Dumb reality show got me thinking - what are the odds Bigfoot actually exists?

[Mursilis]

So I'm channel-surfing, and I come across this reality show on one of the nature channels about some Bigfoot hunters traveling to various parts of the US trying to find evidence of Bigfoot. They all seem to believe Bigfoot actually exists, and do dumb things like point to a pile of leaves and claim they found a Bigfoot "nesting" spot. They also talk about various grainy photos they've seen or taken, plaster casts of footprints, etc - all easily-faked "evidence". These guys are either decent actors or complete idiots. They talk about encountering evidence of whole Bigfoot families, but of course they're shy creatures who know to avoid humans, and that's why there's so little evidence, and on and on. The obvious question which they never address (of course) is how come there's no bones or other remains which have been discovered to prove these creatures are real. What are the odds a large animal species, even in small numbers, exist on an inhabited continent like North America, and no one would ever come across a deceased one? I'd have thought all major human-sized or larger land-dwelling species would've been discovered by now (not counting minor variations on known species), but I'm no expert. Could a large land-dwelling and distinct animal exist on the planet which we've not yet encountered?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Doubtful.

 

[lxskllr]

I think it's more interesting to consider whether or not they existed in the past, but within modern human history.

 

[OverVolt]

The Yeti is real, cause aliens.

 

[Mursilis]

Pictures can be faked anyway, but bones/tissue/etc. are the usual accepted evidence for science. I'm just wondering if we're past the point of finding new and existing larger species of animals, at least on land. I'd guess there's a far greater chance of new undiscovered larger species still be found in the seas.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

I think it's more interesting to consider whether or not they existed in the past, but within modern human history.

Still unlikely. We're digging out dinosaur fossils from 100 million years ago and human fossils from 2 million years+ which is the very dawn of proto-humans. If something that similar to us existed in the same time frame we would have found some evidence of it.

 

[OverVolt]

The Krakken is real, cause the deep ocean is more mysterious to us than space, and thus space aliens.

 

[Mursilis]

I think it's more interesting to consider whether or not they existed in the past, but within modern human history.

I suppose it depends on how you define 'modern human history'. Certainly, other early variations of the Homo genus existed, such as Neanderthals.

 

[OverVolt]

I suppose it depends on how you define 'modern human history'. Certainly, other early variations of the Homo genus existed, such as Neanderthals.

Shrews, we came from shrews.

Go back 160 million years and step on the wrong shrew and snuff us all out!

Planet of the lizards.

 

[SlitheryDee]

I was listening to a podcast recently where a guy was describing what went on at bigfoot oriented conventions and gatherings. They go way beyond postulating about whether bigfoot exists or not.

They're on to things like "Is bigfoot an alien or an extra-dimensional being?". Obviously those are the only two possibilities.

It actually gives off the same vibes you get when you read about the kinds of christian theological debates that went on in ages past.

"We know that the father, the son, and the holy ghost are all God, but is Jesus of the same essential substance or not"?

Yep, that matters a ton.

 

[OverVolt]

I was listening to a podcast recently where a guy was describing what went on at bigfoot oriented conventions and gatherings. They go way beyond postulating about whether bigfoot exists or not.

They're on to things like "Is bigfoot an alien or an extra-dimensional being?". Obviously those are the only two possibilities.

It actually gives off the same vibes you get when you read about the kinds of christian theological debates that went on in ages past.

"We know that the father, the son, and the holy ghost are all God, but is Jesus of the same essential substance or not"?

Yep, that matters a ton.

Ohhh extra-dimensional ocean aliens? That was the missing piece all along.

 

[BUTCH1]

Slim to none. For the same reason the Loch ness monster doesn't exist and that is you have to have a BREEDING POPULATION for any species to exist, there would have to be many Bigfoot and certainly by now someone would come across a dead one or it's remains.

 

[Brian Stirling]

Doubtful.

Bingo!

Additionally, the holly grail of bigfoot stories involves clearly faked footage of them. The famous video of bigfoot was filmed by a man that had recently purchased a gorilla suit.

