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Author Topic: Bigfoot - Fact or Fiction?  (Read 42401 times)

Offline zorgon

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Re: Bigfoot - Fact or Fiction?
« Reply #15 on: August 21, 2012, 05:20:50 pm »
China's 'Bigfoot' Leaves Big Footprints in Chinese Cornfield
by China.new




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Reports from central China hint at yet more evidence that the so-called “Shennongjia Wildman” may actually exist. Shennongjia, in China's Hubei province, is one of the country's most rugged areas featuring mountains up to 9,840 ft (3,000 meters) tall and thick old-growth forests.

The Shennongjia National Nature Reserve, listed on UNESCO's World Network of Biosphere Reserves, protects a number of rare creatures including the endangered Golden Monkey but perhaps another, much larger primate may live there as well.



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A number of sightings, supposed footprints, and samples of coarse hair have hinted at the possibility of a bigfoot-like creature existing deep in the wilds of Shennongjia. Anecdotal evidence paints a picture of a very tall, bipedal, ape-like animal with thick reddish or yellowish hair.

The latest report comes from Wang Taizhao, a local villager and farmer from nearby Chengkou county who was fertilizing his corn field early on the morning of June 2nd. “I was so scared,” said Wang in his statement to local police. “First I heard a strange noise from the woods near my corn field, which I thought to be the bark of a dog. Then I spotted a human-like creature approaching. I took a flight to my house with great haste.”



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Piecing together a description of the purported creature from Wang's recollection, investigators from the Public Security Bureau of Chengkou county estimated the creature was from 160cm to 170 cm tall (approximately 5.5 ft) and was covered head to toe with red and yellowish hair. It left at least 5 large, irregular footprints in Wang's cornfield, several of which were distinct enough to allow the investigators to create several plaster casts.

While the discovery of a few big footprints doesn't mean we've found a few bigfoot prints, this latest piece of the puzzle brings us a bit closer to understanding what the “Shennongjia Wildman” may – or may not – be.

And to those who are rushing to add another branch to the human family tree, all we can suggest is “not yeti.”

China's 'Bigfoot' Leaves Big Footprints in Chinese Cornfield

Offline zorgon

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Re: Bigfoot - Fact or Fiction?
« Reply #16 on: August 21, 2012, 06:25:44 pm »
Gigantopithecus



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Gigantopithecus (from the Ancient Greek gigas "giant", and pithekos "ape") is an extinct genus of ape that existed from roughly nine million years to as recently as one hundred thousand years ago, in what is now China, India, and Vietnam, placing Gigantopithecus in the same time frame and geographical location as several hominin species. The fossil record suggests that individuals of the species Gigantopithecus blacki were the largest apes that ever lived, standing up to 3 metres (9.8 ft), and weighing up to 540 kilograms (1,200 lb).


Holotype (molar) of Giganthopithecus blacki, in the background Prof. Friedemann Schrenk, Senckenberg-Institut, Frankfurt am Main, Germany courtesy of the press office of Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

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The first Gigantopithecus remains described by an anthropologist were found in 1935 by Ralph von Koenigswald in an apothecary shop. Fossilized teeth and bones are often ground into powder and used in some branches of traditional Chinese medicine. Von Koenigswald named the theorized species Gigantopithecus.

Since then relatively few fossils of Gigantopithecus have been recovered. Aside from the molars recovered in Chinese traditional medicine shops, Liucheng Cave in Liuzhou, China has produced numerous Gigantopithecus blacki teeth as well as several jawbones. Other sites yielding significant finds were in Vietnam and India. These finds suggest the range of Gigantopithecus was southeast Asia.

In 1955 forty-seven Gigantopithecus blacki teeth were found among a shipment of 'dragon bones' in China. Tracing these teeth to their source resulted in recovery of more teeth and a rather complete large mandible. By 1958, three mandibles and more than 1,300 teeth had been recovered. Gigantopithecus remains have come from sites in Hubei, Guangxi and Sichuan; from warehouses for Chinese medicinal products as well as from cave deposits. Not all Chinese remains have been dated to the same time period, and the fossils in Hubei appear to be of a later date than elsewhere in China. The Hubei teeth are also larger.


