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The RELICT HOMINOID INQUIRY 7:117-134 (2018)

Research Article

THE OF AN UNCATALOGUED HOMINOID IN THE (TAIGA) OF AND

John Bindernagel*

Courtenay, BC,

ABSTRACT. Accumulating trace and physical evidence, combined with Aboriginal traditional knowledge and experience, suggests the existence of an uncatalogued hominoid in the Holarctic. Skeptics challenge that a large hominoid would not be adapted to the severe and limited food resources of the northern latitudes. In this paper, I address ecological aspects of hominoid research, which both Eurasian and North American researchers share in common. It concerns a major apparently occupied by this hominoid, the boreal forest or taiga, which is the largest biome on Earth. It is a unifying theme, which we continue to investigate in our attempts to understand how this hominoid survives in this biome.

KEY WORDS: sasquatch habitat, feeding, overwinter survival, Aboriginal culture, tracks

INTRODUCTION regional, local, or restricted to ethnic or cultural groups. In Canada there are over In preparing this paper1, I was reminded of thirty names assigned to this hominoid by a source of resistance, which this conference, aboriginal peoples. Within , a similar by its international nature, speaks to. This is situation apparently occurs (Fig. 2). the problem of the number of different Just as the scientific community remains regional names for this hominoid. Some unaware of the circumpolar distribution of the names are countrywide or even continentwide hominoid in the boreal forest of three in their use (Fig. 1). continents, so too various aboriginal groups Like some investigators, I have become appear to be unaware that the hominoid they convinced that all these hominoids are either refer to with a specific name may be the same the same or very closely related. But because hominoid known to neighboring groups of this hominoid is known by different names in people elsewhere in their country. This different countries, many scientists do not problem was pointed out clearly in the writing realize that investigators may be discussing of Dmitri Bayanov (1996), who noted that the same or closely-related . most of the ethnic groups he worked with in Many names for this hominoid are Russia perceived the hominoid as restricted or unique to their region. The use of the term “hominoid,” as used by Bayanov in his 1 As presented at the International Scientific and writing, is a useful and inclusive term and has Practical Conference on Hominology, Moscow and been adopted for use in this paper. Mountain Shoria, Russia, October 5-8, 2011.

*Correspondence to: Editor, email: [email protected] © RHI

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Physical Evidence for This Uncatalogued Another form of North American physical Hominoid in North America evidence that warrants scientific attention is modification or damage in the form of It may be useful to briefly review the forms twisted and bent saplings. This evidence has of physical evidence supporting the existence not been widely investigated or scrutinized, of this northern hominoid in both North and its link to this hominoid is not yet firmly America and Eurasia. In North American there established. Nevertheless, it is a phenomenon are literally thousands of eyewitness accounts otherwise unexplainable and may be a form of describing this hominoid and its behavior. marking by this hominoid. Similar sign have Although these eyewitness descriptions and been observed in Eurasia (Fig. 6). drawings have been of great use to in- vestigators, they have not attracted the -like structures attention of scientific colleagues who remain unaware of the many points of widespread Similarly, there are nest-like structures anatomical similarity in this evidence. which appear to have been made by this Nevertheless, it may be worth noting that hominoid in North America and which are not eyewitnesses have described and depicted otherwise easily explained. The first was adult male, adult female, and subadult or photographed in a remote area of central infant hominoids, suggestive of a biological Washington. The second is a crude shelter population (Fig. 3). constructed of bark slabs and matted twigs on top of a low tree branch, open at two ends. It Tracks was observed on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. It is physical evidence that may eventually prove to be most useful in convincing Hominoid Ecology, scientific colleagues to scrutinize the evidence Especially Food Habits which supports the claim of an extant hominoid in North America and Eurasia. The main subject of this paper is the Hominoid tracks, when documented in ecology of this hominoid, and especially its photographs and as casts, provide the food habits. Investigators attending this necessary corroborating evidence for this conference support the claim that this homin- hominoid as a track-leaving (Fig. 4). oid exists, and in addition, that it exists in the Unfortunately, in North America, the value boreal forest or taiga of both North America of track casts as physical evidence has become and Eurasia. tainted by claims of hoaxing, which have Those of us called upon to defend this influenced scientific colleagues and kept them claim have become aware of a particular from fully engaging this form of evidence. criticism against it. This criticism has been Even though the fabricated hominoid “feet” summarized as follows: The creature is not brought forward by hoaxers do not resemble currently recognized or cataloged by science, actual hominoid tracks, the North American which generally reject the possibility that such media – and even scientists – have accepted mega-fauna exist, because of climate and food such hoax claims as invalidating all, even supply. potentially actual, hominoid tracks (Fig. 5). This criticism is, of course, a theoretical objection, which states that, ostensibly, the Twisted and bent saplings climate and food resources of some of the regions where this hominoid is claimed to

