The swallows, martins, and saw-wings, or Hirundinidae are a family of passerinesongbirds found around the world on all continents, including occasionally in Antarctica. Highly adapted to aerial feeding, they have a distinctive appearance. The term “swallow” is used as the common name for Hirundo rustica in the UK[1] and Ireland.[2] Around 90 species of Hirundinidae are known, divided into 21 genera, with the greatest diversity found in Africa, which is also thought to be where they evolved as hole-nesters.[3] They also occur on a number of oceanic islands. A number of European and North American species are long-distance migrants; by contrast, the West and South African swallows are nonmigratory.
This family comprises two subfamilies: Pseudochelidoninae (the river martins of the genus Pseudochelidon) and Hirundininae (all other swallows, martins, and saw-wings). In the Old World, the name “martin” tends to be used for the squarer-tailed species, and the name “swallow” for the more fork-tailed species; however, this distinction does not represent a real evolutionary separation.[4] In the New World, “martin” is reserved for members of the genus Progne. (These two systems are responsible for the same species being called sand martin in the Old World and bank swallow in the New World.)
The family Hirundinidae was introduced (as Hirundia) by the French polymathConstantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1815.[5][6] The Hirundinidae are morphologically unique within the passerines, with molecular evidence placing them as a distinctive lineage within the Sylvioidea (Old World warblers and relatives).[7] Phylogenetic analysis has shown that the family Hirundinidae is sister to the cupwings in the family Pnoepygidae. The two families diverged in the early Miocene around 22 million years ago.[8]
Within the family, a clear division exists between the two subfamilies, the Pseudochelidoninae, which are composed of the two species of river martins,[9][10] and the Hirundininae, into which the remaining species are placed. The division of the Hirundininae has been the source of much discussion, with various taxonomists variously splitting them into as many as 24 genera and lumping them into just 12. Some agreement exists that three core groups occur within the Hirundininae: the saw-wings of the genus Psalidoprocne, the core martins, and the swallows of the genus Hirundo and their allies.[11] The saw-wings are the most basal of the three, with the other two clades being sister to each other. The phylogeny of the swallows is closely related to evolution of nest construction; the more basal saw-wings use burrows as nest, the core martins have both burrowing (in the Old World members) and cavity adoption (in New World members) as strategies, and the genus Hirundo and its allies use mud nests.[12]
The Hirundinidae have an evolutionarily conservative body shape, which is similar across the clade, but is unlike that of other passerines.[11] Swallows have adapted to hunting insects on the wing by developing a slender, streamlined body and long, pointed wings, which allow great maneuverability and endurance, as well as frequent periods of gliding. Their body shapes allow for very efficient flight; the metabolic rate of swallows in flight is 49–72% lower than equivalent passerines of the same size.[16]
The bill of the sand martin is typical for the family, being short and wide.
Swallows have two foveae in each eye, giving them sharp lateral and frontal vision to help track prey. They also have relatively long eyes, with their length almost equaling their width. The long eyes allow for an increase in visual acuity without competing with the brain for space inside of the head. The morphology of the eye in swallows is similar to that of a raptor.[17]
Like the unrelated swifts and nightjars, which hunt in a similar way, they have short bills, but strong jaws and a wide gape. Their body lengths range from about 10–24 cm (3.9–9.4 in) and their weight from about 10–60 g (0.35–2.12 oz). The smallest species by weight may be the Fanti sawwing, at a mean body mass of 9.4 g (0.33 oz) while the purple martin and southern martin, which both weigh in excess of 50 g (1.8 oz) on average, rival one another as the heaviest swallows.[18] The wings are long, pointed, and have nine primary feathers. The tail has 12 feathers and may be deeply forked, somewhat indented, or square-ended.[11] A long tail increases maneuverability,[19][20] and may also function as a sexual adornment, since the tail is frequently longer in males.[20] In barn swallows, the tail of the male is 18% longer than those of the female, and females select mates on the basis of tail length.[21]
Their legs are short, and their feet are adapted for perching rather than walking, as the front toes are partially joined at the base. Swallows are capable of walking and even running, but they do so with a shuffling, waddling gait.[22] The leg muscles of the river martins (Pseudochelidon) are stronger and more robust than those of other swallows.[11][22] The river martins have other characteristics that separate them from the other swallows. The structure of the syrinx is substantially different between the two subfamilies;[9] and in most swallows, the bill, legs, and feet are dark brown or black, but in the river martins, the bill is orange-red and the legs and feet are pink.[11]
The most common hirundine plumage is glossy dark blue or green above and plain or streaked underparts, often white or rufous. Species that burrow or live in dry or mountainous areas are often matte brown above (e.g. sand martin and crag martin). The sexes show limited or no sexual dimorphism, with longer outer tail feathers in the adult male probably being the most common distinction.[23]
The chicks hatch naked and with closed eyes.[24] Fledged juveniles usually appear as duller versions of the adult.[4]
The family has a worldwide cosmopolitan distribution, breeding on every continent except Antarctica. One species, the Pacific swallow, occurs as a breeding bird on a number of oceanic islands in the Pacific Ocean,[25] the Mascarene martin breeds on Reunion and Mauritius in the Indian Ocean,[26] and a number of migratory species are common vagrants to other isolated islands and even to some sub-Antarctic islands and Antarctica.[27] Many species have enormous worldwide ranges, particularly the barn swallow, which breeds over most of the Northern Hemisphere and winters over most of the Southern Hemisphere.
The family uses a wide range of habitats. They are dependent on flying insects, and as these are common over waterways and lakes, they frequently feed over these, but they can be found in any open habitat, including grasslands, open woodland, savanna, marshes, mangroves, and scrubland, from sea level to high alpine areas.[11] Many species inhabit human-altered landscapes, including agricultural land and even urban areas. Land-use changes have also caused some species to expand their range, most impressively the welcome swallow, which began to colonise New Zealand in the 1920s, started breeding in the 1950s, and is now a common landbird there.[28]
Species breeding in temperate regions migrate during the winter when their insect prey populations collapse. Species breeding in more tropical areas are often more sedentary, although several tropical species are partial migrants or make shorter migrations. In antiquity, swallows were thought to have hibernated in a state of torpor, or even that they withdrew for the winter under water. Aristotle ascribed hibernation not only to swallows, but also to storks and kites. Hibernation of swallows was considered a possibility even by as acute an observer as Rev. Gilbert White, in his The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne (1789, based on decades of observations).[29] This idea may have been supported by the habit of some species to roost in some numbers in dovecotes, nests and other forms of shelter during harsh weather, and some species even entering torpor.[11] There were several reports of suspected torpor in swallows from 1947,[30] such as a 1970 report that white-backed swallows in Australia may conserve energy this way,[31] but the first confirmed study that they or any passerine entered torpor was a 1988 study on house martins.[32]
A tree swallow attending its nest in a tree cavity
Swallows are excellent flyers and use these skills to feed and attract mates. Some species, such as the mangrove swallow, are territorial, whereas others are not and simply defend their nesting sites. In general, the male selects a nest site, and then attracts a female using song and flight and (dependent on the species) guards his territory. The size of the territory varies depending on the species of swallow; in colonial-nesting species, it tends to be small, but it may be much larger for solitary nesters. Outside the breeding season, some species may form large flocks, and species may also roost communally. This is thought to provide protection from predators, such as sparrowhawks and hobbies.[11] These roosts can be enormous; one winter-roosting site of barn swallows in Nigeria attracted 1.5 million individuals.[33] Nonsocial species do not form flocks, but recently fledged chicks may remain with their parents for a while after the breeding season. If a human being gets too close to their territory, swallows attack them within the perimeter of the nest. Colonial species may mob predators and humans that are too close to the colony.[34]
For the most part, swallows are insectivorous, taking flying insects on the wing.[11] Across the whole family, a wide range of insects is taken from most insect groups, but the composition of any one prey type in the diet varies by species and with the time of year. Individual species may be selective; they do not scoop up every insect around them, but instead select larger prey items than would be expected by random sampling.[35] In addition, the ease of capture of different insect types affects their rate of predation by swallows.[36] They also avoid certain prey types; in particular, stinging insects such as bees and wasps are generally avoided. In addition to insect prey, a number of species occasionally consume fruits and other plant matter. Species in Africa have been recorded eating the seeds of Acacia trees, and these are even fed to the young of the greater striped swallow.[11][37]
The swallows generally forage for prey on the wing, but they on occasion snap prey off branches or on the ground. The flight may be fast and involve a rapid succession of turns and banks when actively chasing fast-moving prey; less agile prey may be caught with a slower, more leisurely flight that includes flying in circles and bursts of flapping mixed with gliding. Where several species of swallows feed together, they separate into different niches based on height off the ground, some species feeding closer to the ground and others feeding at higher levels.[38] Similar separation occurs where feeding overlaps with swifts. Niche separation may also occur with the size of prey chosen.[38]