Lower mandible of Gigantopithecus blacki (cast). In the collections of The College of Wooster, Ohio. Author: Wilson44691

Characteristics

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Gigantopithecus's method of locomotion is uncertain, as no pelvic or leg bones have been found. The dominant view is that it walked on all fours like modern gorillas and chimpanzees; however, a minority opinion favor bipedal locomotion, most notably championed by the late Grover Krantz, but this assumption is based only on the very few jawbone remains found, all of which are U-shaped and widen towards the rear. This allows room for the windpipe to be within the jaw, allowing the skull to sit squarely upon a fully erect spine like modern humans, rather than roughly in front of it, like the other great apes.

The majority view is that the weight of such a large, heavy animal would put enormous stress on the creature's legs, ankles and feet if it walked bipedally; while if it walked on all four limbs, like gorillas, its weight would be better distributed over each limb.

Diet

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The jaws of Gigantopithecus are deep and very thick. The molars are low crowned and flat and exhibit heavy enamel suitable for tough grinding. The premolars are broad and flat and configured similarly to the molars. The canine teeth are neither pointed nor sharp, while the incisors are small, peglike and closely aligned. The features of teeth and jaws suggested that the animal was adapted to chewing tough, fibrous food by cutting, crushing and grinding it. Gigantopithecus teeth also have a large number of cavities, similar to those found in giant pandas, whose diet, which includes a large amount of bamboo, may be similar to that of Gigantopithecus.

In addition to bamboo, Gigantopithecus consumed other vegetable foods, as suggested by the analysis of the phytoliths adhering to its teeth. An examination of the microscopic scratches and gritty plant remains embedded in Gigantopithecus teeth suggests that they ingested seeds and fruit as well as bamboo.

Species

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There are presently three (extinct) named species of Gigantopithecus: Gigantopithecus blacki, Gigantopithecus bilaspurensis, and Gigantopithecus giganteus.

Gigantopithecus blacki

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Gigantopithecus blacki is only known through fossil teeth and mandibles found in cave sites in Southeast Asia. As the name suggests, these are appreciably larger than those of living gorillas, but the exact size and structure of the rest of the body can only be estimated in the absence of additional findings. Dating methods have shown that G. blacki existed for about a million years, going extinct about 100,000 years ago after having been contemporary with (anatomically) modern humans (Homo sapiens) for tens of thousands of years, and co-existing with H. erectus before the appearance of H. sapiens.

Morphology

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Based on the fossil evidence, it is believed that adult male Gigantopithecus blacki stood about 3 m (9.8 ft) tall and weighed as much as 540 kg (1,200 lb), making the species two to three times heavier than modern gorillas and nearly five times heavier than the orangutan, its closest living relative. Large males may have had an armspan of over 12 feet (3.6 m). The species was highly sexually dimorphic, with adult females roughly half the weight of males. Due to wide interspecies differences in the relationship between tooth and body size, some argue[citation needed] that it is more likely that Gigantopithecus was much smaller, at roughly 1.8 m (5.9 ft).

The species lived in Asia and probably inhabited bamboo forests, since its fossils are often found alongside those of extinct ancestors of the panda. Most evidence points to Gigantopithecus being a plant-eater.

Its appearance is not known, because of the fragmentary nature of its fossil remains. It is possible that it resembled modern gorillas, because of its supposedly similar lifestyle. Some scientists, however, think that it probably looked more like its closest modern relative, the orangutan. Being so large, it is possible that Gigantopithecus had few or no enemies when fully grown. However, younger, weak or injured individuals may have been vulnerable to predation by tigers, pythons, crocodiles, Dinofelis, hyenas, bears, and Homo erectus.

Classification

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In the past, it had been thought that G. blacki was an ancestor of humans, on the basis of molar evidence; this is now regarded a result of convergent evolution. G. blacki is now placed in the subfamily Ponginae along with the orangutan.

