Southern SASquatch Expeditions

Five Facts About Gorilla Social Groups

2019-08-15T14:32:00.002-05:00

Fact 1:

Aside from a few exceptions, groups consist of more adult females than adult males.

Most subspecies of gorillas have groups that consist of one dominant adult male, multiple adult females and their young. However, mountain gorilla groups have been seen supporting up to eight silverbacks at one time! Each of these silverbacks will have a slightly different role with a clear hierarchy.

Fact 2:

Once a male gorilla reaches maturity, it has three ‘options’.

First, they can stay in their natal group and queue for dominance. And excellent example of this is the famous Cantsbee. About 50% of males stay in their natal group, although not all eventually end up becoming dominant.

Second, they can strike out as solitary males to try to create a family of their own by stealing females from other males. If the male is unsuccessful in acquiring females, they may roam around alone until they are successful.

Finally, they male form or join a bachelor group, which is an all-male group. Titus is a famous Karisoke gorilla who spent some of his formative years in a bachelor group. These groups will help the male gorillas learn skills that are needed to become a successful leader before having a family group of their own. Even in the bachelor groups you will see a hierarchy form. Just like a silverback would determine where to travel and when to stop in a family group, the dominant male in a bachelor group may do the same.

Fact 3:

Gorillas are pretty unique in that both male and female gorillas may either stay in or leave their natal group.

In other primate species, you can see females staying in their natal group with male dispersal, or males staying in their natal group with female dispersal. For gorillas, both males and females are observed leaving their natal groups as well as saying in their natal groups for their entire lives! Females may even transfer groups multiple times throughout their lives, leading to her producing offspring with several males.

Fact 4:

Each group has its own dominance hierarchy.

As previously mentioned in fact 1, there is a hierarchy among males. Females will also have a hierarchy of their own. For males, if there are multiple adult silverbacks, one will be dominant above the rest and make decisions such as where to sleep and eat. Other silverbacks may aide in protecting the group and resolving conflicts.

The hierarchy among females may be based on age, as well as an individual’s length of time in the group, where a newcomer would generally be the lowest in the hierarchy. A female could also rise in status if the dominant male is particularly interested in her. Other factors, such as offspring may also change the hierarchy, where females with newborns may rise in rank.

Fact 5:

Groups of gorillas may be as small as 2 individuals and as large as 65!

While the average group size is around 10-12 individuals, groups have been seen to have as few as a single breeding pair, or two silverback gorillas, to as many as 65 individuals! The record breaking group of 65 gorillas was Pablo’s group while it was under the leadership of the legendary gorilla, Cantsbee. Since the passing of Cantsbee, the group is no longer the size it once was. Pablo’s group is currently ran by Gicurasi and the young silverback Kureba split off taking members of the group with him.

Southern SASquatch Expeditions
Author: Angela Ashton, Founder
#southernsasquatchexpeditions #bigfoot #sasquatch
https://www.facebook.com/southernsasquatchexpeditions/

Story Source: The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International

More About Dian Fossey

In 1967, Dr. Dian Fossey founded the Karisoke™ Research Center in Rwanda’s Virunga mountains to protect and study the endangered mountain gorillas. Although Fossey’s life was cut short, her work has continued through the Karisoke Research Center and grown into conservation efforts for other wildlife and programs for people who live near the gorillas.

Donate to the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund Here

Great Ape Reactions to Game Cameras in Anthropology Studies

2019-07-13T20:44:00.001-05:00

African wild apes notice and often react to & sometimes avoid novel or new items in their environment, including game cameras...

Date:

March 14, 2019

Source:

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

Summary: The Video Below Summarizes the Findings of this Study

An international team of researchers analyzed video from remote camera-trap devices placed in ape-populated forests throughout Africa to see how wild apes would react to these unfamiliar objects. Responses varied by species, and even among individuals within the same species, but one thing was consistent throughout: the apes definitely noticed the cameras.

Researchers analyzed video from remote camera-trap devices placed in ape-populated forests throughout Africa to see how wild apes would react to these unfamiliar objects. Responses varied by species and even among individuals within the same species, but one thing was consistent throughout: the apes definitely noticed the cameras -- they poked them, stared at them, and occasionally tried to bite them. The study appears March 14 in the journal Current Biology.

An international team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, analyzed video from remote camera-trap devices placed in ape-populated forests throughout Africa to see how wild apes would react to these unfamiliar objects. Responses varied by species, and even among individuals within the same species, but one thing was consistent throughout: the apes definitely noticed the cameras.