The more primitive species nest in existing cavities, for example in an old woodpecker nest, while other species excavate burrows in soft substrate such as sand banks.[11] Swallows in the genera Hirundo, Ptyonoprogne, Cecropis, Petrochelidon, Atronanus and Delichon build mud nests close to overhead shelter in locations that are protected from both the weather and predators. The mud-nesters are most common in the Old World, particularly Africa, whereas cavity-nesters are more common in the New World. Mud-nesting species in particular are limited in areas of high humidity, which causes the mud nests to crumble. Many cave-, bank-, and cliff-dwelling species of swallows nest in large colonies. Mud nests are constructed by both males and females, and amongst the tunnel diggers, the excavation duties are shared, as well. In historical times, the introduction of man-made stone structures such as barns and bridges, together with forest clearance, has led to an abundance of colony sites around the globe, significantly increasing the breeding ranges of some species. Birds living in large colonies typically have to contend with both ectoparasites and conspecific nest parasitism.[39][40] In barn swallows, old mated males and young unmated males benefit from colonial behaviour, whereas females and mated young males likely benefit more from nesting by themselves.[41]
Pairs of mated swallows are monogamous,[42] and pairs of nonmigratory species often stay near their breeding area all year, though the nest site is defended most vigorously during the breeding season. Migratory species often return to the same breeding area each year, and may select the same nest site if they were previously successful in that location. First-year breeders generally select a nesting site close to where they were raised.[43] The breeding of temperate species is seasonal, whereas that of subtropical or tropical species can either be continuous throughout the year or seasonal. Seasonal species in the subtropics or tropics usually time their breeding to coincide with the peaks in insect activity, which is usually the wet season, but some species, such as the white-bibbed swallow, nest in the dry season to avoid flooding in their riverbank nesting habitat.[11] All swallows defend their nests from egg predators, although solitary species are more aggressive towards predators than colonial species.[44] Overall, the contribution of male swallows towards parental care is the highest of any passerine bird.[11]
The eggs of swallows tend to be white, although those of some mud-nesters are speckled. The typical clutch size is around four to five eggs in temperate areas and two to three eggs in the tropics. The incubation duties are shared in some species, and in others the eggs are incubated solely by the females. Amongst the species where the males help with incubation, their contribution varies amongst species, with some species such as the cliff swallow sharing the duties equally and the female doing most of the work in others. Amongst the barn swallows, the male of the American subspecies helps (to a small extent), whereas the European subspecies does not. Even in species where the male does not incubate the eggs, he may sit on them when the female is away to reduce heat loss (this is different from incubation as that involves warming the eggs, not just stopping heat loss). Incubation stints last for 5–15 minutes and are followed by bursts of feeding activity. From laying, swallow eggs take 10–21 days to hatch, with 14–18 days being more typical.[11]
The chicks of swallows hatch naked, generally with only a few tufts of down. The eyes are closed and do not fully open for up to 10 days. The feathers take a few days to begin to sprout, and the chicks are brooded by the parents until they are able to thermoregulate. On the whole, they develop slowly compared to other passerine birds. The parents do not usually feed the chicks individual insects, but instead feed a bolus of food comprising 10–100 insects. Regardless of whether the species has males that incubate or brood the chicks, the males of all hirundines help feed the chicks. When the young fledge is difficult to determine, as they are enticed out of the nest after three weeks by parents, but frequently return to the nest afterwards to roost.[11]
Swallows are able to produce many different calls or songs, which are used to express excitement, to communicate with others of the same species, during courtship, or as an alarm when a predator is in the area. The songs of males are related to the body condition of the bird and are presumably used by females to judge the physical condition and suitability for mating of males.[45] Begging calls are used by the young when soliciting food from their parents. The typical song of swallows is a simple, sometimes musical twittering.
Species of hirundine that are threatened with extinction are generally endangered due to habitat loss. This is presumed to be the reason behind the decline of the critically endangeredwhite-eyed river martin, a species that is only known from a few specimens collected in Thailand. The species presumably breeds in riverbanks, a much diminished habitat in Southeast Asia. As the species has not been reliably seen since 1980, it may already be extinct.[46] Two insular species, the Bahama swallow and golden swallow, have declined due to forest loss and also competition with introduced species such as starlings and sparrows, which compete with these swallows for nesting sites. The golden swallow formerly bred on the island of Jamaica, but was last seen there in 1989 and is now restricted to the island of Hispaniola.[47]
Swallows coexist well with humans because of their beneficial role as insect eaters, and some species have readily adapted to nesting in and around human habitation. The barn swallow and house martin now rarely use natural sites. The purple martin is also actively encouraged by people to nest around humans and elaborate nest boxes are erected. Enough artificial nesting sites have been created that the purple martin now seldom nests in natural cavities in the eastern part of its range.[52]
Because of the long human experience with these conspicuous species, many myths and legends have arisen as a consequence, particularly relating to the barn swallow.[11] Roman historian Pliny the Elder described a use of painted swallows to deliver a report of the winning horses at a race.[53] There is also the Korean folktale of Heungbu and Nolbu, which teaches a moral lesson about greed and altruism through the mending of a swallow’s broken leg.[54]
During the 19th century, Jean Desbouvrie attempted to tame swallows and train them for use as messenger birds, as an alternative to war pigeons. The swallows would have a light load of course, as a laden swallow could only travel about half as far as an unladen swallow in the same trip. He succeeded in curbing the migratory instinct in young birds and persuaded the government of France to conduct initial testing, but further experimentation stalled.[53][55] Subsequent attempts to train homing behaviour into swallows and other passerines had difficulty establishing a statistically significant success rate, although the birds have been known to trap themselves in a cage repeatedly to get to the bait.[53]
According to a sailing superstition, swallows are a good omen to those at sea. This probably arose from the fact that swallows are land-based birds, so their appearance informs a sailor that he or she is close to shore.[56] An old term of venery for swallows is a “flight” or “sweep”.[57]
Enthusiasts of Bigfoot, such as those within the pseudoscience of cryptozoology, have offered various forms of dubious evidence to prove Bigfoot’s existence, including anecdotal claims of sightings as well as alleged photographs, video and audio recordings, hair samples, and casts of large footprints.[7][8][9][10] However, the scientific consensus is that Bigfoot, and alleged evidence, is a combination of folklore, misidentification, and hoax rather than a living animal.[3][7][10][11][12][13]
Bigfoot is often described as a large, muscular, and bipedal human or ape-like creature covered in black, dark brown, or dark reddish hair.[23][24] Anecdotal descriptions estimate a height of roughly 6–9 feet (1.8–2.7 m), with some descriptions having the creatures standing as tall as 10–15 feet (3.0–4.6 m).[25] Some alleged observations describe Bigfoot as more human than ape,[26] particularly in regard to the face.[27][28] In 1971, multiple people in The Dalles, Oregon, filed a police report describing an “overgrown ape”, and one of the men claimed to have sighted the creature in the scope of his rifle but could not bring himself to shoot it because “it looked more human than animal”.[29]
Common descriptions include broad shoulders, no visible neck, and long arms, which many skeptics attribute to misidentification of a bear standing upright.[30] Some alleged nighttime sightings have stated the creature’s eyes “glowed” yellow or red.[31] However, eyeshine is not present in humans or any other known great apes, and so proposed explanations for observable eyeshine off of the ground in the forest include owls, raccoons, or opossums perched in foliage.[32]
Michael Rugg, the owner of the Bigfoot Discovery Museum, claims to have smelled Bigfoot, stating, “Imagine a skunk that had rolled around in dead animals and had hung around the garbage pits.”[33]
The enormous footprints for which the creature is named are claimed to be as large as 24 inches (610 mm) long and 8 inches (200 mm) wide.[24] Some footprint casts have also contained claw marks, making it likely that they came from known animals such as bears, which have five toes and claws.[34][35]
History
Folklore and early records
Ecologist Robert Pyle argues that most cultures have accounts of human-like giants in their folk history, expressing a need for “some larger-than-life creature”.[36] Each language had its name for the creature featured in the local version of such legends. Many names mean something like “wild man” or “hairy man”, although other names described common actions that it was said to perform, such as eating clams or shaking trees.[37] European folklore traditionally had many instances of the “wild man of the woods,” or “wild people,” often described as “a naked creature covered in hair, with only the face, feet and hands (and in some cases the knees, elbows, or breasts) remaining bare”[2][14] These European wild people ranged from human hermits, to human-like monsters.[2] Upon migrating to North America, myths of the “wild people” persisted, with documented sightings of “wild people” reported in what is now New York state and Pennsylvania.[2] In a 2007 paper titled “Images of the Wildman Inside and Outside Europe” it stated:
“To be sure, the modern sasquatch is largely the product of a European-derived culture, as possibly to an even greater extent is the Australian yahoo; accordingly, traces of the European wildman are discernible in both figures. Yet the sasquatch is partly rooted in Amerindian representations of hairy hominoids, even though the relationship between these, which are often described as small, and the giant sasquatch of the popular Canadian and American imagination is hardly straightforward”
Many of the indigenous cultures across the North American continent include tales of mysterious hair-covered creatures living in forests,[38] and according to anthropologist David Daegling, these legends existed long before contemporary reports of the creature described as Bigfoot. These stories differed in their details regionally and between families in the same community and are particularly prevalent in the Pacific Northwest.[39] Chief Mischelle of the Nlaka’pamux at Lytton, British Columbia, told such a story to Charles Hill-Tout in 1898.[40]
A reproduction of the petroglyphs at Painted Rock.
