by Mark Mihalko

Created on: March 20, 2007   Last Updated: April 30, 2007

Many researchers from across the globe spend hours upon hours in the field, searching for the smallest pieces of evidence to definitively prove the existence of Bigfoot.

If the creatures exist, what are they? Noted Bigfoot researcher and physical anthropologist Dr. Grover Krantz has one theory. He believes Bigfoot is a living version of the Gigantopithecus blacki, a lone extinct bi-pedal ape. This is an interesting theory since there is no significant piece of evidence to support the theory that Gigantopithecus blacki walked upright.

Even though remains of the Gigantopithecus blacki or fossils of any other ancient bi-pedal primates have ever been recovered from the Pacific Northwest, there are sites where Gigantopithecus blacki remains occur along with Homo erectus remains throughout the world. Especially in Asia, where these discoveries were found in Tham Khuyen in Viet Nam, and in the Hubei and Sichuan provinces of China.

If Bigfoot does inhabit the forest scattered throughout North America, it most likely would have migrated there between 20,000 and 50,000 years ago. About the same time that our early ancestors made their way to the continent. However, if this is the case, where is the fossilized evidence?

Research into the fossilized discoveries of the creature in Asia reveals an interesting twist. The remains of the Gigantopithecus blacki that were discovered in those areas were identified only by jaw bone fossils and loose fossilized teeth, no full or partial skeletal fossils have ever been recovered!

To me there is no question that a very large bipedal creature walks this continent. In fact, I am not alone in my assumption. If you search writings of ancient North American Indians you will find that numerous tribes identify this large cryptid in their writings and lore that have been passed down from generation to generation.

Even Indian tribes that were geographically separated such as the Hopi, the Sioux, the Iroquois, and the Northern Athabascan all have legends of Bigfoot. While some of these legends describe a large supernatural or spirit being, some have detailed descriptions that match sighting reports of today.

Americans have reported Bigfoot sightings as far back as the 1830s, but interest in the phenomenon really picked up with sightings, photos and footprints during the second half of the 20th century.

The most famous footage is the Patterson film shot in Bluff Creek, California, in 1967. The film shows a hairy, human-like creature walking across a

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