Gigantopithecus bilaspurensis


Fossil of Gigantopithecus, an extinct mammal - Took the picture at Museo di Paleontologia di Firenze

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Gigantopithecus bilaspurensis is a very large fossil ape identified from a few jaw bones and teeth from India. G. bilaspurensis lived about 6 to 9 million years ago in the Miocene. It is related to Gigantopithecus blacki.

Gigantopithecus giganteus

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Evidence of a separate species, Gigantopithecus giganteus, has been found in northern India and China. In the Guangxi region of China, teeth of this species were discovered in limestone formations in Daxin and Wuming, north of Nanning. Despite the name, it is believed that giganteus was approximately half the size of blacki.[3][4] Based on the slim fossil finds, it was a large, ground-dwelling herbivore that ate primarily bamboo and foliage.

Gigantopithecus From Wikipedia

References

Christmas, Jane (2005-11-07). "Giant Ape lived alongside humans". McMaster University.

Ciochon, R.; et al. (1996). "Dated Co-Occurrence of Homo erectus and Gigantopithecus from Tham Khuyen Cave, Vietnam" (PDF). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 93 (7): 3016–3020. doi:10.1073/pnas.93.7.3016. PMC 39753. PMID 8610161.

Coichon, R. (1991). "The ape that was - Asian fossils reveal humanity's giant cousin". Natural History 100: 54–62. ISSN 0028-0712.

Pettifor, Eric (2000) [1995]. "From the Teeth of the Dragon: Gigantopithecus Blacki". Selected Readings in Physical Anthropology. Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company. pp. 143–149. ISBN 0-7872-7155-1.

"How Gigantopithecus was discovered". The University of Iowa Museum of Natural History. Archived from the original on 2007-10-12.

Relethford, J. (2003). The Human Species: An Introduction to Biological Anthropology. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0-7674-3022-7.

Poirier, F.E.; McKee, J.K. (1999). Understanding Human Evolution (fourth ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. p. 119.

Olejniczak, A.J.; et at (2008). "Molar enamel thickness and dentine horn height in Gigantopithecus blacki". (PDF) American Journal of Physical Anthropology 135: 85–91. doi:10.1002/ajpa.20711.
« Last Edit: August 21, 2012, 06:47:11 pm by zorgon »

Offline zorgon

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Re: Bigfoot - Fact or Fiction?
« Reply #17 on: August 21, 2012, 06:42:59 pm »
The Ape That Was
Asian fossils reveal humanity's giant cousin
by Russell L. Ciochon



A cave near the top of the rounded limestone tower at Liucheng, China has yielded three Gigantopithecus jawbones and nearly a thousand teeth.


The largest of the jaws, along with some of the teeth, are compared at with modern human remains.


Bill Munns stands next to his model of a Gigantopithecus male, a quadrupedal, fist-walking creature that also could have stood erect, as bears do.




Bamboo leaves frame the scientists excavating the cemented deposits in Lang Trang Cave IV.


The Ape That Was


Offline zorgon

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Re: Bigfoot - Fact or Fiction?
« Reply #18 on: August 21, 2012, 06:46:36 pm »
Carbon Isotopes Find Out Gigantopithecus blacki Lived in Densely Forested Areas


New research suggests that Gigantopithecus blacki lived in densly forested areas, like the one pictured here. Unknown artist. Image from here.

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A new paper published in the Chinese Science Bulletin has used oxygen radioisotopes in the teeth of G. blacki to prove the environment of Southeast China 1.1-0.1 ma was densely forested and rather similar to today. This suggests that the teeth and – more specifically – the molars of G. blacki were used for chewing on tough bamboo and other chlorophyll-stuffed plants.

Reference

LingXia Zhao, LiZhao Zhang, FuSong Zhang, XinZhi Wu (2011). “Enamel carbon isotope evidence of diet and habitat of Gigantopithecus blacki and associated mammalian megafauna in the Early Pleistocene of South China“. Chinese Science Bulletin, 56(33): 3590-3595. doi: 0.1007/s11434-011-4732-4.