"Our goal was to see how chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas react to unfamiliar objects in the wild since novel object experiments are often used in comparative psychology research, and we wanted to know if there were any differences among the three great apes," says Ammie Kalan, a primatologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. "We were specifically surprised by the differences in reactions we observed between the chimps and bonobos. Since they're sister species and share a lot of the same genetic makeup, we expected them to react similarly to the camera, but this wasn't the case."

"The chimpanzees were overall uninterested in the camera traps -- they barely seemed to notice their presence and were generally unbothered by them," Kalan says. "Yet the bonobos appeared to be much more troubled by camera traps; they were hesitant to approach and would actively keep their distance from them." The 2019 study by Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, published in the March 14 issue of the journal "Current Biology", showed that responses to the object varied by species and even among individuals within the same species. However, one thing was consistent throughout: the apes definitely noticed the cameras, while some were documented avoiding the cameras. The only ones they were able to document were those that tapped the cameras from behind. There of course would not be any documentation for those that actually went out of their way to avoid the cameras.

Individuals within a species reacted differently to the cameras as well. For example, apes living in areas with more human activity, such as near research sites, can get desensitized to unfamiliar items and become indifferent toward such encounters in the future. However, another member of the same species who has had less exposure to strange or new items, might be more interested in them. The age of the ape plays a similar role. "Younger apes would explore the camera traps more by staring at them for longer periods of time," Kalan says. "Like human children, they need to take in more information and learn about their environment. Being curious is one way of doing that."

The range of responses shown by the apes, and the complex differences both between species and within a single species, demonstrates a need for scientists to consider how animals will respond to the presence of unfamiliar monitoring equipment in their natural habitats. "The within and between species variation in behavior towards the unfamiliar items might be problematic when trying to collect accurate monitoring data," Kalan says. "To curb this effect, it would be worth having a familiarization period, where the wild animals can get used to the new items."

Despite this potential complication, using camera traps to monitor populations of animals in the wild is still one of the most useful options. "Our knowledge tends to be limited by the number of groups or number of populations we're able to study, but using monitoring technology like camera traps is an effective way of solving that problem," Kalan says. "I think it's really interesting from a behavioral flexibility perspective to consider how wild animals react to these new technologies. I would love for more researchers to investigate novelty responses while doing monitoring surveys."

Here’s What Happened When Scientists Left Camera Traps to Record Wild Apes

A group of chimpanzees in Uganda. Scientists found that chimps were overall uninterested in camera traps and barely seemed to notice their presence. Bonobos, however, appeared to be much more troubled by camera traps. (Photo Credit: DEA / G. COZZI / Getty Images)

How do wild apes react to unfamiliar objects, such as monitoring equipment, in their natural habitats? To find out, scientists deployed remote camera-trap devices in ape-populated forests throughout Africa.

The study, published in the March 14 issue of the journal Current Biology, showed that responses to the object varied by species and even among individuals within the same species. However, one thing was consistent throughout: the apes definitely noticed the cameras — they poked them, stared at them, and occasionally tried to bite them.

Camera traps (or Game Cams) like this one record monitoring data of wild animal populations. (Photo Credit: Yuri SmityukTASS via Getty Images)

Depending on their exposure to human activity, individuals within a species also reacted differently to the cameras. Apes living near research sites can get desensitized to unfamiliar items and become indifferent toward such encounters in the future. However, another member of the same species who has had less exposure to strange or new items, might be more interested in them, the researchers found.

"Demographic factors can strongly influence patterns of behavioral variation in animal societies. Traditionally, these factors are measured using longitudinal observation of habituated social groups, particularly in social animals like primates. Alternatively, noninvasive biomonitoring methods such as camera trapping can allow researchers to assess species occupancy, estimate population abundance, and study rare behaviors. However, measures of fine‐scale demographic variation, such as those related to age and sex structure or subgrouping patterns, pose a greater challenge. Here, we compare demographic data collected from a community of habituated chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in the Taï Forest using two methods: camera trap videos and observational data from long‐term records. By matching data on party size, seasonal variation in party size, measures of demographic composition, and changes over the study period from both sources, we compared the accuracy of camera trap records and long‐term data to assess whether camera trap data could be used to assess such variables in populations of unhabituated chimpanzees. When compared to observational data, camera trap data tended to underestimate measures of party size, but revealed similar patterns of seasonal variation as well as similar community demographic composition (age/sex proportions) and dynamics (particularly emigration and deaths) during the study period. Our findings highlight the potential and limitations of camera trap surveys for estimating fine‐scale demographic composition and variation in primates. Continuing development of field and statistical methods will further improve the usability of camera traps for demographic studies."

