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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

Are we distantly related to Sasquatch?

Did bigfoot get laid more than the scientists researching it?

Recently, Dr. Melba S. Ketchum, director and founder of DNA Diagnostics, Inc., released the results of a five–year genetic study that she claims confirms the existence of a “novel hominin hybrid species.”

Put simply, Sasquatch.

In this study, samples were retrieved from the saliva residue left on a half-eaten bagel. Dr. Ketchum was able to extract 20 mitochondrial genomes and three nuclear genomes and compare them to the DNA sequencing of humans and multiple primate
species. The results of this study have led Dr. Ketchum to claim the sample came from an organism produced after the mating of Homo sapiens women with an unknown hominin species.

The study’s manuscript has yet to be published in any scientific journal, so for now Dr. Ketchum’s claims cannot be officially confirmed or even analyzed by the scientific community.

In past circumstances in which supposed “Sasquatch discoverers” announced they had found undeniable proof of the creature’s existence, it was later confirmed their proof was either inconclusive, extremely exaggerated or a  hoax. Unfortunately, Dr. Ketchum’s premature press release suggests this study will follow the same pattern.

It’s important to remember that although the history of Sasquatch research has been stained with hoax and disappointment, a community of legitimate scientists from multiple backgrounds research the possibility.

Dr. Jeff Meldrum, a professor of physical anthropology and anatomy at Idaho State University, has hypothesized that the most likely ancestor of Sasquatch is not of human origin, past or present, but instead Gigantopithecus blacki, an East-Asian Pleistocene giant that could have crossed the Bering land bridge into North America at the same time early humans did. Scientists such as Dr. John Bindernagel, Grover Krantz and even Jane Goodall have regarded this explanation as the most likely origin of a modern-day Sasquatch.

The relation of human DNA and possible Sasquatch hybridization is usually regarded by this community as a strategy to receive as much media attention as possible, regardless of the legitimacy of one’s claims.

Sadly, what is perceivably loony or absurd in Sasquatch research, like the image of human women mating with hairy monsters, has historically received much more media attention for cheap shock value.

The real researchers fight a two-front battle against the accepted scientific community as well as the individuals who skew the facts for their own benefit.

And let’s be honest: Were Ketchum’s claims not so sensational, we probably wouldn’t be writing an editorial about a Sasquatch in the first place.

Dr. Ketchum’s results have yet to be published, so for now we must wait.

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