bigfoot & humans: what it took to SURVIVE MILLIONS OF YEARS & COMPETE WITH OTHER SPECIES

​In the Great Rift Valley of Ethepoia, about 300,000,000 years ago, an upright hominin lived. Her name? Lucy. She was determined to be the first Australopithecus africanus found in the region. By examining her knee bone structure and spine, scientists determined that Lucy walked primarily upright, however she did climb trees to seek shelter, which resulted in her death from falling. This species of hominin (an early human ancestor) measured about 3 feet tall and weighed 60 lbs. Their brain was the size of an orange and they began to evolve human-like features. Because of this discovery, scientists are able to further link ape and human, and determine how modern humans were the species to ultimately out-live other hominins….or so we think. Bigfoot is described as a bipedal ape-like creature, and whose description has a striking resemblance to a hominin. Could it be that a mystery species survived along modern humans, remaining undetected? What would it take to make it through millions of years? Lucy, and other hominins might reveal the answer.
 
Archeological research shows that Homo erectus, our early ancestor, actually constructed stone tools. Because of their ability to hunt, they were now consuming high-energy food: meat. This energy would be enough to power and grow the brain, increasing intelligence. This would eventually lead to an increase in population. Research suggests that the Bigfoot population remains in the thousands, which many assume will lead to extinction. However, the early Homo-Sapiens population was extremely small, and bones are rarely found. The early Homo-Sapien resembled something of a modern man from Africa, with a round braincase and a flat face. Similar to Homo erectus, Homo-Sapien used stone tools to gather high energy food. This could be how Bigfoots hunt their prey, and combined with their massive size and power, they could have easily competed with Homo-Sapien.
 
Because of their newly created stone tools, humans began to hunt. However, they would soon run into some major dilemmas while catching prey: becoming prey themselves. Humans had to be extremely organized while hunting in order to avoid large cats and other predators. This need for organization eventually evolved the intelligence of the Homo-Sapien brain.  This type of social culture would evolve us into what we are today. Similar organization has been reported in many eye witness accounts of Bigfoot. Many witnesses report seeing more than one creature in the same area, and some have even heard a sort of signal system using whistles and tree knocks back and forth in order to catch deer. This similarity to the style of ancient Homo-Sapien hunting is striking. ​Aside from eating, the human brain development took place when migration kicked in. When land became bone dry, humans were forced to regroup and migrate. Evidence discovered of a 100,000 year old artifact suggests that the Sans people stored water in empty Ostrich eggs while traveling, and during migration they hunted and cooked over fire. Experts believe Homo-Sapiens may have used similar methods. Their brains were growing and they were evolving. During this time, a form of verbal language was also present. Such language can be compared to Bigfoot’s language which is often described by eye witnesses as a gibberish grunting sound.
 
Although another species of hominin, Neanderthals, were skilled hunters with large builds, their intelligence wasn’t enough to compete with Homo-Sapiens. Homo-Sapiens had greater technological skills and the ability to relate objects with one another. While Neanderthals developed stone tools, humans developed more intricate hunting tools along with representations of them.  *CLICK READ MORE TO CONTINUE* 

 Another thing that set modern humans apart from Neanderthals was the central part of the base of the skull. In Neanderthals, it was flat, while humans had it further down and curved. This affected how the vocal chords sat in the throat. In newborn human babies, the voice box is set higher, just like Neanderthals, however it moves down as we grow. By the larynx traveling down in the throat, the large space allows us to modify sounds created by the vocal chords. Because of this, humans gained the ability for fully articulate speech. Neanderthals would not have been able to pronounce vowels at the same speed and fluidity of Homo-Sapien. It was those language skills that gave us an edge over Neanderthals when it came to hunting. Neanderthals did not have symbols to describe their life. Their language was not sophisticated enough to produce a culture. Homo-Sapiens had carvings of animals, musical instruments, and demonstrated symbolic thought, the communication of ideas and beliefs. Such symbolic complex language gave Homo-Sapiens the ability to communicate and organize with each other, paving a way into faster cultural evolution.  
 
If Homo-Sapiens were able to conquer the planet and out-live other hominin species, what would it take for a Bigfoot to do so too? Homo-Sapien developed intricate language, something reported in many eye-witness accounts of Bigfoot. Homo-Sapiens also developed organizational hunting and gathering, much like Bigfoots are reported to do. Homo-Sapiens formed a culture filled with music and religion. If the scientific theory that Bigfoot buries their dead are true, then this would mean they have some sort of culture and acknowledgement of the after-life.
 
Bigfoot is described as an 8-10 foot tall hairy, man-like bipedal. If such a creature exists, it seems to closely resemble an ancient hominin. Scientists are still trying to find the link between Australopithecus africanus, a more ape-like ancestor, and Homo Erectus, our closet human-like ancestor. Scientists believe that a mystery species may connect the two together. Could this be Bigfoot?
 
 There are thousands of reports in the dense rain-forests of North America. There is physical evidence like anatomically relevant footprints, hair samples that do not match any known species (but closely resemble human and ape), and there are characteristics that are shared between Bigfoot and ancient hominins. Could Bigfoot be a sophisticated evolution of Neanderthal? Could it be the mystery hominin that science has been searching for? Or perhaps it could be an unknown species, even more intelligent than our own. How did it manage to thrive, yet still remain undetected from humans? Leave a comment down below and tell us what you think!

Bibliography:
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"Origin of Humans - National Geographic Documentary 2016." YouTube. N.p., 02 Dec. 2016. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.
 
"Homo Sapiens vs Neanderthals | The Evolution of Language." YouTube. N.p., 03 Jan. 2016. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.
 
"Great Human Odyssey - Documentary 2016 [HD]." YouTube. N.p., 03 Nov. 2016. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.

(​Image from google)