Click Here to read the full study details.

Southern SASquatch Expeditions
Author: Angela Ashton, Founder
#southernsasquatchexpeditions #bigfoot #sasquatch
https://www.facebook.com/southernsasquatchexpeditions/

Story Source:
Materials provided by Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

Identifying Wildlife Tracks & Scat Identification

2019-03-14T19:29:00.001-05:00

The first thing you should look for when you find an animal track is the track pattern. There are four unique track patterns which will help you narrow down the group of animals that are responsible for the print.

Zig-Zaggers (Perfect Walkers): Perfect walkers walk very carefully to conserve energy. Their rear paw/hoof will land in the spot where their front paw previously fell. This gait leaves a zig-zag pattern that is easy to spot. Deer, moose, fox, coyote, bobcat are perfect walkers.

Waddlers: Waddlers appear to move one side of their body and then the other side when they walk. Their rear foot does not land in the print of front foot. Their track is comprised of four prints. Bear, skunk, woodchuck, raccoon, muskrat, beaver, porcupine are waddlers.

Bounders: Bounders place their front feet down, and in one motion they leap forward by lifting up their front feet and putting their rear feet in the exact spot where the front feet previously landed. Their tracks appear as two paws that fall side-by-side. Otters, weasels and other mustelids are bounders.

Hoppers: Hoppers move by placing their rear feet slightly ahead of their front feet and pushing off so their front feet land first and their back feet land in front. This pattern of leapfrogging is found in rabbits and rodents like mice, red squirrels, and chipmunks.

Identifying Track Characteristics

Finding the track pattern helps you narrow down the animal you are trying to identify into larger groups, but that is only the first step of identification. You need to get up close and personal with the print, examining the details such as the size of each print, the number of toes, and more.

Width/Length: Width and length help you tell the difference between closely related animals. Within the canines, a fox print will be smaller than a wolf print. Be aware that there is some overlap. A wolf pup may have the same size print as an adult fox. In these cases, you need to look for other clues, such as the tracks of the mother wolf or multiple tracks from a litter of fox kits. There also may be scat nearby as well.

Number of Toes: The number of toes is important to tell the major groups of animals apart! Bear have five toes, while canines and felines have four, for example.

Nails: Nails are a huge find when you can see them! Canines tend to leave a nail print while felines don't since they can retract their nails. There is some grey area -- a feline may bring out its nails because it is on alert or a dog won't sink down enough to imprint its nails. Look for additional prints and other tracks to help fill in these blanks.

Depth: Depth is useful when comparing tracks left in the same substrate at the same time. The heavier the animal, the deeper the print it will leave. Be careful when comparing prints from different locations and times. A deer could make a print that resembles a moose because it is walking on mud softened by a recent rainstorm.

Front/Rear: Front and rear paws may have a slightly different size and shape, depending on the animal. Most guidebooks will have measurements for both prints.

Webbing: Webbing is usually found on animals that frequently swim in the water.

Stride and Straddle: Stride and straddle measure the gate of an animal and can be used to distinguish between two very closely related prints. Stride is measured from the heel of one print to the heel of the other print on the same side. Straddle is the measurement of the width of the track from the outside of the right track to the outside of the left track.

Learn how to read tracks, and you'll learn a new language, one that communicates the hidden stories of the animals that leave the tracks. Our ancestors had to be adept in tracking to learn about the unseen game animals and predators in their vicinity. Today, animal tracking provides an invaluable service to the hunter and trapper, as well as the nature lover and photographer. Tracking can also be a lifesaver in a survival situation, warning you about dangerous creatures in the area and helping you to locate your next meal. Find a few clear prints and you'll be able to read a few pages from the tale of that animal's life. Find a trail, and you might just find the animal itself. Polish up your existing skills or learn a brand new one, with these tips on tracking 10 common species.

Note: Tracks not drawn to scale. F: Front Track; H: Hind Track; and T: Tail marks may be present.

Beaver

It's easy to spot a beaver's wooden lodge at a distance, or their tree felling work, but it's a lot harder to find an obvious footprint from this water loving animal. Looking for larger beaver sign is a good place to start. Inspect areas with gnawed trees and maybe you'll find a few tracks in damp soil. Check out the hills and banks that lead into the beaver's waterway and you might find a beaver slide, a well-worn and often muddy run that terminates in the water. This is generally the beaver's path back to the water, but not out of it. Still, it's a likely spot to look for footprints.

