Rant: The community researching unknown creatures, such as bigfoot, need to place eyewitness sketches on their research web sites with dates. Currently the sketches are hap-hazard and cross-contaminating. Especially bad are the sites with bigfoot "art" interspersed with the "eyewiteness" accounts. This muddies the water for true research.
A question to be answered would be to look at the earliest sketches and see how the face of the creature was constructed. What points stood out in the witnesses memory because these could provide clues as to the ancestry of this creature.
If, for example, earliest sketches were more gorilla-like in appearance or more like the orang's face, these could provide valuable clues as to the genetic relationships between the NA creature and Asian species. Various other details could provide more clues to support the authenticity of the sighting - but not without those all crucial dates and places attached to the images.
If, on the other hand, the face features fangs and slobbering jaw - please refer to recent cinema posters for inspiration and not into the wilds of the forests.
Sunday, April 8, 2007
REMEMBER THE COELACANTH: Possibilities & dangers in dating "extinct" creatures
Hominoidea contains three groups, two of which are the Pongidae (Orangutans, Chimps, and Bonopos) and the Hominidae who are the humans.
The Pongidae great ape, the Orangutan, is located in an increasingly small pocket of SE Asia while the African varieties (gorilla, Chimp, Bonopos) exist in small narrow bands across central Africa. Looking at a map there is a vast distance between these two great ape locals. The immediate question that springs to mind is “how did they get from Africa to Asia”? Followed by “where are the intermediary species?”, and “What happened to the great ape in Asia?”
Complicating the issue is that very few great apes fossils have ever been found, and when they do appear, they serve to add layers of intrigue rather than make their history more clear.
Thus the one Great Ape represented in Asia in fossil form becomes a true missing link. GIANTOPITHECUS originated in Asia, perhaps as long ago as 6 million years and became extinct (?) only about 300,000 to 200,000 years ago. Researchers have located fossil teeth and some bone in regions in China, but because China has a long history of grinding up such “dragon bones” for making medicines, the available resources to study are rare.
Scientists will tell you, though, that this dating and extinction are all ironclad…..
Interesting to note, however, is that in many other fields of science , long held assumptions about correct dates are challenged by new finds. Sites of human occupation dated at 40,000, 50,000, and even 60,000 years are pushing back long held beliefs. Signs of occupation have been found in locations where science had said there was no human occupation that early (coast of Virginia, Mexico, Peru, etc.).
Is it possible that pockets of a large primate survived past that 200,000 year mark? Is it possible they fled away from encroaching humans into the fertile and high country (like Pandas)? Would some of these small pockets have crossed the land bridge into the North American continent? Could small clusters of them linger into the 20th century in the high mountains of Asia (Tibet, China, the Himalayas, and Russia) and in the thick jungles of Vietnam and Thailand?
Simply because it has not been found, or only a fossil of it has been found, does not negate the possibility of its existence. Remember the coelacanth.
FOR FURTHER READING:
http://www.uiowa.edu/~bioanth/giganto.html
The Ape That Was – Russell Ciochon
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/12/1208_051208_giant_ape_2.html
Early Human – Ape Interaction?
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/10/1023_031023_bigfoot.html
Forensic expert says Bigfoot real
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/03/0306_030306_orangutanfossil.html
Ape Fossill….
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/12/1220_021226_orangutan.html
Orangs show signs of culture
The Pongidae great ape, the Orangutan, is located in an increasingly small pocket of SE Asia while the African varieties (gorilla, Chimp, Bonopos) exist in small narrow bands across central Africa. Looking at a map there is a vast distance between these two great ape locals. The immediate question that springs to mind is “how did they get from Africa to Asia”? Followed by “where are the intermediary species?”, and “What happened to the great ape in Asia?”
Complicating the issue is that very few great apes fossils have ever been found, and when they do appear, they serve to add layers of intrigue rather than make their history more clear.
Thus the one Great Ape represented in Asia in fossil form becomes a true missing link. GIANTOPITHECUS originated in Asia, perhaps as long ago as 6 million years and became extinct (?) only about 300,000 to 200,000 years ago. Researchers have located fossil teeth and some bone in regions in China, but because China has a long history of grinding up such “dragon bones” for making medicines, the available resources to study are rare.
Scientists will tell you, though, that this dating and extinction are all ironclad…..
Interesting to note, however, is that in many other fields of science , long held assumptions about correct dates are challenged by new finds. Sites of human occupation dated at 40,000, 50,000, and even 60,000 years are pushing back long held beliefs. Signs of occupation have been found in locations where science had said there was no human occupation that early (coast of Virginia, Mexico, Peru, etc.).
Is it possible that pockets of a large primate survived past that 200,000 year mark? Is it possible they fled away from encroaching humans into the fertile and high country (like Pandas)? Would some of these small pockets have crossed the land bridge into the North American continent? Could small clusters of them linger into the 20th century in the high mountains of Asia (Tibet, China, the Himalayas, and Russia) and in the thick jungles of Vietnam and Thailand?
Once again think of that map with great apes in Africa and SE Asia....and none in between? None...unless you take into account some of those tales of "monsters" and "beasts" in the lonely high places....
What if a new find of Giantopithecus is found that dates to 100,000? 50,000? It is a question to ponder as experts continue to debate the reality of a great ape existing in the American North West and in high, isolated regions in other parts of the world.Simply because it has not been found, or only a fossil of it has been found, does not negate the possibility of its existence. Remember the coelacanth.
FOR FURTHER READING:
http://www.uiowa.edu/~bioanth/giganto.html
The Ape That Was – Russell Ciochon
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/12/1208_051208_giant_ape_2.html
Early Human – Ape Interaction?
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/10/1023_031023_bigfoot.html
Forensic expert says Bigfoot real
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/03/0306_030306_orangutanfossil.html
Ape Fossill….
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/12/1220_021226_orangutan.html
Orangs show signs of culture
Monday, April 2, 2007
http://www.kfor.com/Global/story.asp?S=2096832
The link above takes you to the local KFOR news story that really got the Oklahoma Bigfoot fever started in 2004. I believe you can still find those broadcasts out on Youtube.com if you have an interest in viewing them. KFOR is sometimes known to be a tad sensationalistic in their reports, but the effort here is pretty sharp. I have to reserve my judgement as to the validity of the witnesses. Basically, I'm not sure grainy video, hyperactive imaginations and (my opinion) chemically dependent witnesses indicate an active woodland presence. So take some time to view the facts and form your own opinion.
The link above takes you to the local KFOR news story that really got the Oklahoma Bigfoot fever started in 2004. I believe you can still find those broadcasts out on Youtube.com if you have an interest in viewing them. KFOR is sometimes known to be a tad sensationalistic in their reports, but the effort here is pretty sharp. I have to reserve my judgement as to the validity of the witnesses. Basically, I'm not sure grainy video, hyperactive imaginations and (my opinion) chemically dependent witnesses indicate an active woodland presence. So take some time to view the facts and form your own opinion.
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