Posted on 11/28/2004 8:38:24 AM PST by TexasCajun
i'M CERTAINLY CONVINCED THAT
God uses such foolishness to confound the wise.
Humility is a big issue with Him.
So is mirth. We're made in HIS image, right? I think he can be whimsical, too. I think it is fully possible that HE put the dinosaurs on Earth for two reasons: To give man a true choice and also to provide GOzillions of little kids things to be fascinated over!
Sure there are Cajun Bigfoot stories. But the real king of the BIGFOOT arena is the wilderness area near Texarkana in Arkansas. History channel and Discovery channel have been doing documentaries on this area for ages.
Ever seen the movie Legend of Boggy Creek? Scare the pants off you, it will. Supposedly true too.
It would be useful to know if the Seminole Indians talk about skunk-apes, they have lived in the Everglades about forever. They would know if anyone would.
Tales from the Bitteroot Wilderness reminds me of the Firejumper who educated me concerning the wildlife of the region. Anybody ever heard of the On-No Bird?
Sheesh it's been a long day.
Oh-No Bird.
many years ago, I saw a large rodent on the bank of a creek in a highly urbanized area. For years I explained what it was to people and they would tell me it was either a groundhog, or a muskrat. Well, I knew what I saw and it didn't match the description of either, nor did it look like the pictures in books. This thing had a flat tail...I know, immediately people say "beaver". Well, it wasn't because it's tail was only 1 to 2 inches wide and was widest at the base and tapered to the tip...like a knife of some kind...sorta like the one they called an "arkansas toothpick". I can't even begin to tell you how much time I spent looking through books and the internet trying to find a picture or a description that matched.
Then one day, by accident, I happened to see a footnote in a description of muskrats in a fairly old book. It went something like this: In certain locales, there are reports of some specimens growing much larger and having slightly flattened tails, but not like a beaver's tail.
immediately I went "AHA!"
Wildlife is amazing. The diversity is amazing. I really beleive that there are animals out there that you can't find in a book. It may not be that it's a new species, just an individual with not quite "textbook" characteristics or markings. I once saw a red fox that I would swear on a bible had what dog breeders call a "brindle" coat. At first I thought is was something no one had ever seen before, but as I watched it, it became clear to me it was just a red fox with really, REALLY, weird color markings. This particular fox also had unusually short fur for a red fox, and it was quite skinny. At first, I thought is was some kind of new species of wild cat.
My hunch is that these sightings of big foot are actually unusual-looking bear. I have seen bear, and not all of them look like the textbook pictures. Sometimes they are quite lean and long legged and look almost like an ape with a dog's head. Some bear have shoulders like a quadruped, and some bear have shoulders more like a biped, or like those of a gorilla. I think maybe it has something to do with the individuals age too. Maybe the younger, underfed ones have more tendency to have the silouette of a primate than the old fat ones do.
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I read through about 50 first hand sightings the other night. Everyone described this creature as having Hair not fur. Hands like a human, Big feet ( obviously ) and toes. So I would be agreeing with you except all of these sightings were from the mid 1950s to last week. There are kooks outthere without a doubt, however what is the motivation for 1000's to describe the same creature? I am having to go with the sheer numbers here, and say they must have indeed seen what they claim to have. I just dont know what it is.
Skunk apes? I don't know about them, but I do know about skunk bears....it's that other school in Ann Arbor......
I thought that was Janet Reno.
Thank you. I appreciate the advertising.
The Texas variety as shown here will eat the same pellets and greens as a standard domestic bunny. The Arizona hybrid, a jackal/antelope hybrid, prefers Pedigree canned dog food or anything from Burger King.
(Had a quarter horse once whose favorite snack was a Whopper with cheese, chased down with any beer that did not have the word "lite" on the label.)
The hind foot of a bear has a heel and five toes. Very similar to a gorilla, except the "big toe" of a bear is not opposable, like that of a gorilla. The only thing missing is the arch. As far as I know, a bear does not have an arch on the hind foot. Although, with humans, the arch becomes more pronounced as the individual becomes more...shall we say, emaciated. Perhaps, an emaciated bear would appear to have an arch on the hind foot. I am only speculating here. Also, a bear has long curved pointed "toe-nails". These would have to be missing or for some reason greatly underdeveloped for the foot print to appear primate-like. Again, I am only speculating. But it is a possibility.
Also, it is a possibility that there is a subspecies of bear that has not been identified yet, or that there are some rare characteristics in certain localized populations of bear that you wont find explained in a textbook...some characteristics not common...similar to my example of the muskrat I gave previoulsly.
hehehe you are funny.
I bumped into a critter in Korea one night back in 1989 that I could not identify. It happened about 50 miles north and slightly east of Seoul in a sparsely populated area very close to the DMZ. It was not a bear or anything canine, but had longish reddish brown fur. It ran across the road right in the headlight beams of my humvee at less than fifty feet with a gait that looked more like swimming than running. No tail visible, estimated length about five feet, weight about 250 - 300 pounds. Flat face.
None of the locals wanted to talk about it at all. No response or a rapid change in subject. No language barrier -- I can read, write and speak Korean quite fluently -- and I was already well known to most that I asked.
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