A beaver's front foot is very similar in size and shape to that of a raccoon, but the rear foot is unique. Five large, long toes may show signs of the webbing that circles the toe span. Front prints are about three inches long, while rear prints can be more than six inches in length. Expect to find beavers throughout the continental US and Canada, though they are rare in Nevada and southern California.

Eastern Cottontail Rabbit

Hardly the burrow dwelling Peter Cottontail of our childhood literature, the eastern cottontail lives its life in the open, seeking shelter in the brush and weeds, rather than a deep den in the ground.

A single footprint from one paw may not tell you much about this animal or identify the species. Find a few sets of tracks, however, and you'll know it's a rabbit right away. Rabbits typically move in a gallop. The big rear feet hit the ground in front of the two small front feet when the rabbit is "walking" or running, and a trail looks like a series of "C"s or "V"s made by the four feet. Expect to find similar tracks and trails from snowshoe hares, jackrabbits, and other members of the rabbit family, Leporidae. Cottontail tracks generally have one-inch-long front feet and three-inch-long rear feet. The eastern cottontail can be found throughout the eastern half of the United States, and from Texas to North Dakota. Rabbits make interesting trackways in the snow.

Raccoon

Mostly active at night, the raccoon is a fascinating omnivore to track. This scavenger can often leave long trails for you to follow through the mud and sand of wet areas. The front and rear footprints of a raccoon have an astonishing resemblance to a human handprint. Their nimble fingers are skillful at catching minnows and opening freshwater shellfish.

Look for the obvious five toes on each foot. Also look for all five of the toes to point forward, nearly parallel to one another. This will help you differentiate raccoon footprints from the wide-splayed toes of the opossum and the rarely imprinted fifth toe of a muskrat. Raccoons move in a diagonal track pattern, just like a deer. Watch for the longer heel of the rear foot to tell the front foot from the back foot. Raccoon front footprints are 2 to 3 inches long, and 3 to 4 inches long on rear feet. Raccoons can be found in the lower 48 states, southern Canada and northern Mexico.

Eastern Gray Squirrel

The gray squirrel is an agile climber and a tricky animal to track. Squirrel sign, like chewed nut shells and little holes dug in the ground, is often abundant in their presence. However, clear tracks and footprints are uncommon. Since they are so lightweight and their feet spend more time on unyielding tree bark than soil, finding clear squirrel footprints is an unusual treat.

Squirrels are gallopers, just like rabbits. Their normal track patterns show the rear feet in front of the front feet in a walking and running gait. Watch for more symmetrical foot patterns in squirrel trails to help discern their tracks from the offset front feet of rabbits. Like with other rodents' feet, look for 4 toes on the front and 5 toes on the rear. Gray squirrel footprints are about an inch long, unless the hind heel pad is showing, which lengthens the rear track. Gray squirrels are found throughout the eastern half of the United States.

Opossum

The only North American native marsupial, the opossum has some strange physiology and habits. Opossums have prehensile tails, 50 teeth, opposable "thumbs" on their rear feet, and the females have a pouch. Sometimes you can even frighten them into unconsciousness. These slow moving animals are mostly active at night, when they scavenge for food, which can be literally anything. I once caught an opossum using the tail of a dead opossum for bait.

Keep an eye out for their tracks and trails along waterways. They look similar to raccoon sign, except for the presence of the distinctive rear thumb. The front-feet tracks are often two inches long, and the rear feet are typically three inches long. Opossums are found throughout the eastern states, coastal Pacific states, and coastal Mexico.

CANINE TRACKS

Canine prints are distinctive -- the overall shape is oval with four twos and a heel pad that is concave at the bottom. The four toes point forward and are held closely together with the two front toes often lining up side-by-side. There usually are claws visible in the track and they also point forward. Because of the arrangement of the toes and pad, you can draw an "X" through the canine print. When comparing front and rear tracks, the fore prints of all members of the dog family are significantly larger than the hind print.

1. Wolf: Wolves are among the largest canines, and their paws are the biggest in the group with a long (4”) and wide print.

2. Coyote: Coyotes are slightly smaller than wolves and have a print that is more narrow (2.5 to 3.5”) than the wolf.

3. Fox: The fox is the smallest canine in the group and have the smallest print (2 to 3”), almost dainty when compared to their bigger cousins. Fox tend to drag their feet and also have more hair in their paws producing a print that is fuzzy around the edges and has a small pad imprint.