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occur, cannot support it. One such region is lation of this hominoid is most readily the boreal forest or taiga (Fig. 7). There is, countered. however, physical evidence supporting the The richness of food resources in this existence of this hominoid in this biome, biome transcends that of the boreal forest, inhospitable as conditions may be. especially during the autumn when salmon Physicist Michael Friedlander once defend- spawning occurs and during the winter when ed evidence which may appear to lack a the clam beaches are exposed at low tide theoretical basis, or which appears to oppose under the cover of darkness. theoretical objections: It is the reality and correctness of the Aboriginal Culture as Evidence of the observations that must be examined, and the Richness of the Marine West Coast Biome theory will follow in due course if the of North America observations are correct (Freidlander, 1995). Friedlander’s point – when applied to this Evidence for the biological richness of this situation – is that prevailing theory may not habitat is the well-documented ability of the support the existence of an uncatalogued Aboriginal people of this coast to not only hominoid in the boreal forest of North survive, but to thrive and develop sophis- America or Eurasia. However, if the evidence ticated art forms. Art was applied to everyday of eyewitnesses and the physical evidence of items such as clothing and even to boxes used tracks is valid, then a theory will subsequently for food storage. emerge to explain its existence there. If the Carved masks and crests on totem poles are serious attention of scientific colleagues is to well-known examples of Aboriginal art in this be attracted to reports of this hominoid in the region. Not surprisingly, this art depicts the boreal forest, it will be necessary to animals and with which the aboriginal demonstrate its potential ecological viability people share the environment. Some of these in this and other . animals, such as the frog, are easily identified. Others require some knowledge of the species The Marine West Coast Forest Biome depicted such as the , which exhibits of North America large incisor teeth and a characteristic broad flat tail, and which holds a stick in its front Before addressing the boreal forest biome paws. as hominoid habitat, it may be useful to Then there is the dzonokwa, the Wild- address a narrow strip of and sea coast at Woman-of-the-Woods, whose characteristics the western edge of the boreal forest on the include giant size, pursed lips, and pendant west coast of North America. This region is breasts (the pendant breasts are especially known as the “Marine West Coast Forest” reminiscent of a number of Russian eye- (Fig. 8). Although it is less than a hundred witness descriptions of the hominoid in the miles (160 km) in width, it is considered a Caucasus region and elsewhere). Not surpris- biome, a unique habitat. It is basically the ingly, most cultural anthropologists have interface between the boreal forest and the considered the dzonokwa to be a mythical north Pacific Ocean, extending from northern being in the sense of supernatural. Most California to . Because it includes the hominoid investigators, on the other hand, rich , this habitat probably recognize dzonokwa as a depiction of a female supports the highest density of this hominoid hominoid. in the world and it is here that the criticism of In addition to the representation of this climate and food supply to support a popu- hominoid in aboriginal carvings, there are