Offline zorgon

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Re: Bigfoot - Fact or Fiction?
« Reply #19 on: August 21, 2012, 06:56:15 pm »
The Bigfoot-Giganto Theory

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"Bigfoot research" is a term loosely used to describe any efforts to probe or explain the reports and physical evidence associated with bigfoots. Over the years several different theories have been offered. Some of the more common theories are: 1) fear manifestations, 2) misidentifications of bears, 3) paranormal / UFO-related, 4) the Collective-Memory hypothesis, 5) the Bigfoot-Giganto hypothesis.

Bigfoot advocates as well as informed skeptics generally do not believe a hoax is responsible for this phenomenon, primarily because the observations extend so far back in time.

The patterns among eyewitnesses are not demographic, they are geographic -- they are not reported by certain types of people, rather by people who venture into certain areas. This simple pattern suggests an external cause.

No matter what that cause is, it is important to understand, and not just because of the potential behind the most likely explanation.

Bigfoot researchers generally lean toward one explanation: The Bigfoot-Giganto Theory (hypothesis). The subject of Gigantopithecus has attracted an increasing amount of interest anthropologists and primatologitsts over the past few decades. The Bigfoot-Giganto hypothesis suggests that bigfoots are surving relatives of the genus Gigantopithecus. Gigantopithecus (the Latin word for "Giant Ape") was a giant cousin of the orangutan. It was presumed to be extinct.

Click on the figure to the upper right to see a chart showing the place of Gigantos in primate evolution.

Bigfoot-Giganto theorists deal with a few issues that affect the potential linkage of modern bigfoot reports to ancient Gigantos. Probably the most crucial question concerns whether Gigantos walked upright. There is more than one school of thought among anthrolopogists regarding this issue. Some physical anthropologists interpret the scant fossilized remains to indicate an upright walking ape, measuring an impressive nine feet tall, and weighing more than 1000 pounds -- the general description of bigfoot type creatures reported for centuries in North America and Asia. Even if Giganto posture is uncertain, no one can reasonably dispute the conclusion that Gigantos were the largest primates that ever walked the earth.

Bigfoot-Giganto theorists believe that Gigantos' large brain size (perhaps the largest in the terrestrial animal kingdom) and upright-walking posture facilitated their dispersion across Asia and North America. Thousands of years of adaptation to temperate and mountainous climates, it is believed, would have given these large upright walking apes the ability to tolerate cold temperatures, climb through deep snow, and cross high mountain ranges with relative ease.



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The most commonly heard argument against the Bigfoot-Giganto hypothesis is that "we should have found their bones in North America by now..." This argument is, in fact, weak when one considers that very few remains of Gigantos have ever been found in Asia, where they were much more abundant. Tens of thousands of years of Gigantos' accepted existence in Asia would have produced literally millions of Giganto skeletons, yet the volume of collected remains from Asia is so small that the entire collection could fit easily in one suitcase.



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One flavor of the Bigfoot-Giganto hypothesis suggests that bigfoots might not be direct descendants of the genus Gigantopithecus, but rather some other offshoot of the giant Asian "wood ape" line, perhaps a line for which we have zero fossils remains at the present time. The Giganto line is an important reference point for this alternate explanation for two reasons: 1) the Giganto line illustrates the potential for primates to grow to such 'gigantic' proportions (twice as large as the largest 'known' living primate), and 2) the fact that so few remains of Gigantos have been unearthed and identified makes it more conceivable that there could have been other lines of giant Asian wood apes for which we have no fossil remains at the present time.



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People often assume that bones of a wild animal are present and available long after the animal's death. Many people assume that wild animal bones always become fossilized. The fact is bones become fossilized or otherwise preserved only in the rarest of circumstances. Without fossilization or preservation, bones of wild animals will, in time, become completely reabsorbed into the biomass. We would literally be climbing over piles of animal bones if they were not naturally recycled. An animal carcass in a dense forest will be reabsorbed relatively quickly through weathering, decay and scavenging by other animals and insects. The odds are very very poor that bones of a rare, elusive, forest dwelling species will be found in some recognizable form by a hiker cruising along a trail.

