Encounters with Gigantic Orangutans

We have been negligent in our postings about primatology and feel bad. We decided to bring you the story of the Gigantic Orangutans of Borneo.

At Tetrapod Zoology (hardcore fans, like us, call it Tet Zoo for short), Darren Naish is profiled as "a science writer, technical editor and palaeozoologist (affiliated with the University of Portsmouth, UK) who mostly works on Cretaceous dinosaurs and pterosaurs."

He writes great articles that sometimes border into the realm of Cryptozoology while maintaining the rigor of science. Without further ado, please read the excerpt below and follow the link to Encounters with Gigantic Orangutans.

Over the past couple of months I've been reading John MacKinnon's In Search of the Red Ape (Collins, 1974) - one of the first books anyone reads whenever they want to learn about orangutans. The book is stuffed full of anecdotes and other natural history tales about Borneo and Sumatra, and it seems that MacKinnon (who, these days, is best known for his association with the discovery of the Saola Pseudoryx nghetinensis in Vietnam (MacKinnon 2000, Van Dung et al. 1993, 1994)) encountered just about every creature you could hope to encounter in the tropical jungles of the region... yes, even the enigmatic orang-pendek (or its tracks, at least).

Anyway, one particular section of the book really stands out for me: the bit where MacKinnon catches sight of a gigantic, terrestrially walking male orangutan...

I was nearly home when I saw a terrifying spectacle. For a moment I thought it was a trick of my vision. A huge, black orang-utan was walking along the path towards me. I had never seen such a large animal even in a zoo. He must have weighed every bit of three hundred pounds. Hoping that he had not noticed me, I dived behind a large tree. I was in no state to defend myself, or run from him should he come for me, and I could recall clearly the natives' terrible stories about old, ground-living orangs. I held my breath as the monster passed within a few feet of me and let him get about forty yards ahead before I followed in pursuit. He was enormous, as black as a gorilla but with his back almost bare of hair; Ivan the Terrible was the only name I could think of. (MacKinnon 1974, p. 54)

We guarantee you will love reading the rest at Tetrapod Zoology

EXTERNAL LINKS
SRC:Tetrapod Zoology
Tet Zoo: Chimpanzees make and use spears
Tet Zoo:Bipedal Orangs
"What to Make of Yowies?" by Darren Naish at Science Blogs

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:
Bigfoot's Walking Cousins
Lair of the Beasts: Seeking the Indian Bigfoot

Moneymaker and Barackman in Animal Planet Bigfoot Series

This is the first article about the Animal Planet event in North Carolina that seems to be written from the researchers perspective. Matt Moneymaker and Cliff Barackman are quoted regarding the methodology and evidence found.

"We're going to do an evidence search in a grid," he said. "We doubt you're going to run across Bigfoot out there, but we are going to be looking for some evidence. There's been a lot of sightings in the Uwharrie National Forest. --Matt Moneymaker"

"A lot of people would see this as the front part and back part of the foot, but I think we're looking at a quadripedal animal here," Barackman said. "I think this is probably a deer. --Cliff Barackman"

The Full Article is Below:

Volunteers scour forest for Bigfoot
Some search for fun, others for some evidence

By Marina Richardson -
ALBEMARLE, N.C. -- Around 300 people gathered last weekend at the Eldorado Outpost in Montgomery County on what many might call a fool's errand - a search for Bigfoot.
The expedition into the Uwharrie National Forest to hunt for the elusive creature was led by longtime Bigfoot researcher Michael Greene, Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization leader Matt Moneymaker and a team from the cable and satellite TV channel Animal Planet.

"This is about the crowd I expected," Greene said. "We're going to assemble out there and spread out as a group."

Wally Hersom of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization holds a Bigfoot cast made from a footprint in Walla Walla, Wash. The group led a search in North Carolina last weekend.

While most members of the crowd had shown up to volunteer for the search, a number of individuals were caught up in the search by accident.

Brandon Tysinger and Joey Boslet from Calabash and Scott McKinney from the Myrtle Beach area were camping in the Uwharries and heard unexplained sounds outside their tent Friday night. They thought it was strange, but did not connect it with Bigfoot until they found out about the search on Saturday, they said.

"We pulled up at the gas station, and all of a sudden, we're looking for Bigfoot," Tysinger said. "We want to know what in the world it was in the woods last night, so we thought we'd go, too."