JOHN BINDERNAGEL 120 reports to anthropologists of this hominoid the “temperate forest biome.” from the north coast of , This biome may rate second only to the where it is known as the “boqs.” The boqs was marine west coast forest of northwestern described to an anthropologist by an Aborig- North America in its biological richness. Like inal informant as follows: the boreal forest, it occurs around the world “This beast somewhat resembles a human but in discontinuous patches in eastern North …It walks on its hind legs, in a stooping America, central , and eastern posture, its long arms swinging below the (Fig. 9). knees…” ( McIllwraith, 1926). The richness of this biome is attested to by Despite the anatomical details provided by the extent to which it has been developed for the informant, the anthropologist included it in agriculture by modern humans and by the high his published report as one of several density of the human populations, which “supernatural animals” that he had heard occupy it. described. Regarding the anthropologist’s However, there are still remaining large categorization of this animal as supernatural, it patches of deciduous forest in this biome, should be noted that a folklorist once cau- which support this hominoid in North tioned: America and Eurasia. Food sources here It cannot be proven that the Indians include nuts, , and a plethora of small, themselves saw these creatures as mythical, medium, and large , as well as but anthropologists and other scholars have waterfowl and upland game birds such as generally considered them as such (Hen- and wild turkeys. derson, 1976). This misunderstanding is another point of Boreal Forest Biome (Taiga) common interest to investigators in both North America and Eurasia – a widespread percep- Finally, this discussion of biomes addresses tion and a body of anthropological literature in the boreal forest or taiga, that globe-encircling which hominoids described by members of biome, which unifies research into the ecology aboriginal or ethnic groups are treated as of this hominoid. This biome is clearly occu- mythical or supernatural by cultural anthro- pied by the hominoid under study, but perhaps pologists. Unfortunately, it is the cultural not in large numbers. It is this biome that is anthropologists who have traditionally been particularly singled out by skeptics because of consulted as representing the scientific dis- its adverse climate and insufficient food, cipline with appropriate expertise to interpret conditions perceived to preclude the existence such reports. The published views of cultural of a large hominoid in this habitat. The anthropologists consequently form the prepon- criticism is not without some merit, and gives derance of prevailing knowledge with regard rise to the question: Since, even in summer, to uncatalogued hominoids. this biome appears to provide only meager food resources, how then does this hominoid The Deciduous Forest Biome manage to survive the winters in a region in which winter conditions are characterized by Before addressing the boreal forest biome severe cold combined with significant itself, there is another biome that warrants cover? discussion. Like the rich marine west coast This question addresses the subject of forest of northwestern North America dis- hominoid food habits, a subject that includes cussed above, this biologically rich biome also feeding methods and feeding strategies. lies adjacent to the boreal forest biome. This is

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Feeding Methods or Feeding Strategies

There are several methods or strategies, There are several North American accounts which this hominoid appears to use to obtain of this hominoid actually catching a after food throughout its range. a short chase, breaking its neck, and carrying it away. The Russian literature records that in Foraging eastern , this hominoid feeds on wild deer. In northern Russia, it was reported to Berries, seeds, and aquatic are hunt , by investigator Vladimir Push- obvious examples of wild fruit and , karev. which are available through foraging or Regarding predation, the structure gathering to both this hominoid and to modern observed and photographed in Washington in humans. 2009, may be of interest. This structure makes On the coasts, shellfish can also be most sense as a hominoid “blind” or “hide” obtained by foraging. The name “Cockle- for use by the hominoid functioning as an eater” applied to this hominoid by Aboriginal ambush predator on or wapiti (known as people on the British Columbia coast of “red deer” in the UK, “maral” in much of Canada is especially interesting. Cockles are a Eurasia, and “Siberian stag” in Siberia). This species of clam preferred by both Aboriginal hypothesis is based on its construction in an people and this hominoid. These clams are elk feeding area, which is possibly also an elk unique because they lie near – or even on top calving area. The structure, although crude, of – the surface of the beach, are easily required considerable manual dexterity to obtained by foraging with no need for digging. construct the roof of matted twigs, but is Another form of meat which can be unlikely of human origin. For now, however, obtained by foraging and digging are its origin and purpose must remain hibernating ground-. A detailed report undetermined. from the mountains of Oregon describes the If this structure is a blind, it might observations of a man who watched a qualify as a tool, used by the hominoid as an sasquatch dig up hibernating ground squirrels aid to procuring food. The possible use of and eat them. The pit dug by the sasquatch in tools to obtain food is a recurring subject with loose rock was some 5 feet (1.6 meters) deep. regard to this hominoid. Several ground squirrels, along with bedding For example, a Russian report from material consisting of and grass, were Tajikistan includes a suggestion by local extracted from the pit and eaten whole. Before people that forked sticks found near the digging the pit, the sasquatch had picked up entrance holes to may have been rocks, smelled them, and then stacked them in used by this hominoid (named “guls” in that piles as it apparently tested each rock for the area) to catch mice. Similarly, the use of a odor of ground squirrels (Fig. 10). stick to dig clams has been mentioned in Interestingly, a report of a hominoid several North American reports. feeding on ground squirrels in Tajikistan was In addition, the use of a stick as a club by a described by Dmitri Bayanov. In this case, the hominoid to intimidate deer and to bludgeon hominoid appeared to have dug up to waterfowl has been reported in North extract ground squirrels from their burrows. America. A British Columbia eyewitness once Bayanov referred to other reports suggesting heard the sound of something slapping the that ground squirrels and other may be surface of the water near shore in a shallow an important source of protein for hominoids. west coast bay. Approaching the sound by