No research group has ever made an attempt to look for Giganto bones in North America, so no one should be surprised that Giganto remains have never been identified in North America. Ironically, the most vocal skeptics and scientists who rhetorically ask why no bones have been located and identified on this continent are the last people who would ever make an effort to look for them. Some Bigfoot-Giganto theorists speculate that fragmentary remains of Gigantos have been unearthed in North America in the past but were simply disregarded or misidentified.

The second most common argument against the Bigfoot-Giganto hypothesis asks " Why haven't hunters shot one in North America yet ? ..." The reasons are more obvious than most people might realize, and there's enough of them to make a separate article on that topic.

The third most common argument against the Bigfoot-Giganto hypothesis asks " Why aren't there more photos of these modern Gigantos ? ..." This question is also addressed in a separate article.

Copyright © 2012 BFRO.net

The Bigfoot-Giganto Theory

How come a hunter hasn't shot one?

Why isn't there more footage of a sasquatch?

Offline zorgon

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Re: Bigfoot - Fact or Fiction?
« Reply #20 on: August 21, 2012, 07:01:34 pm »
Big Tooth

So Science accepts that there were THOUSANDS of the critters around, yet all we have is a mere handful of teeth and jawbones... yet based on that small bit of evidence they created a whole species :D



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The mandibles (lower jaws) depicted in this and the two following "thumbnails" represent the gigantic ape Gigantopithecus blacki known from the Pleistocene of China and Vietnam, approximately 1.3 - 0.3 MYA. These three jaws all come from one site, a karst cave near Liucheng, Guangxi, in southern China. Gigantopithecus was originally thought to be an early human ancestor but is now considered by many to be a cousin of the living orang-utan. Besides these three jaws and a similar specimen dated to approximately 6 MYA from India, Gigantopithecus is known only by isolated teeth from a number of localities in south and central China. This giant ape was contemporaneous with archaic humans throughout its range.



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Gigantopithecus probably subsisted on a diet rich in carbohydrates, possibly including a large quantity of bamboo. Its teeth in some ways mimic those of early hominids, particularly those of robust australopithecines, in the molarization of the premolars and the reduction of the canines relative to other apes. Although reliable estimates of its size are hard to make it can be assumed that "Giganto" was the largest primate that ever lived.



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The true affinities of Gigantopithecus are still unknown and they will remain a mystery until diagnostic cranial remains are eventually found. Southern China is dotted with karstic fissures, some of which have yielded complete fossil skeletons of extinct Pleistocene mammals. There is a chance therefore that someday more complete remains of "Giganto" will be forthcoming. To learn more about Gigantopithecus read "Other Origins" by R. Ciochon et al., Bantam Books, 1990.

Picture Gallery of Fossil Hominoids and Hominids from China

Offline zorgon

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Re: Bigfoot - Fact or Fiction?
« Reply #21 on: August 21, 2012, 07:16:39 pm »





Offline zorgon

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Re: Bigfoot - Fact or Fiction?
« Reply #22 on: August 21, 2012, 07:20:18 pm »
Arkansas Bigfoot Pictures

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A man comes forward with three Bigfoot photos from Arkansas! 

Recently, a man by the initials of D.M. sent us three Bigfoot pictures that were taken in
Arkansas over a decade ago.  Here are his words that accompanied the photographs:

"...took this in northwest Arkansas between Fayetteville and Fort Smith. It (the Bigfoot) was hitting two rocks together. It (the Bigfoot) is looking back at us, while walking away. It bent down, pulled a stump out of the ground and tossed it at us. No one was hurt. To this day, it is still alive that I know of.  Took this photo back in 1997."


Image 8 of the Bigfoot in the Arkansas woods.


Image 9 of the Bigfoot.


Image 10 of the Arkansas Bigfoot

   
Close-ups of all three Bigfoot photos
« Last Edit: August 21, 2012, 07:23:44 pm by zorgon »

 


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