4. Dog: A domestic dog can have a similar sized print to wolf or coyote making it difficult to tell them apart. If you can find a set of prints, you can usually tell the difference by how the two animals walk. Wild animals like wolves and coyotes tend to walk in a straight line to conserve energy, while dogs zig-zag and circle around quite a bit when they are walking. Domestic dogs also tend to splay their toes, producing a track with toes and nails that are pointing outward. Another difference is the nails -- dog nails are thick and blunt while wild canines leave thin and sharp nail prints.

Wolf Tracks

Wolf Trackway

Coyote

This native canine favors open plains, brushy areas, and woodlands, but can and do live virtually anywhere. Both the four-toed-tracks and scat of coyotes look very much like the tracks and scat of medium-sized dogs. On closer inspection, you'll typically notice abundant hair and small bones in coyote scat, which is usually absent in domesticated dog droppings.

Coyote tracks are often farther apart than those of a dog with the same size feet or body weight. By trailing these canines, you'll see that dog trails tend to meander, while coyote trails are straighter and more "purposeful." The front feet of coyotes are larger than the rear feet, and are roughly two and a half to three inches long. Coyotes are found throughout North America. Notice with Canine tracks, you see claws.

Coyote Scat

Red Fox

The red fox is a long, lean animal whose bushy tail is longer than half its body length. It's also one of the most elusive canines in North America. Keen senses allow the red fox to remain undetected by most creatures, including humans. Quite often, the only evidence you'll find is a few tracks or a single scat deposited in a prominent location. If you hear a yelping in the woods on a springtime evening that sounds like a woman yelling "help," it's probably a red fox -- though you might check it out, just in case it's a damsel in distress.

The footprints of a red fox are usually two and a half inches on the front foot and two inches on the rear foot. They are a diagonal walker, just like deer and dogs, and foxes usually place their rear feet in the front footprints. Their tracks and trails often reflect their punchy little steps and quick feet. The red fox can be found throughout the continental US and Canada.

Red Fox Scat

BEAR TRACKS

You can’t miss a bear track -- its paw is huge with five rounded toes and a wide heel pad. Black and Grizzly Bear tracks can be hard to differentiate. Geographic location can help narrow down the possibilities.

35. Black Bear: A black bear has short claws and its toes spread out in a curve over its foot pad. Generally going to be smaller than Grizzly Bear paw.

36. Grizzly Bear: A grizzly has long claws that extend out further from their toes. Its toes also are held closer together, forming almost a straight line above the foot pad.

Black Bear

Black Bear Scat

The black bear is an important animal to know how to track, as it represents a danger to any outdoorsman. Though generally shy, a 200- to 400-pound bear can defend itself with surprising speed and great strength if it feels threatened. Black bears are the consummate omnivore, eating fruits, nuts, and insects when those items are available; scavenging on occasion; and hunting other mammals when the opportunity presents itself.

Black bears leave large tracks, with the rear-feet tracks looking almost like human footprints. The front footprints of a black bear average four inches by four inches. The rear feet average three to four inches wide and six to seven inches long when the heel pad imprints. Black bears are found in the mountains, swamps, and forests of the continental US, and are also found throughout Canada. Be on the lookout for double step tracks.

FELINE TRACKS

Feline prints have four toes and a heel pad with three lobes at the bottom edges that are shaped like a bubble letter “M”. Cats actually have five toes up front and four toes in the back, but the extra toe up front does not appear in the tracks. Feline prints are as wide as they are long, making them more round in shape than a canine. Felines also have a leading toe much like a person's middle finger. You can draw a "C" through between the pad and toes of a feline print.

5. Cougar/ Mountain Lion: Among the felines, cougar tracks are the largest (greater than 3"), about the size of the domestic dog.

6. Lynx: Though smaller in stature, lynx tracks are the same size as a cougar, but are not as defined due to the fur around their paws.

7. Bobcat: Bobcats have smaller tracks (2”) that are often confused with coyote or fox. Look for a lack of nails and a round-shaped print to identify the bobcat track from its canine counterparts.

8. House Cat: The prints of a house cat are small (1 to 1.5”). Similar to the domestic dog, the house cat also tends to meander when walking and does not try to conserve energy.

Bobcat

Bobcat Trackway

This small wild feline, though not much bigger than a large house cat, can hold its own against many other animals. Bobcats have even been documented killing small deer. The secretive bobcat spends most of its time alone, except when males and females pair off during their mid-winter mating season.
Bobcats are diagonal walkers like deer and canines. This diagonal pattern is so precise that the rear feet land in the front footprints (like with foxes), giving the tracks the appearance of a two-legged walker rather than a four-legged animal. Bobcat tracks are about two inches in diameter and resemble a small dog's track, except for a small notch in front of the heel pad, dead center in the track. A bobcat's front feet are slightly larger than its rear feet. Bobcats are present through most of the lower 48 states, though rare in the Great Plains. Notice with Felines, the lack of claw marks, which are rarely seen except at times when the animal is running our pouncing in wet mud.

