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Sasquatch: Size, Scaling, and Statistics

(part 3)

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Plantar Pressure

If one refers to Table 1 of calculated weights and foot lengths, the possibility arises of extrapolating plantar pressure of feet of different-sized individuals. Krantz (1992) has pointed out in this connection that the compressive strength of cartilage has certain inherent limits that can only be exceeded at risk of health and joint integrity of the animal in question. Additionally, compression of the sole beyond the limits of tissue pressure would collapse capillaries and eventually lead to breakdown akin to that found in de cubitus ulcers. Since any animal is likely to be optimally adapted to its weight, support and gait configuration, even the Sasquatch would adhere to such general rules of body design.

Admittedly, the following calculations have an element of circularity in them, so the resultant output should only be viewed as an approximation. I have used Sasquatch footprint casts of several sizes and various proportions in my possession, measured their area by planimetry and matched them to their scaled body weight by the method detailed above. The calculated sole pressure varies from 6 lbs/in2 to 12 lbs/in2. The Patterson Sasquatch print, relatively narrow, covers between 60 and 65 in2 with a calculated weight of 542 lbs (246 kg), a relationship that translates into a plantar pressure of 8.3 - 9.0 lbs/in2. Comparison values for the human foot are about 10 lbs( 0.69 kg/cm2) for the contact area of the foot or 5 lbs/in2 (0.35 kg/cm2) for the entire sole (foot outline) (Robinson, 1990), a value that drops to about 2.5 lbs/in2 (0.18 kg/cm2) for a booted foot, a common reference in the field. Thus, a Sasquatch footprint generally would be expected to show 4-5 times more pressure per area than a comparison boot print. Anecdotal reports often suggest higher weights, though generally without experimental backing other than jumping on one foot or carrying a second person without much effect.

The sole pad of the Sasquatch foot is probably several inches thick, as revealed by a small rock that was found to have deeply indented a sole that made the footprint surrounding the rock (Cachel, 1985; Krantz, 1983). Usually, the foot shows no wrinkles or folds, though occasional scars. This thick pad, a tough connective tissue lattice filled with fat as described by Tietze (1921) for man, presumably serves to distribute the weight over the sole in a much more even fashion than is the case in man and serves to return some of the compressive energy by elastic rebound (Bennett and Ker, 1990). In any case, contrary to popular belief, plantar pressure in even large Sasquatches does not appear to range exorbitantly beyond human values, as one would reasonably expect from anatomical considerations.

Growth and Life Cycle

Since almost all data presented here are gender neutral, it is next to impossible to extract values for presumptive sexual dimorphism. Beyond that, we have no idea of the age of any animal that has been sighted beyond comparing a juvenile one to the age of corresponding children. Even if several specimens of Sasquatch became available, dynamic aspects of the species would remain unknown. Although many aspects of the life cycle of a mammal can be scaled to body mass, it is more challenging to apply what minimal data we have to estimate age and a growth curve, in this case of the female of the species (Fig. 10). I should emphasize that this curve is predicated on the growth of feet rather than general somatic dimensions, which would follow a slightly different curve.

To fix the endpoints, I have taken the foot lengths of human neonates (3.2" (8.1 cm); Roche and Malina, 1983) and mountain gorilla newborns (3.7" (9.4 cm); Schaller, 1963) as a starting point (about 3.5" (8.9 cm) for the Sasquatch). The smallest, intermittently walking footprints by a juvenile Sasquatch that have been recorded are 4" - 5" (10 - 13 cm) long. That length corresponds to the mean of the human foot at one year (Jones, 1997), which is the age that I have arbitrarily assigned to these prints, although walking is probably initiated earlier than in man, since the Sasquatch growth is not dominated by the disproportionate size of the brain and head (its head has repeatedly been reported to be "small for its body").

To fix the opposite end point of the graph, I have collected all records consisting of a single large set of prints accompanied by one set of "baby" footprints (smaller than 7") on the assumption that the mother, by implication a mature, no longer growing female, is most likely the exclusive adult companion of a juvenile for the first few years of its life. It is questionable whether a female in the wild would keep growing after the physiological stress of giving birth.

Lastly, I have received three separate sets of timed footprint measurements (from three different observers), each stretching over several years, that were considered to originate from three growing animals. The set with the longest time base, debatable though it may be with respect to the identity of the animal in question, was used to produce the time axis for the graph, while the remainder were fitted to the resultant curve.

The graph suggest a rapid growth for the Sasquatch such that a juvenile animal, age 8 years, with a foot length of about 9" (23 cm), would be about 5' 9" to 6" in height (173 - 183 cm), in effect the size of an adult man. In some rare instances, 3' - 4' (90 - 120 cm) tall juveniles have been seen by themselves, but usually they are near their mother at that age and size.