"We just kind of showed up," McKinney said.

Others in the crowd showed up for entertainment or to confirm their belief or disbelief in the legendary creature.

"I'm here for the fun of it," said Brittney Huneycutt of Albemarle. "This is a once in a lifetime thing."

"I'm very skeptical," Adam Loflin, of Norwood, said. "I'm leaning toward the fact that he's not out there."

Before the search began, Moneymaker addressed the group gathered at the outpost.

"We're going to do an evidence search in a grid," he said. "We doubt you're going to run across Bigfoot out there, but we are going to be looking for some evidence. There's been a lot of sightings in the Uwharrie National Forest."

The researchers, film crew and volunteers left the outpost at around 3:15 p.m. and walked approximately a quarter of a mile down the road to a field at the edge of the forest, where Moneymaker gave further instructions. He encouraged the volunteers to look for signs of Bigfoot, such as footprints, hair samples, broken tree branches and stick structures.

James Ackerman, of the Badin area, discovered tracks by a shallow creek that looked almost human.

"I was just jumping over the creek, and as soon as I jumped, I saw a footprint, and I yelled, 'Footprint,'" Ackerman said.

Animal Planet researcher Cliff Barackman was called in to look at the footprint.

"A lot of people would see this as the front part and back part of the foot, but I think we're looking at a quadripedal animal here," Barackman said. "I think this is probably a deer."

When Moneymaker arrived on the scene, he disagreed and said that it was possible that the prints were made by something else.

A little further down the stream, a deer carcass was found. The researchers gathered around the carcass discovered gnaw marks on the bones.

According to Barackman and Moneymaker, deer is Bigfoot's main source of food.

"That's exactly what a deer kill looks like," Moneymaker said of the carcass.

"A Sasquatch [Bigfoot] will grab the front leg and break it. The break has a particular look to it, and that's exactly what I saw there."

In the end, Bigfoot didn't make an appearance, but the show goes on. In this case, the six-part Animal Planet series is planned to air in the fall.


Read more: http://www.thesunnews.com/2011/02/20/1992795/volunteers-scour-forest-for-bigfoot.html#ixzz1ETu2f7E0

EXTERNAL LINKS
Sun News Original Article
Matt Moneymakers BFRO.NET
Cliff Barackman's North American Bigfoot

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
Montgomery Herald: Searching for Bigfoot
Massive NC Bigfoot Search Gains Momentum
Local Community Talks Bigfoot With 'Animal Planet'
Animal Planet is Filming in North Carolina

Bigfoot in Gasquet: Peacocks, Honeydew and Hair

Honeydew melons and peacocks are on the menu for Bigfoot in a town called
Gasquet, California. Hair samples have been analyzed and determined to be of primate origin. Read the whole article below.

‘The smoking gun’

Written by Anthony Skeens
The Triplicate February 18, 2011 07:09 pm
Gasquet hair samples still being analyzed

Kirk Stewart displays a cast he made of a large footprint found on his French Hill Road property. The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson
Take a 3-mile excursion up a winding mountain road near Gasquet, go down a driveway lined with heavy brush, and there’s a meadow.
In that meadow roam horses, cows, cats, and occasionally, the landowner believes, Bigfoot.

Kirk Stewart, the owner of a residence on French Hill Road, is still waiting on detailed analysis of hair samples he collected after a night three years ago when he thinks Bigfoot broke through a wire fence, plucked about seven of his peacocks and then made off with them.

The next morning, Stewart said he found a trampled fence and a piece of his peacock pen peeled off. He also noticed feathers on the ground and on a tree limb about 7 feet high.

“I was thinking it was a bear, up until I had seen how it opened the pen,” said Stewart.

As he assessed the damage, Stewart said he happened upon a clump of about 16 hairs attached to one of the barbs on his fence. They were about 7 inches long with a fine texture and a slight curl.

“The hairs are the smoking gun,” he said.

Stewart sent them to the North America Bigfoot Search. A preliminary analysis determined them to be from a primate, according to a book by the organization’s director.

A more detailed analysis is expected within six months, it said.

‘One of the hottest places’
NABS claims to use scientific methods to investigate possible incidents involving Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch, a purportedly ape-like creature whose existence is discounted by a majority of scientists.