On the Tule River Indian Reservation, petroglyphs created by a tribe of Yokuts at a site called Painted Rock are alleged by Kathy Moskowitz Strain, author of the 2008 book Giants, Cannibals, Monsters: Bigfoot in Native Culture, to depict a group of Bigfoots called “the Family”.[41] The largest glyph is called “Hairy Man”, and they are estimated to be 1,000 years old.[42] According to the Tulare County Board of Education in 1975, “Big Foot, the Hairy Man, was a creature that was like a great big giant with long, shaggy hair. His long shaggy hair made him look like a big animal. He was good in a way, because he ate the animals that might harm people”, and Yokuts parents warned their children not to venture near the river at night or they may encounter the creature.[43]
16th-century Spanish explorers and Mexican settlers told tales of the los Vigilantes Oscuros, or “Dark Watchers”, large creatures alleged to stalk their camps at night.[44] In the region that is now Mississippi, a Jesuit priest was living with the Natchez in 1721 and reported stories of hairy creatures in the forest known to scream loudly and steal livestock.[45]
In 1929, Indian agent and teacher J.W. Burns, who lived and worked with the Sts’ailes Nation (then called the Chehalis First Nation), published a collection of stories titled, Introducing B.C.’s Hairy Giants: A collection of strange tales about British Columbia’s wild men as told by those who say they have seen them, in Maclean’s magazine.[46] The stories offered various anecdotal reports of wild people; including an encounter a tribal member had with a hairy wild woman who could speak the language of the Douglas First Nation. Burns coined the term “Sasquatch”, believed to be the anglicized version of sasq’ets (sas-kets), roughly translating to “hairy man” in the Halq’emeylem language.[47] Burns describes the Sasquatch as, “a tribe of hairy people whom they claim have always lived in the mountains – in tunnels and caves”.
The folklore of the Cherokee includes tales of the Tsul ‘Kalu, who were described as “slant-eyed giants” that resided in the Appalachian Mountains, and is sometimes associated with Bigfoot.[48]
Members of the Lummi tell tales about creatures known as Ts’emekwes. The stories are similar to each other in the general descriptions of Ts’emekwes, but details differed among various family accounts concerning the creature’s diet and activities.[49] Some regional versions tell of more threatening creatures: the stiyaha or kwi-kwiyai were a nocturnal race, and children were warned against saying the names so that the “monsters” would not come and carry them off to be killed.[50] The Iroquois tell of an aggressive, hair covered giant with rock-hard skin known as the Ot ne yar heh or “Stone Giant”, more commonly referred to as the Genoskwa.[51] In 1847, Paul Kane reported stories by the natives about skoocooms, a race of cannibalistic wild men living on the peak of Mount St. Helens. U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, in his 1893 book, The Wilderness Hunter, writes of a story he was told by an elderly mountain man named Bauman in which a foul-smelling, bipedal creature ransacked his beaver trapping camp, stalked him, and later became hostile when it fatally broke his companion’s neck.[52] Roosevelt notes that Bauman appeared fearful while telling the story but attributed the trapper’s German ancestry to have potentially influenced him.[53]
The Alutiiq of the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska tell of the Nantinaq, a Bigfoot-like creature.[54] This folklore was featured in the Discovery+ television series, Alaskan Killer Bigfoot, which claims the Nantinaq was responsible for the population decrease of Portlock in the 1940s.[55]
Less menacing versions have been recorded, such as one by Reverend Elkanah Walker in 1840. Walker was a Protestant missionary who recorded stories of giants among the natives living near Spokane, Washington. These giants were said to live on and around the peaks of the nearby mountains, stealing salmon from the fishermen’s nets.[56]
Ape Canyon incident
On July 16, 1924, an article in The Oregonian made national news when a story was published describing a conflict between a group of gold prospectors and a group of “ape-men” in a gorge near Mount St. Helens.[57] The prospectors reported encountering “gorilla men” near their remote cabin. One of the men, Fred Beck, indicated that he shot one of the creatures with a rifle. That night, they reported coming under attack by the creatures, who were said to have thrown large rocks at the cabin, damaging the roof and knocking Beck unconscious. The men fled the area the following morning. The U.S. Forest Service investigated the site of the alleged incident. The investigators found no compelling evidence of the event and concluded it was likely a fabrication. Stories of large, hair covered bipedal ape-men or “mountain devils” had been a persistent piece of folklore in the area for centuries prior to the alleged incident. Today, the area is known as Ape Canyon and is cemented within Bigfoot-related folklore.[58]
Origin of the “Bigfoot” name
Jerry Crew and Andrew Genzoli
In 1958, Jerry Crew, bulldozer operator for a logging company in Humboldt County, California, discovered a set of large, 16 inches (410 mm) human-like footprints sunk deep within the mud in the Six Rivers National Forest.[59] Upon informing his coworkers, many claimed to have seen similar tracks on previous job sites as well as telling of odd incidents such as an oil drum weighing 450 pounds (200 kg) having been moved without explanation. The logging company men soon began using the word “Bigfoot” to describe the apparent culprit.[60] Crew and others initially believed someone was playing a prank on them. After observing more of these massive footprints, he contacted reporter Andrew Genzoli of the Humboldt Times newspaper. Genzoli interviewed lumber workers and wrote articles about the mysterious footprints, introducing the name “Bigfoot” in relation to the tracks and the local tales of large, hairy wild men.[61] A plaster cast was made of the footprints and Crew appeared, holding one of the casts, on the front page of the newspaper on October 6, 1958. The story spread rapidly as Genzoli began to receive correspondence from major media outlets including the New York Times and Los Angeles Times.[62] As a result, the term Bigfoot became widespread as a reference to an apparently large, unknown creature leaving massive footprints in Northern California.[63]
Ray Wallace and Rant Mullens
In 2002, the family of Jerry Crew’s deceased coworker Ray Wallace revealed a collection of large, carved wooden feet stored in his basement. They stated that Wallace had been secretly making the footprints and was responsible for the tracks discovered by Crew.[64]
Wallace was inspired by another hoaxer, Rant Mullens, who revealed information about his hoaxes in 1982. In the 1930s in Toledo, Washington, Mullens and a group of other foresters carved pairs of large feet made of wood and used them to create footprints in the mud to scare huckleberry pickers in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.[65] The group would also claim to be responsible for hoaxing the alleged Ape Canyon incident in 1924.[66] Mullens and the group of foresters began referring to themselves as the St. Helens Apes, and would later have a cave dedicated to them.[67]
Wallace, also from Toledo, knew Mullens and stated he collaborated with him to obtain a pair of the large wooden feet and subsequently used them to create footprints on the 1958 construction site as a means to scare away potential thieves.[68]
Other historical uses of “Bigfoot”
In the 1830s, a Wyandot chief was nicknamed “Big Foot” due to his significant size, strength and large feet.[69]Potawatomi Chief Maumksuck, known as Chief “Big Foot”, is today synonymous with the area of Walworth County, Wisconsin, and has a state park and school named for him.[70]William A. A. Wallace, a famous 19th century Texas Ranger, was nicknamed “Bigfoot” due to his large feet and today has a town named for him: Bigfoot, Texas.[71]Lakota leader Spotted Elk was also called “Chief Big Foot”. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, at least two enormous marauding grizzly bears were widely noted in the press and each nicknamed “Bigfoot.” The first grizzly bear called “Bigfoot” was reportedly killed near Fresno, California, in 1895 after killing sheep for 15 years; his weight was estimated at 2,000 pounds (900 kg).[72] The second one was active in Idaho in the 1890s and 1900s between the Snake and Salmon rivers, and supernatural powers were attributed to it.[73]