Mountain Lion

HOOF TRACKS (LARGE)

Ungulates have a split hoof with two toes that leave a distinct imprint. Ungulates can be divided into two main groups based upon the shape of their toes. One group has toes that curve forming a heart-shaped print, while the other have toes that are rounded and leave a round or even square-shaped print.

9. Moose: Moose are among the largest of the hooved animals and have two toes that curve together into a point forming almost a heart shape print. Moose are heavy and sink down deep into snow allowing the dew claws to sometimes appear in the track. Their tracks measure 5-7” long, about the size of your hand.

10. Deer: Deer, like moose, have two toes that curve sharply together forming almost a heart shape print. The prints are smaller in size than a moose measuring 2-3.5”.

11. Elk: Elk are similar to moose and deer, but their toes are rounder and not as sharply tapered at the tips. The prints measure 3-5”, placing them right in between the deer and moose. Dew claws sometimes appear in deep snow or when the elk is galloping.

12. Bison: Bison also have two toes in their hooves, but their toes are rounder and they print doesn’t taper to a point like the deer, moose and elk. Their print is wide and more round than heart-shaped. It measures 4.5 to 6”.

13. Cow: Cow prints are often confused with bison since they share the same round shape and relative size. The easiest way to tell them apart is to know your surroundings. Is there a farm nearby?

HOOF TRACKS (SMALL)

Mountain goats, bighorn sheep and wild hogs have the same two-toed hooves as their bigger ungulate cousins, but the shapes of their hooves reflect their lifestyle and habitat.

14. Mountain Goats: To help them climb, mountain goats have toes that spread when they step, creating a distinctive V shape at the top of their print.

15. Bighorn Sheep: Bighorn sheep have an elongated hooves that are easily confused with those from a deer. In general, the bighorn sheep prints have straighter edges and are less pointed than a deer. They are more blocky and less shaped like a heart.

17. Wild Hog: The wild boar track is often confused with the deer since they are about the same size. The shape is the discriminating feature. The boar has toes that are wider, rounder and blunter than the deer and don’t come to a point like the deer. Hogs also have a dew claw that rests slightly outside the print.

Feral Pigs vs Boars

Feral Hogs


Feral Hogs


Hog vs Deer Scat

Whitetail Deer

Deer

Moose

Deer

Elk

Deer

Whitetails are probably the most widely tracked animals in North America, thanks in no small part to their popularity as a game animal. And it doesn't hurt that they are easier to track than many other animals. The deer's body weight focuses on relatively small, sharp-edged hooves, which leave impressions in soil types that would hide other tracks. From bedding ovals in tall grass, to piles of pelletized scat, does leave plenty of sign other than tracks. Bucks leave even more sign, which can include scrapes and rubs.

Find a single, heart-shaped track, and you'll likely find many more tracks and even trails. Whitetails are diagonal walkers, but not as careful as cats and foxes. Look for smaller rear feet hitting near or on top of larger front-foot prints. Whitetail deer tracks average 2 to 3 inches in length. Deer are commonly found through the lower 48 states, southern Canada, and northern Mexico. When Deer or Elk step in extremely wet mud, their toes will spread, and their dewclaws will be in their tracks. Same with wild hogs.

Apes

Gorilla Trackway

Casts of Female Lowland Gorilla

Gorilla Print


Top Left to Right: Bear, Bobcat, Goose; 2nd Row L to R: Coyote, Deer, Elk; 3rd Row L to R: Moose, Porcupine, Rabbit

Check out our other articles on Identifying Skulls and Identifying Teeth found in the wilderness.

Southern SASquatch Expeditions
Author: Angela Ashton, Founder
#southernsasquatchexpeditions #bigfoot #sasquatch
https://www.facebook.com/southernsasquatchexpeditions/

Identifying Skulls

2019-03-14T16:47:00.002-05:00

Each skull has a story to tell. It can tell us what the animal ate, which senses it used to hunt or find food, and whether it was the predator or prey. Through scientific investigation, we can unravel the mysteries in a skull and learn more about the animal when it was alive. To read the story of the skull, you need to be able to identify and analyze the clues left behind. To understand the clues, you need to know the language of skulls.

