Jane Goodall: Oral History of Primatology

Jane Goodall Chimpanzee Expert

On April 28th 2011, Jane Goodall was asked to present an oral history of Primatology. Not only is Jane Goodall the most prominent Chimpanzee expert, but she has gone on record twice claiming to be a Bigfoot believer. The first time was in 2002 in an NPR interview with Ira Flatow, and again more recently with an interview with the Huffington Post.

The video resonates with Bigfooters, not only can we identify with Jane Goodall's curiosity to learn, but it is interesting to note that Jane Goodall, like many of us, was an amateur. Many of the observations and breakthroughs came before she had a degree. She was working for and was funded by an anthropologist. This made her aware that there is a cross pollination between anthropology and primatology. This video is a inspiration and a blue print for any of us who want to find Bigfoot.

Below is the video from The University of Cambridge: Personal Histories Project:

The Personal Histories Project presents

Jane Goodall, introduced by William McGrew, speaking at the Oral History of Primatology at Cambridge. Other panellists included Robert Hinde and Richard Wrangham. Together they remembered the beginnings and development of primatology during decades of research. Robert Hinde's and Richard Wrangham's segments will be added shortly.

This Personal Histories was filmed at the University of Cambridge by the Project's student film crew on 28th April 2011 and funded by the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, the Newton Trust, the Roberts Fund, the Thriplow Charitable Trust and by many private donors. Contact Pamela Jane Smith and Emily Walker at pjs1011@cam.ac.uk for more information.

Yeti Hair DNA News from Across the World

Russian Yeti Photographed From: Lenta.ru:

Yeti news from Russia usually upticks this time of year, culminating to its highest peak towards Western Siberia's Yeti Day celebrated on November 11th.

Two days ago in an post titled, "Russia Announces DNA Test Results of Kemerovo "Yeti Hair"" we announced the Yeti fur DNA findings. Now the rest of the media world has caught up and some have added their own take on the situation, or have interviewed others to include additional opinions. Below is the most often quoted piece from the press release and the best excerpts from around the world including skeptical opinions from Igor Burtsev and Dr. Jeff Meldrum.

From the Press Release“We had ten samples of hair to study, and have concluded that they belong to mammal, but not a human,” said Professor Valentin Sapunov, a prominent Russian cryptozoologist of the Russian State Hydrometeorological Institute.

The hair is not believed to have belonged to any animal known from the region and the Siberian Times reports analysis carried out in both Russia and the United States 'agreed the hair came from a human-like creature which is not a Homo sapien yet is more closely related to man than a monkey’.

60-70 % SureValentin Sapunov, a professor at the State Hydrometeorological University in St. Petersburg, told The Moscow Times that DNA analysis and examination under an electron microscope had led him to be "60-70 percent" certain that the hairs belonged to a yeti-like creature. --Moscow Times

Igor Burtsev: I Doubt itThe “Yeti hair” was allegedly found in Siberia’s Azasskaya Cave by Dr Igor Birtsev, Russia’s leading advocate of the existence of the abominable snowman.
But is it all an elaborate hoax? That’s the suggestion the Siberian Times is making this morning after Dr Birtsev strangely played down the findings.

“I doubt that they have indeed managed to carry out a DNA test on Azasskaya Cave hair, and doubt that they found how close the Yeti is to humans by its DNA,” he was quoted as saying. --Herald Sun

Meldrum: Evidence Unreliable“There was no expedition. The conference participants were accompanied by the press on a field trip to a cave site. It is my opinion that the 'evidence' found in the cave was unreliable," said Jeff Meldrum, a biologist at Idaho State University and cryptozoologist, told The Russian Times. --7 news

Multiple Sightings in the PastThere have been a number of ‘sightings in the region over the years, with one Siberian fisherman, Vitaly Vershinin, claiming: “We shouted to them – do you need help?”
In 2004, the yeti is said to have been spotted in the remote Mae Charim area of the Luang Prabang Range range, between the Thai highlands and Sainyabuli Province, Laos.

