Legend meets field guide

This is a short and somewhat peculiar “field guide”, since it attempts to describe an unknown animal most scientists would consider entirely mythological: Bigfoot or Sasquatch, here presented as a giant ape living in the western forests of Canada and the United States. The author, Jeff Meldrum, is one of the few scientists who take this creature seriously. Meldrum has authored an entire book on the subject, titled “Sasquatch: Legend meets Science”.

Since Bigfoot is unknown, it's virtually impossible to “pin him down”. How does Meldrum know that only Bigfoot reports from the West are credible? As avid watchers of Animal Planet's “Finding Bigfoot” knows by now, people see Bigfoot in all US states except Hawaii, including Rhode Island and Connecticut! People see other funny creatures too, from the Jersey Devil to the Loup Garou…

That being said, Meldrum's attempt to sort out the issue isn't bad. He uses the so-called Patterson-Gimlin film to establish how a real Bigfoot is supposed to look like, points out that a giant ape once lived in East Asia and could have reached North America, and that Native Americans depict ape-like creatures (or Bigfoot-like creatures) in their art. Rightly or wrongly, Meldrum also believes he can tell the difference between real Sasquatch footprints and fake ones. He seems to believe that Bigfoot is a rare creature, but this doesn't seem to be borne out by the ubiquitous eye witness reports, unless people constantly see the same specimens!

In the end, the best think a skeptic can do is to grab his back pack, Meldrum's previously mentioned book, and this field guide, and go out there to solve the mystery to his or her own satisfaction…

Good luck!