Big Foot meets Modern Science

Canadian lab to test 'sasquatch' hair

Tue Jul 26,12:48 AM ET

The debate over the existence of sasquatch, aka Bigfoot, an ape-like creature said to haunt the wilderness of western Canada has entered the world of modern DNA testing.

A laboratory will test hair samples that several residents of Teslin, Yukon, say were left when the large, but so-far mythological creature made a late-night run through their community in early July.

University of Alberta wildlife geneticist David Coltman, who agreed to do the tests as a favor to a colleague, said on Monday that scientists have cataloged the DNA of nearly all large animals in the Yukon such as bears and bison.

"So we'll compare it to all of that, and if it doesn't match anything, then it's potentially interesting," said Coltman, who suspects the hair was actually left behind by a much more mundane Yukon bison.

"If sasquatch is indeed a primate, then we would expect the sample to be closer to humans or chimpanzees or gorillas," Coltman said.

The legend of a large, hairy, two-legged creature lurking in the mountains of western Canada and the United States dates back to before Europeans settled the continent. This was the second report of the creature near Teslin in just over a year.

In the latest sighting, a group of Teslin residents told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. they heard branches cracking and saw a large human-like creature run by a house. It left behind large footprints, they said, and the hair tufts that were given to wildlife officials.

Coltman expects to have his results on Thursday and said that even if the hair turns out not to be from a sasquatch, the process should serve as good way to get students interested in the field of DNA testing.

"It's sort of like a wildlife CSI story," he said.

UPDATE

DNA tests squelch Canadian sasquatch discovery

EDMONTON, Alberta, July 28 (Reuters) - Big Foot will remain just a tall tale, for a while at least, after DNA hair samples thought to be from the mythic creature turned out to be bison hair.

Researchers said on Thursday that a mysterious clump of hair found in the Yukon Territory is from a North American bison and not from he elusive ape-like sasquatch, or Big Foot, said to haunt the woods of western Canada.

"The DNA profile of the hair sample we received from the Yukon earlier this week clearly matches reference DNA profiles from North American bison," said David Coltman, a wildlife geneticist at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.

"However, if you're a believer, we haven't disproved there is a Big Foot out there," Coltman said.

Hair and large footprints were discovered by two witnesses who claimed to have spotted a large and furry ape-like figure dash through the bush this month near Teslin, a village about 100 miles east of the Yukon capital of Whitehorse.

Coltman often works with Yukon wildlife officials and agreed to test the samples using a chemical solution to separate the DNA material from the hair shaft so that the gene sequences could be compared with the known sequences of other animals.

"DNA is quite powerful at detecting new species. It's the genetic blueprint for a potential organism."

The legend of an ape-like, or human-like, creature lurking in the mountains of western Canada and the United States goes back to a time before Europeans settled in the continent.

The word "sasquatch" was derived in the 1920s from tales of the Chehalis Indians in British Columbia.

Coltman's decision to test the hair drew media interest from around the world, although he had suspected from the beginning that the tufts came from a bison.

"People want to hold on to these myths that something unknown is possibly living in their backyard," Coltman said.

"I think it's highly unlikely that the sasquatch exists, however, it's not really scientific to disbelieve anything either. You must always maintain an objective mind," he said.

Coltman has since turned down a request from a Wisconsin woman to analyze fur from a wolf/man hybrid creature spotted frequently in the badger state.

The alleged Yukon sighting is not the first Big Foot report in Canada this year.

A resident of Norway House, Manitoba, (525 miles north of Winnipeg) shot videotape in April of what appeared to be a large, hairy, two-legged creature walking along the shore of Lake Winnipeg.