The origin of the Bigfoot legend may actually be based on an ordinary brown bear!
The big, hairy, bipedal mythical creature called "Bigfoot" (or "Yeti"), as it is called around the campfire, may actually be a not-so-mysterious animal: a bear!
According to a paper published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, genetic analysis of eight samples of remains - fur, bones and teeth - allegedly left behind by sasquatches believed to have lived on the mountain revealed that they were in fact descended from different species of bears that lived in the Himalayas.[1] Another set of remains recovered was that of a dog.
Previous analyses based on smaller fragments of "bigfoot" DNA have also been controversial.[2] In this study, the DNA collected from the alleged remains of a "bigfoot" consisted of much larger fragments than those used in previous studies. In the study, mitochondrial genomes supposedly taken from "sasquatches" were analyzed and compared to the mitochondrial genomes of several bear species, including the polar bear and the brown Tibetan bear.
The results also provided a new insight into the genetic relationships between the different bear species living on the Tibetan Plateau. This has guided our efforts to conserve these rare subspecies. According to the data, Himalayan brown bears were the first group to separate from other brown bears and become a separate species during an ice age 660,000 years ago.
Brown Tibetan bears, on the other hand, have a closer common ancestor with their relatives in Eurasia and North America. Although they migrated to the region around 340,000 years ago, they remained separate from brown Himalayan bears due to the rugged terrain and mountains.
Source:
^T. Lan, et al. (2017). Evolutionary History Of Enigmatic Bears In The Tibetan Plateau–Himalaya Region And The Identity Of The Yeti. ( https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2017.1804 )
^B. C. Sykes, et al. (2014). Genetic Analysis Of Hair Samples Attributed To Yeti, Bigfoot And Other Anomalous Primates. ( https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2014.0161 )
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