In December 2011, a hunter reported having seen a bear like creature, trying to kill one of his sheep, but after he fired his gun, the creature ran into a forest on 2 legs.

At a 2011 conference in Russia, participating scientists and enthusiasts declared 95% evidence of the Yeti’s existence.

You can read our post earlier this month about the Yeti hair mentioned in the's article. We also have a huge collection of posts regarding Yeti's in the Kemerovo region.

Can Bigfoot Keep Feral Dog's as Pets? Baboons Do.

Hamadryas baboon outside of Ta'if, Saudi Arabia with "pet"

In the documentary, "Animals Like Us." there is a 3 minute clip (see video below) that suggests that Hamadryas baboons kidnap puppies and integrate them into their troops as pets. These loyal pets, risking their lives, then protect the baboon troop from other feral dogs in the area. It has been speculated by multiple Bigfoot field researchers that Bigfoot follow coyotes packs. Could it be the other way around? Could those packs be following and protecting Bigfoot? 

Before we get it from both sides, the skeptics who would correctly say this is quite an extrapolation and the paranormal Bigfooters that may think we can't glean anything from flesh and blood primates, let's admit that Bigfoot is all speculation. There is so much that we don't know, so we have a policy at BLC, that nothing is off the table. With that said, we even went the extra mile to see if this baboon behavior was actually real or due to some creative editing. Besides, if true, at the very least this is interesting primate behavior. There are worse ways to put Bigfoot and baboons together.

First watch the video below. We should warn you, the first minute of the baboon kidnapping the puppy is quite disturbing. At least, it was hard for us to watch it. If you can get past the first minute, the rest of the clip has a happy ending where baboon and dog seem to have a symbiotic relationship.  

Is this video legit? Is this real behavior known to primatologist in the region and elsewhere? Hal Herzog, a Professor of Psychology at Western Carolina University, asks this same question in a DEC 2010 article titled, "Do Wild Baboons Kidnap Puppies for Pets?" Herzog does not completely dispute the behavior, but tries hard to determine the scientific authenticity of the documentary.

Below is an excerpt from Hal Herzog's investigation

I got a break when the ever-curious David Hinton decided this was worth chasing down. David soon discovered that the YouTube clip was from a British nature series called Animals Like Us. Then we stumbled on the Facebook page of the Saudi Arabian American Baboon Research Association. I contacted them immediately. They were, indeed, familiar with the Ta'if baboon troop, but they knew of no documented evidence that the baboons kept dogs as pets. The researchers had seen baboons kidnap kittens, but they have not studied these relationships systematically -- a future project, they promised.

But the big break came when we decided to try to trace the baboon-dog connection through the dogs. The dogs at the trash dump appeared to be a type of natural breed called Canaan dogs.

Natural breeds, sometimes referred to as "pariah dogs," are found in many parts of the world, often on the outskirts of human settlements. They tend to be mid-sized animals with short hair and pointy ears (here). Often tan or brownish, they resemble Australian dingos in size and shape. They are called "natural breeds" because the dogs pick their own mates and are not subjected to the arbitrary aesthetic rules of human overlords.

Within a couple of hours, David and I had independently contacted a microbiologist and Canaan dog expert named Duncan Schroeter. Duncan became interested in Caanan dogs while he was engaged in a research project in Saudi Arabia and had adopted several of them as pets. (See here) In an email, he told me he knew about the baboons at Ta'if and had tried, unsuccessfully, to get Saudi wildlife officials to investigate their curious relationships with dogs. He also mentioned that baboons and dogs easily intermingle at a different site in the Asir region of Saudi Arabia.

The Big Question

Then Duncan raised the big question. He wrote, "Are these baboons and dogs merely tolerating each other in areas where both can find food or are they truly living together with the dogs staying with the baboons when they move away? It is easy and more sensational to put any interpretation on commercial "documentaries."

Three days ago (10-29-2012) BLC reached out to Hal Herzog for any updates and this was his reply.

I recently found out who the scientific advisor to the French film crew was. I wrote him to ask about new developments but have not heard back. If I find out anything of interest I will write a blog post on it.
--Hal Herzog