Bigfoot Mystery Finally Solved Through Analysis of Statistical Data

A scientist who investigated and examined statistical data was able to finally decipher the bigfoot mystery and prove its existence.

Regardless of the name-Bigfoot, Sasquatch, or Old Man of the Mountain-the legend of the enormous, ape-like creature purported to prowl North American forests has persisted for centuries without an explanation.

But the puzzle might have finally been resolved by scientists.

Bigfoot Mystery: Solved!

The probability that Bigfoot is actually a black or brown bear was calculated by Floe Foxon, a data scientist, in a preprint of his scientific paper.

Foxon discovered that, in any given region of the US and Canada, there was a significant statistical correlation between populations of black bears and Bigfoot sightings. One Bigfoot "sighting" is anticipated for every 900 bears that are present, on average.

Foxon used data on sasquatch sightings from the US and Canada, against the black bear numbers in each province or state, and adjustments for the human population and land area to arrive at these conclusions.

Foxon wrote in the paper published in the journal BioRxRv that statistical analysis suggests that many alleged sasquatches are actually incorrectly identified as known forms.

Bigfoot is described as tall, hairy, and ape-like, that ranges in height from six to 15 feet, and moves through dense forests on two feet like a human.

According to some sightings, the creature has a human-like face and eyes that glow red or yellow at night.

It is also believed to have very large feet, hence the name; footprints up to eight inches wide and 24 inches long have been discovered.

Over the past 50 years, there have been more than 10,000 confirmed sightings of Bigfoot on US soil, with the Pacific Northwest states accounting for a third of those sightings.

However, most Bigfoot sightings are actually just black bears standing on their hind legs, which serves as the primary explanation.

Bigfoot or Big Bear?

Robert Young, a University of Salford professor of wildlife conservation in the UK, told Newsweek, believed that all biologists would agree that these sightings are of bears, most likely black bears; this is a common example that academics use with their undergraduate students.

The simplest and most likely explanation is that black bears use Occam's razor.

It's critical to keep in mind that the cuddly toys have contributed to a distorted perception of bears as being extremely chubby and fat.

Bears are very capable of standing on two legs and even walking that way up to a point; for instance, consider the repugnant act of bears dancing, Young explained.

Non-Existence of Bigfoot

Despite the hype surrounding the cryptid, there isn't any conclusive proof that Bigfoot actually exists.

For breeding to take place, inbreeding, and low genetic diversity to be avoided, there would need to have been several Bigfoot species to have endured this long.

However, more Bigfoot specimens would increase the likelihood that one would be discovered dead or would have been killed by a car, which has not yet happened.

There has never been discovered in North America any fossil evidence of any other hominid species besides humans.

A resident of Utah claimed to have discovered a fossilized Bigfoot skull in 2013, but a paleontologist's examination revealed it to be nothing more than a weathered rock.

Bigfoot-related hair and feces were later found to be synthetic or to belong to real animals.

Researchers tested 36 "Bigfoot" hair samples from all over the world and discovered that a large percentage belonged to raccoons, horses, cows, deer, coyotes, a Malaysian tapir, and even humans, according to a 2014 paper published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Two of the samples had no known species, but analysis of their DNA revealed they were not from primates; rather, the samples most closely resembled a rare species of brown bear.

Almost all of the footprints, videos, and photos that have been used to support Bigfoot's existence have also been revealed to be fakes or hoaxes, Newsweek reported.