Many regions throughout North America have differentiating names for Bigfoot.[74] In Canada, the name Sasquatch is widely used in addition to Bigfoot.[75] The United States uses both of these names but also has numerous names and descriptions of the creatures depending on the region and area in which they are allegedly sighted.[76] These include the Skunk ape in Florida and other southern states,[77] the Ohio Grassman in Ohio,[78]Fouke Monster in Arkansas,[79]Wood Booger in Virginia,[80] the Monster of Whitehall in Whitehall, New York,[81]Momo in Missouri,[82]Honey Island Swamp Monster in Louisiana,[83]Dewey Lake Monster in Michigan,[84]Mogollon Monster in Arizona,[85] the Big Muddy Monster in southern Illinois,[86] and The Old Men of the Mountain in West Virginia.[87] The term Wood Ape is also used by some as a means to deviate from the perceived mythical connotation surrounding the name “Bigfoot”.[88] Other names include Bushman, Treeman, and Wildman.[89]
On October 20, 1967, Bigfoot enthusiast Roger Patterson and his partner Robert “Bob” Gimlin were filming a Bigfoot docudrama in an area called Bluff Creek in Northern California. The pair claimed they came upon a Bigfoot and filmed the encounter. The 59.5-second-long video, dubbed the Patterson-Gimlin film (PGF), has become iconic in popular culture and Bigfoot-related history and lore. The PGF continues to be a highly scrutinized, analyzed, and debated subject.[90]
Academic experts from related fields have typically judged the film as providing no supportive data of any scientific value,[91] with perhaps the most common proposed explanation being that it was a hoax.[92]
Proposed explanations
A black bear standing upright.
Various explanations have been suggested for sightings and to offer conjecture on what existing animal has been misidentified in supposed sightings of Bigfoot. Scientists typically attribute sightings to hoaxes or misidentifications of known animals and their tracks, particularly black bears.[93][94]
Misidentification
Bears
Scientists theorize that mistaken identification of American black bears as Bigfoot are a likely explanation for most reported sightings, particularly when observers view a subject from afar, are in dense foliage, or there are poor lighting conditions.[95] Additionally, black bears have been observed and recorded walking upright, often as the result of an injury.[96] While upright, adult black bears stand roughly 5–7 feet (1.5–2.1 m),[97] and grizzly bears roughly 8–9 feet (2.4–2.7 m).[98]
According to data scientist Floe Foxon, more people report seeing Bigfoot in areas with documented black bear populations. Foxon concludes, “If bigfoot is there, it may be many bears”.[99] Foxon acknowledges that alleged Bigfoot sightings have been reported in areas with minimal or no known black bear populations. She states, “Although this may be interpreted as evidence for the existence of an unknown hominid in North America, it is also explained by misidentification of other animals (including humans), among other possibilities”.[100]
Escaped apes
Some have proposed that sightings of Bigfoot may simply be people observing and misidentifying known great apes such as chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans that have escaped from captivity such as zoos, circuses, and exotic pets belonging to private owners.[101] This explanation is often proposed in relation to the Skunk ape, as some scientists argue the humid subtropical climate of the southeastern United States could potentially support a population of escaped apes.[102]
Humans
Humans have been mistaken for Bigfoot, with some incidents leading to injuries. In 2013, a 21-year-old man in Oklahoma was arrested after he told law enforcement he accidentally shot his friend in the back while their group was allegedly hunting for Bigfoot.[103] In 2017, a shamanist wearing clothing made of animal furs was vacationing in a North Carolina forest when local reports of alleged Bigfoot sightings flooded in. The Greenville Police Department issued a public notice not to shoot Bigfoot for fear of mistakenly injuring or killing someone in a fur suit.[104] In 2018, a person was shot multiple times by a hunter near Helena, Montana, who claimed he mistook him for a Bigfoot.[105]
Additionally, some have attributed feral humans or hermits living in the wilderness as being another explanation for alleged Bigfoot sightings.[106][107] One story, the Wild Man of the Navidad, tells of a wild ape-man who roamed the wilderness of eastern Texas in the mid-19th century, stealing food and goods from residents. A search party allegedly captured an escaped African slave attributed to the story.[108] During the 1980s, several psychologically damaged American Vietnam veterans were stated by the state of Washington’s veterans’ affairs director, Randy Fisher, to have been living in remote wooded areas of the state.[109]
Pareidolia
Some have proposed that pareidolia may explain Bigfoot sightings, specifically the tendency to observe human-like faces and figures within the natural environment.[110][111] Photos and videos of poor quality alleged to depict Bigfoots are often attributed to this phenomenon and commonly referred to as “Blobsquatch”.[112]
Misidentified vocalizations
The majority of mainstream scientists maintain that the source of the sounds often attributed to Bigfoot are either hoaxes, anthropomorphization, or likely misidentified and produced by known animals such as owl, wolf, coyote, and fox.[113][114][115]
Hoaxes
Both Bigfoot believers and non-believers agree that many reported sightings are hoaxes.[116]
Gigantopithecus
Fossil jaw of the extinct primate Gigantopithecus blacki
Bigfoot proponents Grover Krantz and Geoffrey H. Bourne both believed that Bigfoot could be a relict population of the extinct southeast Asian ape species Gigantopithecus blacki. According to Bourne, G. blacki may have followed the many other species of animals that migrated across the Bering land bridge to the Americas.[117] To date, no Gigantopithecus fossils have been found in the Americas. In Asia, the only recovered fossils have been of mandibles and teeth, leaving uncertainty about G. blacki‘s locomotion. Krantz has argued that G. blacki could have been bipedal, based on his extrapolation from the shape of its mandible. However, the relevant part of the mandible is not present in any fossils.[118] The consensus view is that G. blacki was quadrupedal, as its enormous mass would have made it difficult for it to adopt a bipedal gait.[119]
Anthropologist Matt Cartmill criticizes the G. blacki hypothesis:
The trouble with this account is that Gigantopithecus was not a hominin and maybe not even a crown group hominoid; yet the physical evidence implies that Bigfoot is an upright biped with buttocks and a long, stout, permanently adducted hallux. These are hominin autapomorphies, not found in other mammals or other bipeds. It seems unlikely that Gigantopithecus would have evolved these uniquely hominin traits in parallel.[120]
Paleoanthropologist Bernard G. Campbell writes: “That Gigantopithecus is in fact extinct has been questioned by those who believe it survives as the Yeti of the Himalayas and the Sasquatch of the north-west American coast. But the evidence for these creatures is not convincing.”[121]
Extinct hominidae
PrimatologistJohn R. Napier and anthropologist Gordon Strasenburg have suggested a species of Paranthropus as a possible candidate for Bigfoot’s identity, such as Paranthropus robustus, with its gorilla-like crested skull and bipedal gait[122] —despite the fact that fossils of Paranthropus are found only in Africa.[123]
Michael Rugg of the Bigfoot Discovery Museum presented a comparison between human, Gigantopithecus, and Meganthropus skulls (reconstructions made by Grover Krantz) in episodes 131 and 132 of the Bigfoot Discovery Museum Show.[124] Bigfoot enthusiasts that think Bigfoot may be the “missing link” between apes and humans have promoted the idea that Bigfoot is a descendant of Gigantopithecus blacki, but that ape diverged from orangutans around 12 million years ago and is not related to humans.[125]
Expert consensus is that allegations of the existence of Bigfoot are not credible.[7][127] Belief in the existence of such a large, ape-like creature is more often attributed to hoaxes, confusion, or delusion rather than to sightings of a genuine creature.[23] 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.”[36] The author of one review article states that, in their opinion, it is impossible even to consider cryptozoology a science if it continues to consider Bigfoot seriously.[7]
As with other similar beings, climate and food supply issues would make such a creature’s survival in reported habitats unlikely.[7][128] 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. Great apes have not been found in the fossil record in the Americas, and no Bigfoot remains are known to have been found. Phillips Stevens, a cultural anthropologist at the University at Buffalo, summarized the scientific consensus as follows:
It defies all logic that there is a population of these things sufficient to keep them going. What it takes to maintain any species, especially a long-lived species, is having a breeding population. That requires a substantial number, spread out over a fairly wide area where they can find sufficient food and shelter to keep hidden from all the investigators.[129]
In the 1970s, when Bigfoot “experts” were frequently given high-profile media coverage, McLeod writes that the scientific community generally avoided lending credence to such fringe theories by refusing even to debate them.[130]
Primatologist Jane Goodall was asked for her personal opinion of Bigfoot in a 2002 interview on National Public Radio‘s “Science Friday“. Goodall responded saying, “Well, now you will be amazed when I tell you that I’m sure that they exist.”[131] She later added, “Well, I’m a romantic, so I always wanted them to exist,” and “Of course, the big, the big criticism of all this is, “Where is the body?” You know, why isn’t there a body? I can’t answer that, and maybe they don’t exist, but I want them to.”[131][132] In 2012, when asked again by the Huffington Post, Goodall said “I’m fascinated and would actually love them to exist,” adding, “Of course, it’s strange that there has never been a single authentic hide or hair of the Bigfoot, but I’ve read all the accounts.”[132]
Paleontologist and author Darren Naish states in a 2016 article for Scientific American that if “Bigfoot” existed, an abundance of evidence would also exist that cannot be found anywhere today, making the existence of such a creature exceedingly unlikely.[133]
Naish summarizes the evidence for “Bigfoot” that would exist if the creature itself existed:
If “Bigfoot” existed, so would consistent reports of uniform vocalizations throughout North America as can be identified for any existing large animal in the region, rather than the scattered and widely varied “Bigfoot” sounds haphazardly reported;
If “Bigfoot” existed, so would many tracks that would be easy for experts to find, just as they easily find tracks for other rare megafauna in North America, rather than a complete lack of such tracks alongside “tracks” that experts agree are fraudulent;
Finally, if “Bigfoot” existed, an abundance of “Bigfoot” DNA would already have been found, again as it has been found for similar animals, instead of the current state of affairs, where there is no confirmed DNA for such a creature whatsoever.[133]
Researchers
Ivan T. Sanderson and Bernard Heuvelmans, founders of the study of cryptozoology, spent parts of their career searching for Bigfoot.[134] Later scientists who researched the topic included Jason Jarvis, Carleton S. Coon, George Allen Agogino and William Charles Osman Hill, though they later stopped their research due to lack of evidence for the alleged creature.[135]
2007 photograph of the Bigfoot trap within the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest.
One study was conducted by John Napier and published in his book Bigfoot: The Yeti and Sasquatch in Myth and Reality in 1973.[142] Napier wrote that if a conclusion is to be reached based on scant extant “‘hard’ evidence,” science must declare “Bigfoot does not exist.”[143] However, he found it difficult to entirely reject thousands of alleged tracks, “scattered over 125,000 square miles” (325,000 km2) or to dismiss all “the many hundreds” of eyewitness accounts. Napier concluded, “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.”[144]
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.[145] Also in 1974, the now defunct North American Wildlife Research Team constructed a “Bigfoot trap” in the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest. It was baited with animal carcasses and captured multiple bears, but no Bigfoot.[146] Upkeep of the trap ended in the early 1980s, but in 2006 the United States Forest Service repaired the trap, which today is a tourist destination along the Collings Mountain hiking trail.[147]
Beginning in the late 1970s, physical anthropologist Grover Krantz published several articles and four book-length treatments of Bigfoot. However, his work was found to contain multiple scientific failings including falling for hoaxes.[148]
A study published in the Journal of Biogeography in 2009 by J.D. Lozier et al. used ecological niche modeling on reported sightings of Bigfoot, using their locations to infer preferred ecological parameters. They found a very close match with the ecological parameters of the American black bear. They also note that an upright bear looks much like a Bigfoot’s purported appearance and consider it highly improbable that two species should have very similar ecological preferences, concluding that Bigfoot sightings are likely misidentified sightings of black bears.[149]
In the first systematic genetic analysis of 30 hair samples that were suspected to be from Bigfoot-like creatures, only one was found to be primate in origin, and that was identified as human. A joint study by the University of Oxford and Lausanne’s Cantonal Museum of Zoology and published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B in 2014, the team used a previously published cleaning method to remove all surface contamination and the ribosomal mitochondrial DNA 12S fragment of the sample. The sample was sequenced and then compared to GenBank to identify the species origin. The samples submitted were from different parts of the world, including the United States, Russia, the Himalayas, and Sumatra. Other than one sample of human origin, all but two are from common animals. Black and brown bears accounted for most of the samples, other animals include cow, horse, dog/wolf/coyote, sheep, goat, deer, raccoon, porcupine, and tapir. The last two samples were thought to match a fossilized genetic sample of a 40,000 year old polar bear of the Pleistocene epoch;[150] a second test identified these hairs as being from a rare type of brown bear.[151][152]
In 2019, the FBI declassified an analysis it conducted on alleged Bigfoot hairs in 1976. Bigfoot researcher Peter Byrne sent the FBI 15 hairs attached to a small skin fragment and asked if the bureau could assist him in identifying it. Jay Cochran Jr., assistant director of the FBI’s Scientific and Technical Services division responded in 1977 that the hairs were of deer family origin.[153][154]
Claims
Claims about the origins and characteristics of Bigfoot vary. Thomas Sewid, a Bigfoot researcher and member of the Kwakwakaʼwakw tribe claims, “They’re just the other tribe. They’re just big, hairy humans with nocturnal vision that choose not to have weapons or fire or permanent shelters”.[155]
Additionally, there have been claims that Bigfoot has been responsible for vehicle accidents, vandalizing property, delaying construction, and killing people.[158] In 2022, a man from Oklahoma claimed he killed his friend because he believed he had summoned Bigfoot and was going to be sacrificed to the creature.[159]
Sightings
According to Live Science, there have been over 10,000 reported Bigfoot sightings in the continental United States.[160] About one-third of all claims of Bigfoot sightings are located in the Pacific Northwest, with the remaining reports spread throughout the rest of North America.[34][161][162] Most reports are considered mistakes or hoaxes, even by those researchers who claim Bigfoot exists.[163]
Sightings predominantly occur in the northwestern region of Washington state, Oregon, Northern California, and British Columbia. According to data collected from the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization’s (BFRO) Bigfoot sightings database in 2019, Washington has over 2,000 reported sightings, California over 1,600, Pennsylvania over 1,300, New York and Oregon over 1,000, and Texas has just over 800.[164] The debate over the legitimacy of Bigfoot sightings reached a peak in the 1970s, and Bigfoot has been regarded as the first widely popularized example of pseudoscience in American culture.[130]
Reports of alleged Bigfoot sightings are often featured in news stories throughout the United States.[165][166][167][168]
Alleged behavior
Some Bigfoot researchers allege that Bigfoot throws rocks as territorial displays and for communication.[169][170][171] Other alleged behaviors include audible blows struck against trees or “wood knocking”, further alleged to be communicative.[172][173][174] Skeptics argue that these behaviors are easily hoaxed.[175] Additionally, structures of broken and twisted foliage seemingly placed in specific areas have been attributed by some to Bigfoot behavior.[176] In some reports, lodgepole pine and other small trees have been observed bent, uprooted, or stacked in patterns such as weaved and crisscrossed, leading some to theorize that they are potential territorial markings.[177] Some instances have also included entire deer skeletons being suspended high in trees.[178] Some researchers and enthusiasts believe Bigfoot construct teepee-like structures out of dead trees and foliage.[179] In Washington state, a team of amateur Bigfoot researchers called the Olympic Project claimed to have discovered a collection of nests. The group brought in primatologists to study them, with the conclusion being that they appear to have been created by a primate.[180]