Imagine you are walking through a National Forest and you find a skull. How can you tell what animal it was? First you need to know what animals live in that particular forest. This helps to narrow down the options.Can you name different animals that live in the Cherokee National Forest? What does each animal eat? Is it an herbivore, omnivore, or carnivore? Is the animal a predator or prey?

Skull identification can be determined by several methods. If you are unsure of a skull's identification, you can compare it with other known specimens. This, however, can be less than accurate and most will not have access to a large collection of known species. The most effective means of identifying a skull to species is with the use of a dichotomous key. A dichotomous key allows a person, through a series of questions, to identify an organism to species by process of elimination.

Below are images of typical carnivore (bobcat), omnivore (raccoon) and herbivore (beaver) skulls. Various parts of each skull have been labeled to aid in comparative anatomy.

Bobcat Skull

Raccoon Skull

A raccoon is classified as a carnivore; it is in the order Carnivora. But it is actually an omnivore. It eats both plants and animals.A raccoon’s cheek teeth are multicuspid and secodont. Secare-means “to cut.”Secodont dentition refers to the cutting edges on the tooth cusps.

Beaver Skull

A beaver is a large rodent, classified in the order Rodentia. A beaver has a large set of arc-shaped chisel-edged incisors. The beaver keeps its incisors sharp by using them. Its cheek teeth have wide flat surfaces with complex folds and ridges.

The Coyote, Wolf and Dog are classified as carnivores; it is in the order Carnivora. But it is actually an omnivore. It eats both plants and animals. It prefers to eat meat but will eat fruits, vegetables, and even garbage. It is an opportunistic eater; it will eat whatever it finds.

Black Bear

The black bear is classified as a carnivore; it is in the order Carnivora. But it is actually an omnivore. It eats both plants and animals


Black Bear

White-Tailed DeerThe deer is an herbivore. Male deer (bucks) have antlers. They shed the antlers each year after the mating season. They grow the antlers again the next year.Why do male deer have antlers?

Deer and other herbivores have a large gap between their lower incisors and cheek teeth. Why? The cheek teeth of a deer are selenodont with crescent-shaped cusps.Deer have an antorbital pit located just in front of each eye socket. This is a slight depression in the skull where the antorbital gland or preorbital gland is located. The antorbital gland produces secretions containing pheromones,like a scent gland. The gland becomes enlarged during rut.

The Language of Skulls

Size of Eye Sockets

Are the eye sockets large or small relative to the skull size?Large eye sockets are indicative of sharper eyesight and nocturnal behavior.

Placement of Eye Sockets

How are the eye sockets placed in the skull? Do the eye sockets face forward or face to the side? This helps us figure out if the animal is a predator or prey.

Predators have eye sockets that face forward. An animal with forward-facing eyes has “binocular vision.” This provides excellent depth perception for hunting and killing prey.

 Prey have eye sockets that face to the side. The side placement gives the animal a wider field of view to see predators coming from all directions.

Do humans have forward-facing or side-facing eye sockets? What about dogs? What about horses and cattle?

Size of Nasal Passages

How large are the nasal passages? Large nasal passages are indicative of a keen sense of smell.Inside the nasal passages, look for bony, web-like structures call nasal turbinates. These provide the framework for membranes that sense odor. Dogs have longer nasal passages and more complex nasal turbinates. This gives them a keen sense of smell.Cats have shorter nasal passages and less complex nasal turbinates. Cats rely on other senses for hunting.

Feline vs Canine

Teeth

Humans have 20 “baby teeth” and 32 adult teeth. Our baby teeth emerge early and are smaller because our jaws aren’t big enough for adult teeth. We shed our baby teeth and replace them with permanent teeth when our jaws grow big enough to accommodate them.Most of our permanent teeth gradually emerge when we are between six and thirteen years old. Our last permanent teeth, referred to as our wisdom teeth, usually emerge when we are 17 to 25 years old. We have four kinds of adult teeth: incisors, canines, premolars, and molars.

Incisors

Close your eyes and imagine I just handed you a big red apple. Now imagine biting into it. What teeth did you use? Your front teeth, which are your incisors. We have four incisors in our upper jaw and four incisors in our lower jaw. Our incisors are located in the front of our mouth and are used for grabbing or cutting.

Rodents have very large incisors. A rodent’s incisors are shaped like chisels and grow continuously throughout their lifetime. Why do you think a rodent has large incisors?

