Everest as seen from space looking south-south-east from over the Tibetan Plateau. ... Binomial name Ursus arctos Linnaeus, 1758 Ursus arctos range map. ...

2000s

Beginning in 2000 the American/Canadian association called the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization began organizing informal searches of wilderness areas in the U.S and Canada where sightings have been reported. During these searches several sightings and track finds have reportedly occurred. The most notable piece of evidence obtained so far is the Skookum Body Cast. The group expects their accumulating observations and evidence will lead to formal long-term studies in certain areas where sightings and tracks occur most frequently. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Skookum Cast is a plaster cast taken in Skookum Meadows area of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washington State. ...

Reported sightings of three giant human-like creatures in Malaysia's Endau Rompin National Park in late 2005 led to the formation of an official Bigfoot-tracking team, appointed by the state's Chief Minister, Abdul Ghani Othman in January of 2006. "Bigfoot" fever struck Johor after three fishermen reported seeing the creatures and took a photograph of a footprint, which was printed in Malaysian newspapers. The Singapore Paranormal Investigators have also joined in the search.^[1] Endau Rompin National Park is a tropical rainforest in Malaysia covering an area of 800 sq. ... Singapore Paranormal Investigators - Investigate into the paranormal, solve the unsolved, explain the unexplained and explore the unknown is what SPI do. ...

References

Notes