According to an old legend of a giant creature that is ape-like, a Bigfoot or sasquatch is said to roam around the North American woods. While this has been a prominent story, it has remained a mystery for hundreds of years. However, researchers may have finally gotten the answer to such a pressing mystery.
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Bigfoot Sightings and Bear Populations
Newsweek reports that a preprinted study by Floe Foxon, a data scientist, has looked into the chances that Bigfoot could actually be a brown or black bear. Foxon discovered that there was a significant statistical connection between populations of black bears and sightings of Bigfoot across any area in Canada and the United States. In fact, one sighting of Bigfoot can be expected for every 900 bears that are in the area.
To come up with such a conclusion, Foxon analyzed sasquatch sighting data across Canada and the United States. The data scientists then conducted statistical tests against the populations of black bears within each province or state. Adjustments were also made for land area and populations of humans.
Foxon notes that, based on such statistical factors, there are chances that several assumed sasquatch are actually misidentified. Foxon also expresses that, if Bigfoot is indeed present, it could be several bears.
IFL Science reports that the American black bear is a likely candidate, given its huge and hairy features and its ability to walk with its hind legs. The American black bear has also been a study subject across the Pacific Northwest that aims to delve into the mysteries of such sightings.
Wildlife conservation professor Robert Young at the University of Stanford expresses how he thinks that every wildlife researcher may accept the view that such sightings are attributed to black bears. In fact, it is an example that is used by many academics with undergraduate students. He notes how black bears are the most likely and simplest explanation.
Legend of Bigfoot
According to IFL Science, Bigfoot is an assumed bipedal ape that roams around North American forests. The legend of this creature can be traced back to the 1800s and succeeding centuries.
Newsweek notes how Bigfoot is said to have a height of 6 to 15 feet. It is also said to walk on two feet like humans as it traverses through the woods. There are also certain sightings that have reported that the creature had facial features similar to humans and had eyes that glow red or yellow at night.
Bigfoot is also thought to have giant feet that leave footprints that could measure up to 24 inches long and 8 inches wide. Newsweek reports that there have been over 10,000 Bigfoot witnesses across the mainland United States in the past five decades.
Is Bigfoot Real?
However, despite the hype and interest that Bigfoot receives, its existence has no solid evidence. Newsweek also notes that most of the physical evidence said to support the creature's existence has been discovered to be a hoax.
Newsweek reports that several sightings of such cryptids are thought to be misidentifications of other creatures, including zoo apes, black bears, homeless people, and other neutral objects. Several have also suggested that pareidolia explains the many sightings. Such a phenomenon refers to the human tendency to spot other faces that are human-like in environments that are natural.
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