JOHN BINDERNAGEL 122 walking around a point of land, she was region of Siberia, stating that “at this time of confronted with a soaking wet hominoid year [October] he usually sleeps.” holding a stick in one hand and several ducks The idea of or a period of in the other. torpor is supported to a large extent in north- ern North America by the similar rarity of Food stealing, piracy, or appropriation hominoid tracks in snow. On the other hand, at least some hominoid tracks are observed in In northwestern North America, there are snow and there are some eyewitness reports of many reports of hominoids availing hominoids in winter both in North America themselves of salmon caught by Aboriginal and northern Eurasia. This suggests a possible people. This activity includes taking salmon overwintering strategy as used by , that from nets, and from drying racks and smoke is, a period of torpor, or reduced activity, houses where Aboriginal people were during periods of severe cold or periods when preserving salmon for the winter use. food is unavailable or severely limited. A similar situation may sometimes apply to the stealing of game carcasses. In North Storing food in “caches” America, there are several reports of this hominoid taking a game carcass from hunt There is an overwintering strategy used by camps or logging camps where a deer carcass an unrelated mammal of the boreal forest and has been hung overnight. , the (Gulo gulo). This stra- A report presented by Dmitri Bayanov tegy is food “caching” or the storing of meat from the Chukchi Peninsula suggests that it is in underground burrows, crevasses, or snow- common knowledge there that a game carcass banks. reportedly capture birds left overnight would be gone by morning and mammals and store their carcasses as food “with hominoid footprints around the not only for winter use but even for extended location,” the meat taken. use into the spring when the young are born. The use of this strategy elsewhere in the Overwintering strategies: animal kingdom raises the question: “Could hibernation or torpor this hominoid employ a similar strategy?”

This discussion of food acquisition leads to Steatopygia: fat storage in the body, the possibility of food storage and to the larger especially the buttocks issue of specific overwintering strategies. Several reports from northern Russia reveal A report from the of the belief of local people that this hominoid northern Russia includes an interesting “sleeps” or “hibernates” during the winter. comment by a senior game warden who was This belief is based partly on the relative called to investigate the reported activities of a absence of sightings in winter or tracks in hominoid that had been interacting with a snow. group of campers in late summer. Reflecting When the Russian investigator Vladimir on his brief observations of the hominoid, he Pushkarev concluded that the “annual bio- stated: “What especially struck me was its big logical cycle” of this hominoid in northern round...buttocks.” Russia is “close to that of the brown ,” he An even more remarkable report on this was implying a period of hibernation or torpor subject was recorded by Dmitri Bayanov, during winter. Similarly, Russian investigator from the border region of Russia and China in Maya Bykova quoted a man from the Komi eastern . This report refers to these