Jeremiah Byron, host of the Bigfoot Society Podcast, believes Bigfoot are omnivores, stating, “They eat both plants and meat. I’ve seen accounts that they eat everything from berries, leaves, nuts, and fruit to salmon, rabbit, elk, and bear. Ronny Le Blanc, host of Expedition Bigfoot on the Travel Channel indicated he has heard anecdotal reports of Bigfoot allegedly hunting and consuming deer.[181] In the 2001 nature documentaryGreat North, a dark bipedal figure was captured on film while the filmmakers were recording a herd of caribou. The footage has sparked debate, as some Bigfoot researchers claim the figure is a Bigfoot stalking the caribou. In 2016, Bigfoot researcher ThinkerThunker released a YouTube video in which he interviewed one of the Great North directors, William Reeve, who claims it could not have been a human but was possibly a bear, although he and his crew denied seeing any bears while filming.[182]
Some Bigfoot researchers have reported the creatures moving or taking possession of intentional “gifts” left by humans such as food and jewelry, and leaving items in their places such as rocks and twigs.[183]
Many alleged sightings are reported to occur at night leading some cryptozoologists to hypothesize that Bigfoot may possess nocturnal tendencies.[184] However, experts find such behavior untenable in a supposed ape- or human-like creature, as all known apes, including humans, are diurnal, with only lesser primates exhibiting nocturnality.[185] Most anecdotal sightings of Bigfoot describe the creatures allegedly observed as solitary, although some reports have described groups being allegedly observed together.[186]
Alleged vocalizations
Alleged vocalizations such as howls, screams, moans, grunts, whistles, and even a form of supposed language have been reported and allegedly recorded.[187][188] Some of these alleged vocalization recordings have been analyzed by individuals such as retired U.S. Navycryptologiclinguist Scott Nelson. He analyzed audio recordings from the early 1970s said to be recorded in the Sierra Nevada mountains dubbed the “Sierra Sounds” and stated, “It is definitely a language, it is definitely not human in origin, and it could not have been faked”.[189]Les Stroud has spoken of a strange vocalization he heard in the wilderness while filming Survivorman that he stated sounded primate in origin.[190] A number of anecdotal reports of Bigfoot encounters have resulted in witnesses claiming to be disoriented, dizzy and anxious. Some Bigfoot researchers, such as paranormal author Nick Redfern, have proposed that Bigfoot may produce infrasound, which could explain reports of this nature.[191]
Alleged encounters
In Fouke, Arkansas, in 1971, a family reported that a large, hair-covered creature startled a woman after reaching through a window. This alleged incident caused hysteria in the Fouke area and inspired the horror movie, The Legend of Boggy Creek (1972). The report was later deemed a hoax.[192]
In 1974, the New York Times presented the dubious tale of Albert Ostman, a Canadian prospector, who stated that he was kidnapped and held captive by a family of Bigfoot for six days in 1924.[193]
In 1994, former U.S. Forest Service ranger Paul Freeman, a Bigfoot researcher, videotaped an alleged Bigfoot he reportedly encountered in the Blue Mountains in Oregon. The tape, often referred to as the Freeman footage, continues to be scrutinized and its authenticity debated.[194] Freeman had previously gained media recognition in the 1980s for documenting alleged Bigfoot tracks, claiming they possessed dermal ridges.[195]
On May 26, 1996, Lori Pate, who was on a camping trip near the Washington state-Canada border, videotaped a dark subject she reported encountering running across a field and claimed it was Bigfoot. The film, dubbed the Memorial Day Bigfoot footage, is often depicted in Bigfoot-related media, most notably in the 2003 documentary, Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science. In his research, Daniel Perez of the Skeptical Inquirer concluded that the footage was likely a hoax perpetuated by a human in a gorilla costume.[196]
In 2018, Bigfoot researcher Claudia Ackley garnered international attention after filing a lawsuit with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) for failing to acknowledge the existence of Bigfoot. Ackley claimed to have encountered and filmed a Bigfoot in the San Bernardino Mountains in 2017, describing what she saw as a “Neanderthal man with a lot of hair”. Ackley contacted emergency services as well as the CDFW; a state investigator concluded that she encountered a bear.[197] Until her death in 2023, Ackley also ran an online support group for individuals claiming to experience psychological trauma as a result of alleged Bigfoot encounters.[198]
In October 2023, a woman named Shannon Parker uploaded a video of an alleged Bigfoot to Facebook. The footage went viral on social media and was shared via various news publications. Shannon Parker reported she and others observed the subject while riding a train on the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad in the San Juan Mountains in Colorado. The authenticity of the video was debated across social media.[199] Skeptics on Reddit speculated it was a publicity hoax perpetrated by an RV company located the area, Sasquatch Expedition Campers. The company denied the allegations.[200]
In the early 1990s, 9-1-1 audio recordings were made public in which a homeowner in Kitsap County, Washington, called law enforcement for assistance with a large subject, described by him as being “all in black”, having entered his backyard. He previously reported to law enforcement that his dog was killed recently when it was thrown over his fence.[201][202] Anthropologist Jeffrey Meldrum notes that any large predatory animal is potentially dangerous, specifically if provoked, but indicates that most anecdotal accounts of Bigfoot encounter result in the creatures hiding or fleeing from people.[203] The 2021 Hulu documentary series, Sasquatch, describes marijuana farmers telling stories of Bigfoots harassing and killing people within the Emerald Triangle region in the 1970s through the 1990s; and specifically the alleged murder of three migrant workers in 1993.[204] Investigative journalist David Holthouse attributes the stories to illegal drug operations using the local Bigfoot lore to scare away the competition, specifically superstitious immigrants, and that the high rate of murder and missing persons in the area is attributed to human actions.[205]
Skeptics argue that many of these alleged encounters are easily hoaxed, the result of misidentification, or are outright fabrications.[206]
Evidence claims
A body print taken in the year 2000 from the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washington state dubbed the Skookum cast is also believed by some to have been made by a Bigfoot that sat down in the mud to eat fruit left out by researchers during the filming of an episode of the Animal X television show. Skeptics believe the cast to have been made by a known animal such as an elk.[207]
Alleged Bigfoot footprints are often suggested by Bigfoot enthusiasts as evidence for the creature’s existence. Anthropologist Jeffrey Meldrum, who specializes in the study of primate bipedalism, possesses over 300 footprint casts that he maintains could not be made by wood carvings or human feet based on their anatomy, but instead are evidence of a large, non-human primate present today in North America.[208] In 2005, Matt Crowley obtained a copy of an alleged Bigfoot footprint cast, called the “Onion Mountain Cast”, and was able to painstakingly recreate the dermal ridges. Michael Dennett of the Skeptical Inquirer spoke to police investigator and primate fingerprint expert Jimmy Chilcutt in 2006 for comment on the replica and he stated, “Matt has shown artifacts can be created, at least under laboratory conditions, and field researchers need to take precautions”.[209] Chilcutt had previously stated that some of the alleged Bigfoot footprint plaster casts he examined were genuine due to the presence of “unique dermal ridges”.[210] Dennett states that Chilcutt published nothing to substantiate his claims, nor had anyone else published anything on that topic, with Chilcutt making his statements solely through a posting on the Internet.[209] Dennett states further that no reviews on Chilcutt’s statements had been performed beyond those by what Dennett states to be, “other Bigfoot enthusiasts”.[209]
2007 photograph alleged by the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization to depict a juvenile Bigfoot.