The famous crystal skull story is another case in point as the man that claimed to discover it actually bought it in an auction.

That will not change the fact that a shit ton of people want to believe and will accept dubious proof and discount verifiable evidence to the contrary.


Brian

 

[OverVolt]

Bingo!


Brian

Dude he didn't even call a number.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Still unlikely. We're digging out dinosaur fossils from 100 million years ago and human fossils from 2 million years+ which is the very dawn of proto-humans. If something that similar to us existed in the same time frame we would have found some evidence of it.

Hold on now. The fossil record is ridiculously scant. Dinosaurs were around for 135 million years and the combined evidence we have on all of them amounts to less than half as many named genera as we have in living mammal species on Earth today. Even if you're only looking back a couple millions years, the vast majority of species likely don't wind up leaving fossils or other easily identifiable evidence of their existence. Just because we can't find evidence of it doesn't mean we can confidently say it never existed. We have to accept that we're never going to have the full picture of what our world looked like before we got here.

That said, that which is presented without evidence can be dismissed without evidence, and there is currently no evidence to suggest that bigfoot or a yeti or whatever is a thing that actually walked the Earth at any time in the present or past.

 

[Leyawiin]

I've lived in the Southern Cascades an Sierra Nevada much of my life. I've personally seen just about every species of wild mammal in Northern California and I'm not going out of my way to. They're all "shy around humans" and yet this run-of-the-mill guy has seen dozens of them. My dad was an avid hunter and never saw anything that resembles a Bigfoot. My brother-in-law is a logger and in two decades of daily tromping around the forests he's never seen anything remotely like a Bigfoot. No one I know has and we live in prime Bigfoot country. We haven't because it doesn't exist. Its not just our anecdotal experience in what is supposed to be their range. There is no fossil evidence. There's no DNA evidence. There are no remains. For an animal that large to have successfully dodge people throughout human history is more than far fetched.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I would not really consider it all that crazy that there may be a "big foot" or "locness monster" or any other of those monsters out there, it could simply be a very rare species of animal that we have not really discovered yet for some yet unknown reason such as their behaviours and rarity. That said chances are probably good that the super crappy videos that do come out are just of currently known species but due to the super low quality they don't look like anything we know.

 

[Phoenix86]

Ohhh extra-dimensional ocean aliens? That was the missing piece all along.

The fear is very real.

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

I think it would be cool if the sasquatch was real. I'd guess it's one of the more realistically possible cryptozoological specimens. I've not really examined much of the alleged "evidence," but that's basically because I'm fairly confident it isn't real.

 

[JulesMaximus]

 

[smackababy]

The real answer is so extremely low we shouldn't consider it. A large gorilla sized humanoid simply doesn't have the habitat to be sustained anywhere in most areas heavily dense in foliage to remain hidden.

 

[Charmonium]

I can't believe in something like bigfoot. But vampire bigfoot . . . now I'm interested.

 

[Mursilis]

I would not really consider it all that crazy that there may be a "big foot" or "locness monster" or any other of those monsters out there, it could simply be a very rare species of animal that we have not really discovered yet for some yet unknown reason such as their behaviours and rarity.

That's what I'm asking - not just about a humanoid ape, but whether any larger (human-sized or bigger) animal could exist and not yet be discovered. Seems like humans have traveled most of this planet (at least the land masses) and discovered all the major larger animals there are currently in existence. Or could some unique animal still be out there yet to be found? Are there any truly remote habitats left?

 

[smackababy]

That's what I'm asking - not just about a humanoid ape, but whether any larger (human-sized or bigger) animal could exist and not yet be discovered. Seems like humans have traveled most of this planet (at least the land masses) and discovered all the major larger animals there are currently in existence. Or could some unique animal still be out there yet to be found? Are there any truly remote habitats left?

We haven't found most of the species that has passed. We don't have the "missing link" and continuously find new species remains. It certainly is possible a large humanoid ape could have existed and we haven't discovered it, but why would something evolve into an apex predator and then simply disappear?

 

[stormkroe]

Bring back cave bears. In the top 13 coolest animals ever.