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Bigfoot Basics: Sex, Food & Shelter
By Boogeyman | September 23, 2009
Bigfoot Basics: Sex, Food & Shelter
When critically examining theories about Bigfoot behaviors, I have difficulty accepting they have characteristics and abilities that can’t be found in any other animal species. In fact to me it is pushing the limit if said attributes can’t be found somewhere else within the primate world. I don’t’ think this is a narrow minded approach that limits our understanding, quite the opposite. I think it should help researchers and field investigator hone in on what is critical and what isn’t.
For example, recently in the Bigfoot world there has been a shift in our understanding of wood knocking. It is becoming accepted by most serious researchers, myself included, that some of the wood knocks heard are not in fact a wooden club being hit against a tree or log. Instead they are somehow manufacturing the sound with their own bodies, either by clapping, smacking their lips or popping their tongue. These types of actions can be readily found in both the primate world and among primitive, indigenous people. In this example it is easy for me to reassess my thinking about wood knocking behavior and based on other known animal behavior accept this theory.
This new idea of clapping just happens to dove tails nicely with some personal and second hand experiences I am familiar with and for me clarifies more than it confounds. On the other hand if no other primate made noise in a similar fashion, I wouldn’t accept that Sasquatches could either. Now my approach to wood knocking will include simulated clapping as a method of locating, attracting, antagonizing or communicating with these animals. Who knows where it leads, maybe they know Morse Code?
So let’s get back to the basics. Every large animal species needs three things to survive individually and as a whole. Sustenance, shelter and sex, take one away and they eventually become extinct. Following the basic litmus test I apply to Sasquatches, they must also need all three, like other animals and other primates. They need the basics.
Sustenance appears to be the area we know the most about. Their ability to eat a wide range of foods, including prey, has been witnessed numerous times and is probably a key factor in their diverse range and highly successful survival skills. Food sources are one of the first things most field investigators look for when determining the presence of Sasquatches, in fact food is always a key element in any legitimate habituation. I think evidence of food gathering, and left over dead prey animals will play a larger and larger role in proving these animals reside in certain areas at certain times.
Shelter is a word that can mean different things to different people. My shelter while in the field is either a Springbar tent or my famous bear burrito, (a tent hammock). To someone, or something else it may be nothing more than a tree branch over their head. To whatever degree you apply the term shelter; all animals have learned how to shelter themselves from the elements, predators and detection from humans.
In the case of Sasquatches there are several possibilities if we look to known primate examples for guidance. Monkeys and great apes have been documented using nests, large leaves, caves, cliffs, tree holes, thick cover and other simple, ready made shelters. All though all four species of great apes have now been documented using rudimentary tools in the wild, there is no evidence of complex shelter construction by any, other than Homo sapiens. The same can be said about monkeys.
What this means for Bigfoot researchers are two fold; first, are the documented stick structures attributed to these animals shelters or something else, if they build shelters why can’t we find them and why would they be the only other primate except man that builds shelters? Second, what are a Sasquatches’ priorities in selecting their shelters? Is it predation avoidance from man, social structure such as family groups or food distribution and density? I believe discovering their main source of shelter has the potential for being the biggest bombshell in Bigfoot research. Based on anecdotal evidence, published reports and personal experience, when I am in the field I find myself studying tall trees and steep, inaccessible cliffs in a whole new way. I’m just saying…..
And that brings us to mating. Do these animals have one, lifelong mate or like most great apes does the dominate male have multiple mates, forcing the adolescent males out on their own when they reach sexual maturity.
I believe they have one mate for these two reasons. First the great apes live in larger groups. This creates certain advantage for a ‘dominate male’ type of social structure. This would be the ‘you can’t have more than one cook in kitchen’ scenario. Most likely Sasquatch lives in smaller, less detectable groups than other great apes. A monogamous relationship would be beneficial for them in terms of growth rate control, mobility, survival training of the young and encounter avoidance. Secondly, a pattern in research data shows that when multiple animals are either witnessed, or their footprints found, it is common for there to be a male, a female and one juvenile.
I was recently asked if I thought they had a mating season. I wish they did. I can only imagine what a rutting bull Sasquatch would be like. It would certainly make some of our research easier. Instead I expressed my opinion that I think they can mate all year long, like most great apes, but they probably attempt to limit birthing to times of the year when survival of the infant would be highest. I have no proof of this, just my rational opinion and one more interesting quandary about them being the only wild primate living in North America.
If we concentrate on the three Bigfoot basics, sex, food and shelter, maybe we will get some unexpected results. We might figure out how to consistently recognize feeding areas, some unfortunate person may stumble onto an effective mating call, or someone might figure out conclusive facts about their shelters, which would definitely blow open the field.
Based on the three basics even Sasquatches need, I would recommend the following when doing field research;
Do not wear any kind of primate estrogen as an attractant, just in case.
Do not act like a tasty fat doe, just in case.
Keep looking up, just in case.
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