In 2007, the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization claimed to have photographs depicting a juvenile Bigfoot allegedly captured on a camera trap in the Allegheny National Forest. The Pennsylvania Game Commission, however, stated that the photos were of a bear with mange.[211] The Pennsylvania Game Commission unsuccessfully attempted to locate the suspected mangey bear. Scientist Vanessa Woods, after estimating that the subject in the photo had approximately 22 inches (560 mm) long arms and a 18.75 inches (476 mm) torso, concluded it was more comparable to a chimpanzee.[212]
In 2015, Centralia College professor Michael Townsend claimed to have discovered prey bones with “human-like” bite impressions on the southside of Mount St. Helens. Townsend claimed the bites were over two times wider than a human bite, and that he and two of his students also found 16-inch footprints in the area.[213]
Melba Ketchum press release
After what The Huffington Post described as “a five-year study of purported Bigfoot (also known as Sasquatch) DNA samples”,[214] but prior to peer review of the work, DNA Diagnostics, a veterinary laboratory headed by veterinarian Melba Ketchum issued a press release on November 24, 2012, claiming that they had found proof that the Sasquatch “is a human relative that arose approximately 15,000 years ago as a hybrid cross of modern Homo sapiens with an unknown primate species.” Ketchum called for this to be recognized officially, saying that “Government at all levels must recognize them as an indigenous people and immediately protect their human and Constitutional rights against those who would see in their physical and cultural differences a ‘license’ to hunt, trap, or kill them.”[215] Failing to find a scientific journal that would publish their results, Ketchum announced on February 13, 2013, that their research had been published in the DeNovo Journal of Science.[215][216][217] The title “DeNovo: Journal of Science” in which the paper was published was found to be a Web site—registered anonymously only nine days before the paper was announced—whose first and only “journal” issue contained nothing but the “Sasquatch” article.[215][217] Shortly after publication, the paper was analyzed and outlined by Sharon Hill of Doubtful News for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Hill reported on the questionable journal, mismanaged DNA testing and poor quality paper, stating that “The few experienced geneticists who viewed the paper reported a dismal opinion of it noting it made little sense.”[218]The Scientist magazine also analyzed the paper, reporting that:
Geneticists who have seen the paper are not impressed. “To state the obvious, no data or analyses are presented that in any way support the claim that their samples come from a new primate or human-primate hybrid,” Leonid Kruglyak of Princeton University told the Houston Chronicle. “Instead, analyses either come back as 100 percent human, or fail in ways that suggest technical artifacts.” The website for the DeNovo Journal of Science was setup [sic] on February 4, and there is no indication that Ketchum’s work, the only study it has published, was peer-reviewed.[219]
Documented hoaxes
In 1968, the frozen corpse of a supposed hair-covered hominid measuring 5 feet 11 inches (1.8 m) was paraded around the United States as part of a traveling exhibition. Many stories surfaced as to its origin, such as its having been killed by hunters in Minnesota or American soldiers near Da Nang during the Vietnam War. It was attributed by some to be proof of Bigfoot-like creatures. Primatologist John R. Napier studied the subject and concluded it was a hoax made of latex. Others disputed this, claiming Napier did not study the original subject. As of 2013, the subject, dubbed the Minnesota Iceman, was on display at the “Museum of the Weird” in Austin, Texas.[220]
Tom Biscardi, long-time Bigfoot enthusiast and CEO of “Searching for Bigfoot, Inc.”, appeared on the Coast to Coast AM paranormal radio show on July 14, 2005, and said that he was “98% sure that his group will be able to capture a Bigfoot which they had been tracking in the Happy Camp, California, area.”[221] A month later, he announced on the same radio show that he had access to a captured Bigfoot and was arranging a pay-per-view event for people to see it. He appeared on Coast to Coast AM again a few days later to announce that there was no captive Bigfoot. He blamed an unnamed woman for misleading him, and said that the show’s audience was gullible.[221]
On July 9, 2008, Rick Dyer and Matthew Whitton posted a video to YouTube, claiming that they had discovered the body of a dead Bigfoot in a forest in northern Georgia, which they named “Rickmat”.[222] Tom Biscardi was contacted to investigate. Dyer and Whitton received $50,000 from “Searching for Bigfoot, Inc.”[223] The story was covered by many major news networks, including BBC,[224]CNN,[225]ABC News,[226] and Fox News.[227] Soon after a press conference, the alleged Bigfoot body was delivered in a block of ice in a freezer with the Searching for Bigfoot team. When the contents were thawed, observers found that the hair was not real, the head was hollow, and the feet were rubber.[228] Dyer and Whitton admitted that it was a hoax after being confronted by Steve Kulls, executive director of SquatchDetective.com.[229]
In August 2012, a man in Montana was killed by a car while perpetrating a Bigfoot hoax using a ghillie suit.[230][231]
In January 2014, Rick Dyer, perpetrator of a previous Bigfoot hoax, said that he had killed a Bigfoot in September 2012 outside San Antonio, Texas. He claimed to have had scientific tests conducted on the body, “from DNA tests to 3D optical scans to body scans. It is the real deal. It’s Bigfoot, and Bigfoot’s here, and I shot it, and now I’m proving it to the world.”[232][233] He said that he had kept the body in a hidden location, and he intended to take it on tour across North America in 2014. He released photos of the body and a video showing a few individuals’ reactions to seeing it,[234] but never released any of the tests or scans. He refused to disclose the test results or to provide biological samples. He said that the DNA results were done by an undisclosed lab and could not be matched to identify any known animal.[235] Dyer said that he would reveal the body and tests on February 9, 2014, at a news conference at Washington University,[236] but he never made the test results available.[237] After the tour, the Bigfoot body was taken to Houston, Texas.[238]
On March 28, 2014, Dyer admitted on his Facebook page that his “Bigfoot corpse” was another hoax. He had paid Chris Russel of “Twisted Toybox” to manufacture the prop from latex, foam, and camel hair, which he nicknamed “Hank”. Dyer earned approximately US$60,000 from the tour of this second fake Bigfoot corpse. He stated that he did kill a Bigfoot, but did not take the real body on tour for fear that it would be stolen.[239][240]
In April 2022, a man in Mobile, Alabama posted photos he claimed were of a Bigfoot to his Facebook page, indicating the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office validated their authenticity and the team from Finding Bigfoot was being dispatched. The photos circulated on social media, attracting the attention of NBC 15. The man admitted the photos were an April Fools’ Day hoax.[241]
On July 7, 2022, wildlife educator and media personality Coyote Peterson released a Facebook post in which he claimed to have excavated a large primate skull in British Columbia and smuggled it into the United States, further claiming to have initially hidden the discovery due to concerns of government intervention. The post went viral, garnering the attention of multiple scientists who dismissed the finding as a likely replica gorilla skull. Darren Naish, a vertebrate paleontologist, stated, “I’m told that Coyote Peterson does this sort of thing fairly often as clickbait, and that this is a stunt done to promote an upcoming video. Maybe this is meant to be taken as harmless fun. But in an age where anti-scientific feelings and conspiracy culture are a serious problem it—again—really isn’t a good look. I think this stunt has backfired”.[242] In a follow-up video, Peterson claimed the situation was staged as a hypothetical example of what not to do in response to such a discovery.[243]
Bigfoot has a demonstrable impact in popular culture,[244] and has been compared to Michael Jordan as a cultural icon.[245] In 2018, Smithsonian magazine declared, “Interest in the existence of the creature is at an all-time high”.[246] A poll in 2020 suggested that about 1 in 10 American adults believe Bigfoot to be “a real, living creature”.[247] According to a May 2023 data study, the terms “Bigfoot” and “Sasquatch” are inputted via internet search engines over 200,000 times annually in the United States, and over 660,000 times worldwide.[248]
The creature has inspired the naming of a medical company, music festival, amusement park ride, monster truck, and a Marvel Comicssuperhero. Some commentators have been critical of Bigfoot’s rise to fame, arguing that the appearance of the creatures in cartoons, reality shows, and advertisements trivialize the potential validity of serious scientific research into their supposed existence. Others propose that society’s fascination with the concept of Bigfoot stems from human interest in mystery, the paranormal, and loneliness. In a 2022 article discussing recent Bigfoot sightings, journalist John Keilman of the Chicago Tribune states, “As UFOs have gained newfound respect, becoming the subject of a Pentagon investigative panel, the alleged Bigfoot sighting is a reminder that other paranormal phenomena are still out there, entrancing true believers and amusing skeptics”.[249]