Additional speculative inferences can be drawn from combining this graph with rare multiple sightings and grouped footprints. Surviving offspring seem to be spaced at intervals of about 5 years, as estimated from presumptive "family" groupings of footprints. A female with a very small, i.e., nursing, infant has never been observed, an indication that the mother can avoid absolutely all contact with man when in this vulnerable state. Records of family groupings of prints suggest that an older sibling will stay with the mother some years after the arrival of the next one, until about age 10, exhibiting its maternal attachment by occasionally "hitching rides" on the mother like the younger one (at times simultaneously, to the detriment of the mother's even gait).

The female seems to reach sexual maturity at about age 9 - 10 (extrapolated from the smallest adult of a mother-infant pair), by which time she will be near 6' in height. At this stage the female has been observed to keep male company and has developed small breasts, "pert" in an observer's word. A suspected gradual darkening in hair color with adulthood was not confirmed by the database, which produces identical height averages for coat colors grouped from dark through medium to light. Some tendency toward a geographical dine in coat color has been established by Gill (1980), though with limited data.

By applying scaling formulae to the 299 kg body of the average Sasquatch, a gestation period of about 9 months and an average life span (in captivity) of 36 years can be estimated (Calder, 1984). This life expectancy implies an occasional survival into the fifth decade, reports which account for descriptions of some animals as looking old and wrinkled, having "rotten, snaggle teeth" and unkempt, matted "angora goat dreadlocks" or patchy, worn hair. Survival times for gorillas in captivity range into the middle of the third decade of life (Willoughby, 1978).

Fig. 10- Constructed growth curve of the female Sasquatch.

Fig. 10 - Constructed growth curve of the female Sasquatch. The graph is referenced to foot length, height having been calculated. Black circles are anchor points at one year of age (walking) and at adulthood (with infant), the open circles (one animal) establish the time scale, having been fitted between the anchor points, and the light squares and dotted circles are from additional timed sets of footprints from other animals. The latter were arbitrarily fitted to the curve by the smallest footprint of each set.

Scaling formulae exist to calculate other biological aspects such as respiratory rate, heart rate and blood volume (Stahl, 1967), limb proportions (Jungers, 1985b), tooth size (Gingerich and Smith, 1985; Willoughby, 1978; Wolpoff, 1985), and organ weights (Larson, 1985), but it behoves me not to pursue speculative aspects of this subject ad absurdum.

Summary

The presented statistics provide us for the first time with population averages and ratios that relate foot length, height and weight of the Sasquatch in a manner not dependent on guesses, opinion or individual anecdotal accounts. I have speculatively pursued all attributes of the species that could be derived or inferred from the presented data by correlation or allometric scaling. It is very probable that the Sasquatch population, being composed of animals with a long life span, few offspring, and little culling by predators will display wide physical variations, seen in such reported aspects as facial features, diverse coat colors, and the large variance in foot proportions documented here. The data, furthermore, are indicative of a sizeable population of a species that has adapted in a variety of ways (except development of intellect) to the demands of surviving in the montane environment of the North American continent.

Acknowledgements

I am above all heavily indebted to John Green who gave generously of his time and cheerfully accommodated my many requests to extract data out of his computerized database. The staff of the North American Science Institute, Hood River, Oregon, have given me free access to their collected sighting reports. I am appreciative of the constructive comments provided by Drs. J. Bindernagel, T. Grand, G. Krantz, J. Meldrum, J. Senner, and several others, who elected to remain anonymous.

Appendix 1

The nocturnality of the Sasquatch has been questioned on occasion. This subject can also be approached statistically, though directed at the observers rather than the observed. Take a hypothetical area randomly seeded with Sasquatches, evenly distributed during day and night. Their apparent temporal distribution will depend on them being seen by human observers. Assume a very conservative ratio of such alert observers during daylight as compared to the hours of total darkness in the mountains to be 20:1. A daylight observer will have a circular observational area with a radius of, say, 500', over which recognition of the subject will be unambiguous, roughly 800,000 square feet. A nightime observer has at best the expanding cone of headlights in one direction with recognition of a grey object at 300' (Bosch, 1970) and an expanding width of illumination to 100', a sector with an area of about 15,000 square feet. Factoring in the number of observers produces a ratio of 800,000 X 20 : 15,000 X 1, or better than 1,000:1. That is the ratio at which Sasquatch sightings should be distributed between day and night, a number that will get more extreme if flashlights or moonlight is the alternative illumination. An actual ratio cited by Green (1978) consists of 1275 sightings, of which 735 occurrred during the day and 540 during the night, or a 58 to 42 ratio (1.38 to 1). If only sighting on roads are considered, the ratio shifts to 1 : 1.4 in favor of night sightings. This discrepancy can be interpreted as activity by the Sasquatch that exposes it to being seen about 1,500 times more often at night than an even distribution would predict.

References cited

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From: Cryptozoology Vol. 13: 47 - 75