Bigfoot under microscope

A scientist plans to do a DNA test on a hair that is said to come from a sasquatch.

Whitehorse — A University of Alberta scientist is offering to run a DNA test on what some believe is a sample of sasquatch hair found in the Yukon.

The sample is heading to Edmonton after a Yukon Environment Department laboratory technician who analysed the tuft said results suggest it's likely from a bison.

Philip Merchant compared a print of the hair's scale pattern with those of other creatures. The results were not entirely conclusive, though, said Dennis Senger, the department's communications co-ordinator.

"(Merchant) is being a scientist," he said. "He's not 100 per cent sure, so he doesn't want to say anything conclusive."

But Merchant maintains the hair appears to be bison, not the mythical furry creature.

"I have not seen anything to lead me in another direction," he said.

Merchant said there are still many unknowns about the origins of the sample, found at Teslin, hear the B.C. border. There is no way of knowing how the sample ended up there, whether it blew there or was placed there by human hand.

David Coltman, associate professor of biology at the University of Alberta, contacted Merchant about the sample this week. Merchant accepted his offer to conduct a DNA analysis on the sample.

The test will involve extracting DNA from cells in the roots of the hairs. These cells will be taken from the mitochondria, the energy-producing part of a cell, because it evolves much more quickly.

It is also easier to isolate mitochondrial DNA than DNA in the nucleus of the cell, Coltman explained yesterday. Once the DNA sequence is prepared, it will then be run through a database of all known creatures.

"If it truly is sasquatch DNA, it will probably not match anything," Coltman said. "It should most closely resemble human or gorilla."

The results should be complete within a week, he said.

The investigation was sparked by a sasquatch sighting about a week ago, when up to nine witnesses said they saw a creature roaming about in the woods in Teslin.

A footprint and the hair sample were found at one of the sightings. About a year ago, two local adults also said they spotted a sasquatch-like figure as it crossed their path early one morning.

Last fall, a Manitoba man came forward with what he claimed was video footage of a sasquatch or bigfoot. He sold it to an American tabloid TV program, but a sasquatch "expert" dismissed it as bogus.

From: Canadian Press, 22 July 2005.