NABS was created about six years ago by a group of private donors who wanted to find answers to their childhood curiosities about whether Bigfoot exists, said David Paulides, director of the organization based in Los Gatos, Calif.

It has collected dozens of hair samples from around the country to genetically analyze them. Along with Stewart’s samples, NABS has received hair samples from Hoopa, northern Humboldt County near Bluff Creek, and Oregon.

“(Del Norte) has to be one of the hottest places in the world” for Bigfoot reports, said Paulides in a telephone interview with The Triplicate.

He’s especially interested in Stewart’s property, where the resident said several other things have happened that seem Bigfoot-related.

“I’ve been at his property several times,” said Paulides. “ What’s going on there is very strange.”


Stewart examines the spot on his fence where he found the hair samples. The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson
Stewart said he made a cast of a giant footprint he found on his property on a different occasion than the 2008 peacock disappearance.
It’s about 7 inches wide and about 17 inches long.

In 2007, Stewart was throwing a birthday party for his son, when he heard a loud yell coming from near his melon patch.

When Stewart later went to the patch, he said he found a line of about 50 melons that had been pried open, he said.

There were circular holes in the melons with fingernail indentations, he said, adding there was also a big indentation in one of the large tires that housed the melons.

Perhaps Bigfoot used it as a resting place while gorging on melons, Stewart speculated.

“If I ever had him over for dinner, I’d cook peacocks and cut honeydew melons,” joked Stewart as he walked around his property recently.

“I believe it’s what they call a Bigfoot,” he said. “It’s not some long-haired hippie running around.”

Stewart said he has yet to sign a contract with NABS releasing his rights to the hair samples.

He said he makes his living farming his property. He also has a lawsuit pending against Del Norte County seeking the cash value of marijuana plants confiscated from his land even though he had a valid medical marijuana caregiver license.

The drug-related charges against Stewart were dismissed, but he’s currently on probation for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

‘In reality there’s thousands (of Bigfoots)’
Before it started collecting hair samples, NABS set out to gather anecdotal evidence from people who claimed to have encountered Bigfoot.

Through commonalities in the evidence gathered, Paulides said he was able to profile behavioral attributes of the creature.

“We named food sources,” said Paulides. “Bigfoot eats mushrooms. That’s a food source people didn’t really think about. Also, there’s a series of green shrubs and ferns and water plants.”

NABS has also hypothesized Bigfoot is not going to be far from water.

After gathering anecdotal information, NABS had a forensic artist draw sketches of Bigfoot that people who claimed to have seen it described.

The facial features of Bigfoot are more humanlike than previously suggested and its hair color runs the color spectrum similar to human hair, said Paulides.

“We flew right into the face of old-time researchers,” he said.

Paulides included anecdotal evidence and the forensic sketches in his book, “Tribal Bigfoot.”

Stewart was featured in the book, as were several other people from Del Norte and Humboldt counties.

While the book released in 2009 was being written, NABS was in the beginning stages of hair sample analysis.

A letter about a preliminary laboratory analysis of Stewart’s sample was published in the book.

The letter states that an expert examined the hair and found it to be from an animal of primate origin.

Since then, dozens more hair samples have been submitted for evaluation, and NABS hopes to have results soon, Paulides said.

The research has taken longer than expected due to the complexity of genetically tracing the hairs, Paulides said.

“That’s probably one of the reasons no one has tried to jump through the hurdles that we’re jumping through,” said Paulides. “It’s much more complicated than anyone thought.”

Paulides anticipates having the analysis completed within the next six months.

The work will be published in a report written by a group of scientists who will scrutinize the findings, Paulides said.

“I think if you have any scientific acumen to you and you’re an educated person then it’s hard to ignore science,” said Paulides. “In reality there’s thousands of (Bigfoots). They’re much more common than anyone realizes.”

“The forrest floor is so efficient at disposing of things,” said Paulides, adding that he’s spent thousands of hours in the woods, but has never seen a fully intact skeleton of a mountain lion.

“If we can prove theres a primate out there that’s bipedal and it has been ignored by science for eternity and we can now show it exists,” said Paulides, “I don’t care what kind of evolutionary belief system you have, I believe that will alter the course of science.”

EXTERNAL LINKS
Gasquet hair samples still being analyzed

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
David Paleidis on Coast to Coast Tonite
New Harvey Pratt Sketches and C2C Interview
A Bigfoot Thanksgiving honoring Harvey Pratt