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hominoids being hunted as food, and the fat that the climate and food resources of the from the buttocks being used as cooking fat. northern biomes are unsuited for a hominoid is The deposition of fat in the buttocks of not without merit, but clearly not wholly humans (steatopygia, which means “fatty justified. rump”) is best documented for the Khoisan This discussion of feeding and overwinter people of Africa, including the Khalihari survival in the boreal forest raises the bushmen who live in a desert of southern question: Why would the hominoid choose the Africa. Female Khoisan people are noted for boreal forest biome as a home when richer their ability to store fat in their buttocks in exist not far to the south? There are at advance of the dry season, a period of extreme least two possible answers to this question: food deprivation. (1) The first is that modern humans occupy those rich and fertile habitats to the south, Migration especially the temperate deciduous forest biome. A natural shyness on the part of this A vertical migration downward from high hominoid may account for its reluctance to elevations to lower elevation in winter is a compete with modern humans there. well-recognized wintering strategy of If this hypothesis is correct, then it suggests ungulates such a deer, elk, , and wild that the hominoid may live in the boreal forest sheep in the mountainous areas of North not by choice, but may have been pressured to America and northern Eurasia. This is a retreat from more favorable habitats – natural response to the cold and snow of high displaced by expanding human populations. elevation in winter and the comparatively This could explain why small populations of milder temperatures and reduced snow depth, the hominoid persist in remaining patches of which prevail at lower elevations. within the temperate deciduous On the west coast of North America, such a forest biome, but why it is more widespread in downward migration is hypothesized for this the less-occupied boreal forest biome. hominoid, where it may explain its increased (2) The second answer is that these presence on coastal clam beaches in winter. A hominoids appear to be well-adapted to vertical migration is particularly easy to temperate, even environments. As understand in this region, where the moun- such, they – like Aboriginal people of the tainous summer habitat lies in close proximity northwest coast of North America – may be to the clam beaches. more comfortable with cold conditions, than Such a winter migration has been are other humans. suggested for this hominoid in Tajikistan. Local people there explained its absence from LITERATURE CITED the mountainous areas that predominate in this region, by migration to the low elevation area Bayanov, Dmitri. In the Footsteps of the in the south of the region (Bayanov, 1996). Russian Snowman. Moscow: Crypto- Logos, 1996. CONCLUSION Freidlander, Michael W. At the Fringes of Science: Science, Science Contested, and The historical and contemporary Pseudoscience. Boulder: Westview Press, observations of an large upright hominoid in 1995. North America and Eurasia, finds corro- Henderson, Carole M. Monsters of the West: boration in the accumulating trace evidence – the Sasquatch and the Ogopogo, In tracks, tree breaks, nests, etc. The objection Folklore of Canada, ed. Edith Fowke (ed.)

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Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1976. Report of the Minister of Education, McIllwraith, Thomas F. Certain Beliefs of the Ontario: Toronto, R. B. Orr (ed.) (Toronto, Bella Coola Indians Concerning Animals, 1926), pp. 19-20; T. F. McIlwraith, The 35th Annual Archaeological Report 1924- Bella Coola Indians, vol. 2. Toronto: 1925 (being part of) Appendix to the University of Toronto Press, 1992.

I am a professional wildlife biologist, who is seriously studying the sasquatch or bigfoot in North America. My interest in this animal began in 1963 when, as a third-year-student in wildlife management at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, I was laughed at for raising the report of an animal described as an “ape-man” for possible discussion. My fieldwork began in 1975 when our family moved to British Columbia, partly in order for me to begin fieldwork on this species. In 1988, my wife and I found several sasquatch tracks in good condition in the mountains not far from our home on Vancouver Island. Plaster casts, which we made from these tracks provided the first physical evidence for the existence of the sasquatch. Wildlife biologists such as myself regularly depend on tracks and other wildlife sign as evidence for the presence of bears, deer, , and other mammals, recognizing that tracks constitute a more reliable and persistent record of the presence of a mammal species in an area than a fleeting glimpse of the animal itself. I am satisfied that the sasquatch is an extant (or “real”) animal, subject to study and examination like any other large mammal, and am much more concerned with addressing ecological questions, such as how it overwinters in the colder regions of North America, than with dwelling on the controversy of whether it does or does not exist. I remain aware, however, that many people – including scientific colleagues – remain unaware of the information that exists about this species. [Editor’s Note: John Albert Bindernagel, 76, passed away during the evening of January 17, 2018. He published two influential monographs, the first in 1998 entitled North America's Great Ape: the Sasquatch. His second book, The Discovery of the Sasquatch – Reconciling Culture, History, and Science in the Discovery Process, was published in 2010. As a personal friend and professional colleague, he will be sorely missed. See RHI 7:1-5 (2018).]

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Figure 1. The names for this uncatalogued hominoid, which are countrywide or even continent- wide in their use.

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Figure 2. Some of the regional or local names for this uncatalogued hominoid used by ethnic groups in Russia.

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Figure 3. Eyewitness drawings of the North American hominoid known as sasquatch.

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Figure 4. Examples of tracks of the North American hominoid known as the sasquatch documented in photographs or as casts.

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Figure 5. Examples of fabricated “hominoid feet” proposed by hoaxers to explain sasquatch tracks.

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Figure 6. Author and Ron Morehead inspecting an unusual tree arch in Siberia.

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Figure 7. The circumpolar distribution of the boreal forest or taiga in North America and Eurasia.

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Figure 8. The marine west coast forest biome of North America.

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Figure 9. The discontinuous deciduous forest biome.

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Figure 10. Physical evidence associated with uncatalogued hominoids (sasquatch) feeding on hibernating ground squirrels (Oregon).