There are laws and ordinances regarding harming or killing Bigfoot in the state of Washington. In 1969, a law was passed that criminalized killing a Bigfoot, making the act a felony, that upon conviction was punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 or by five years imprisonment. In 1984, the law was amended to make the crime a misdemeanor and the entire county was declared a “Sasquatch refuge”. Whatcom County followed suit in 1991, declaring the county a “Sasquatch Protection and Refuge Area”.[254][255] In 2022, Grays Harbor County, Washington, passed a similar resolution after a local elementary school in Hoquiam submitted a classroom project asking for a “Sasquatch Protection and Refuge Area” to be granted.[256]
Bigfoot has been used for environmental protection and nature conservation campaigns and advocacy. Bigfoot was used in an environmental protection campaign, albeit comedically, by the U.S. Forest Service in 2015.[261] Bigfoot is a mascot for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service‘s “Leave No Trace Principles”, a national educational program to inform the public about reducing the damage caused by outdoor activities.[262] The 360 mile “Bigfoot Trail” in Oregon, is named for the creature.[263] Environmental organization Oregon Wild also uses Bigfoot to promote its nature advocacy, stating, “If there really is a Sasquatch out there, there is definitely more than one, and in order to maintain a healthy breeding population a species of hominid (as Sasquatch is assumed to be) would need extremely vast expanses of uninterrupted forest. Remote Wilderness areas would be prime habitat for Sasquatch, so if there are any out there to protect, making sure Oregon’s forests get the protections they need to stay untrammeled is of the utmost importance”.[264] In 2024, Bigfoot was used as a mascot for a government recycling campaign in Whitfield County, Georgia.[265]
In the 2018 podcast Wild Thing, creator and journalist Laura Krantz argues that the concept of Bigfoot can be an important part of environmental interest and protection, stating, “If you look at it from the angle that Bigfoot is a creature that has eluded capture or hasn’t left any concrete evidence behind, then you just have a group of people who are curious about the environment and want to know more about it, which isn’t that far off from what naturalists have done for centuries”.[266][267]
During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Bigfoot became a part of many North American social distancing advocacy campaigns, with the creature being referred to as the “Social Distancing Champion” and as the subject of various internet memes related to the pandemic.[268][269]
There is an entire subculture surrounding Bigfoot.[270] The act of searching for the creatures is often referred to as “Squatching”, “Squatchin’” or “Squatch’n”,[271] popularized by the Animal Planet series, Finding Bigfoot.[272] Bigfoot researchers and believers are often called “Bigfooters” or “Squatchers”.[273] 20th century Bigfooters Peter C. Byrne, René Dahinden, John Green and Grover Krantz have been dubbed by cryptozoologist and author Loren Coleman as the “Four Horsemen of Sasquatchery”.[274] The 2024 book The Secret History of Bigfoot by journalist John O’Connor explores this subculture of Bigfooters, particularly the wide assortment of beliefs enthusiasts of the subject hold. In 2004, David Fahrenthold of The Washington Post published an article describing a feud between Bigfoot researchers in the eastern and western United States. Fahrenthold writes, “On the one hand, East Coast Bigfooters say they have to fight discrimination from Western counterparts who think the creature does not live east of the Rocky Mountains. On the other, they have to deal with reports from a more urban population, which includes some who are unfamiliar with wildlife and apt to mistake a black bear for the missing link”.[275]
People have been injured or killed while searching for Bigfoot in the wilderness. On December 28, 2024, two men were found deceased in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washington state after setting off on Christmas to search for Bigfoot. Their disappearance prompted a large scale search and rescue effort, with the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office concluding they were likely not prepared for the inclement weather.[276]
October 20, the anniversary of the Patterson-Gimlin film recording, is considered by some enthusiasts as “National Sasquatch Awareness Day”.[277] In 2015, World Champion taxidermist Ken Walker completed what he believes to be a lifelike Bigfoot model based on the subject in the Patterson–Gimlin film.[278] He entered it into the 2015 World Taxidermy & Fish Carving Championships in Missouri and was the subject of Dan Wayne’s 2019 documentary Big Fur.[279]
Tourism and events
Remer, Minnesota uses local Bigfoot folklore as a means of attracting tourism to the area.[280]
Bigfoot and related folklore has an impact on tourism.[281]Willow Creek, California, considers itself the “Bigfoot Capital of the World”.[282] The Willow Creek Chamber of Commerce has hosted the “Bigfoot Daze” festival annually since the 1960s, drawing on the popularity of the local folklore, notably that of the Patterson-Gimlin film.[283]Jefferson, Texas proclaimed itself the “Bigfoot Capital of Texas” in 2018.[284] The city has hosted the Texas Bigfoot Conference since 2000.[285]
In 2021, U.S. RepresentativeJustin Humphrey, in an effort to bolster tourism, proposed an official Bigfoot hunting season in Oklahoma, indicating that the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation would regulate permits and the state would offer a $3 million bounty if such a creature was captured alive and unharmed.[286][287] In 2024, mayor Grant Nicely of Derry, Pennsylvania declared Bigfoot the “official cryptid” of the borough and stated, “Willful harm or capture of the species will be punishable by law.” Council Vice-president Nathan Bundy stated, “By proclaiming Bigfoot as our official cryptid and establishing Derry as a sanctuary, we are embracing our local folklore and the rich history that makes our community unique”.[288]
Events such as conferences and festivals dedicated to Bigfoot draw thousands of attendees and contribute to the economies of areas in which they are held.[289][290][291] These events commonly include guest speakers, research and lore presentations, and sometimes live music, vendors, food trucks, and other activities such as costume contests and “Bigfoot howl” competitions.[292][293] Some receive collaboration between local government and corporations, such as the Smoky Mountain Bigfoot Festival in Townsend, Tennessee, which is sponsored by Monster Energy.[294] The 2023 Bigfoot Festival in Marion, North Carolina, saw approximately 40,000 people in attendance, resulting in a large economic boost for the small town of less than 8,000 residents.[295] In February 2016, the University of New Mexico at Gallup held a two-day Bigfoot conference at a cost of $7,000 in university funds.[296] Bigfoot is also featured in events alongside other famous cryptids such as the Loch Ness Monster, Mothman, and Chupacabra.[297][298]
There are museums dedicated to Bigfoot.[299][300] In 2019, Bigfoot researcher Cliff Barackman, notable for his role on Finding Bigfoot, opened the North American Bigfoot Center in Boring, Oregon.[301] In 2022, The Bigfoot Crossroads of America Museum and Research Center in Hastings, Nebraska, was selected for addition into the archives of the U.S. Library of Congress.[302] The High Desert Museum in Bend, Oregon features an exhibit called Sensing Sasquatch, which presents the subject from an Indigenous point-of-view. According to Executive Director Dana Whitelaw, “Rather than the popular, mainstream view of Sasquatch, this exhibition shows Sasquatch as a protective entity for many Indigenous peoples of the High Desert. The exhibit reflects the reverence that Native peoples have for Sasquatch and will be centered on Indigenous art, voices and storytelling”.[303]
Organizations
There are several organizations dedicated to Bigfoot. The oldest and largest is the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO).[304] The BFRO also provides a free database to individuals and other organizations. Their website includes reports from across North America that have been investigated by BFRO researchers. Other similar organizations exist throughout many U.S. states and their members come from a variety of backgrounds.[305][306]
The North American Wood Ape Conservancy (NAWAC), a nonprofit organization, states its mission is to “ultimately have the wood ape species documented, protected, and the land they inhabit protected.[307] Author Mike Mays of NAWAC states, “If just anyone hauled in a Bigfoot carcass the blowback from animal rights groups and beyond would be ruinous”.
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