A deer doesn’t have any upper incisors but does have lower incisors. A deer’s front teeth and the shape of its mouth are like a scotch-tape dispenser! The deer uses its long tongue to grab onto a leaf and pull it into its mouth, then it uses its lower incisors to cut the leaf, just like rolling out and cutting a piece of scotch tape.

A rabbit has four upper incisors and two lower incisors. In a rabbit’s upper jaw, two of the incisors are large and shaped like chisels, and the other two incisors are much smaller, shaped like pegs, and located directly behind the larger incisors. Like the rodents, incisors of rabbits continue to grow throughout their lifetime. Why do you think rabbits and rodents grow their incisors throughout their lifetime? Carnivores have smaller incisors compared to rodents.

Objects used for size comparison

Canines

Close your eyes and imagine that I hand you a piece of beef jerky. Now imagine biting into it. Which teeth did you use? Your canines.

Our canines are located behind our incisors. We have four canines, two in our upper jaw and two in our lower jaw.

Canines are also referred to as fangs and are long, pointed teeth.

Carnivores have the largest and most prominent canine teeth. Vampire bats and tigers, for example, have large and prominent canines. Carnivores use their canine teeth to puncture or hold their prey.

Rodents, rabbits, and deer don’t have any canines. Instead, herbivores have a large space or gap between their incisors and back teeth. This large space between their teeth gives the animal plenty of room to manipulate and grind up vegetation in their mouth.

Primates

Gorilla

Gorillas are the largest primates in the world, and they have parts of their body that are very similar to those of humans. In addition to their size, they are endowed with many striking and exciting features.

The most evident characteristic is their large and powerful body, unlikely to be ignored. The height and weight vary depending on the species, but in every case males are larger than females, and “silverback” males have the larger size among all the individuals in their group.

Usually, adult males are 5'6"-5'9" high, but Silverbacks typically exceed 5'9". Members of the subspecies Western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) reach 5'6" high while females are only 4'9". Males weigh about 374lbs and females 157lbs approximately. Eastern lowland gorillas (Gorilla beringei grauieri) weigh a little more than the Western subspecies, and males can reach more than 441 lbs.

Adult females weigh around 150-250 lbs. and males, 300-400 lbs, an average of all subspecies. Moreover, the length between the tip of one arm and the other is between 2.3 and 2.6 meters. This size is much larger than its height!

Their body shape is robust. The belly area is bigger than the chest, and an elongated head up is due to a prominent sagittal crest. Above their eyes, there is a noticeable brow ridge, and they have small ears on both sides of their head. Around the nose, there are a few wrinkles unique to each gorilla, a fact used by scientists to quickly identify them in the wild.

Their arms are longer than the legs. When walking, they do it on their knuckles, resting their weight on the arms. Thumbs and toes are opposable therefore they can easily manipulate objects. Like humans, they have unique fingerprints and nails instead of claws.

Both skin and fur have dark color, sometimes black, brown or dark gray. The pelage of lowland gorillas is shorter than the other species, but all subspecies lack hair around the nose, lips, chest, ears, feet fingers and palms of hands. As mountain gorillas inhabit the coldest areas, they have thicker and longer fur than the other subspecies.

Internal Anatomy of Gorillas.

Their skeleton is adapted to hold the weight of their body. Their spine is straighter compared with that of humans, and the muscles of their arms, shoulders, neck and back allow them to have a strength up to 6 times higher.

The sagittal crest is large enough to hold the strong jaw muscles used by gorillas when chewing tough, fibrous vegetation. The skull is large compared to the size of their body, and they have a big and highly developed brain. The large belly is the result of a long digestive tract, essential to digest their fibrous food they consume.

Male gorillas grow in their backs silvery hair patterns, which works as an optical illusion because make them look longer than they are. Additionally, all gorillas have no tails.

Like humans, they have 32 teeth in their jaws. A single bone forms the lower jaw, which has specialized teeth for cutting, grinding, milling, and so on. In the case of adult males, protruding sharp canines of considerable length are developed.

Adult males have underarm glands that expel off a pungent odor when they feel stress or excitement.

Gorilla Skull vs Human

When comparing a gorilla skull to a humans it is easy to see that the gorilla has larger brow ridges, a projecting face and an overall more robust skull. As mentioned the gorilla has many sites for large muscle attachments with a particularly distinct sagittal crest. This is located on the top of the cranium and is where the muscles for mastication (chewing) attach. These are much larger than a humans due to the type of foot the gorilla consumes. Their diet is quite varied from fruits and leaves to ants and termites. However, due to the large amount of roughage that they eat large, flat teeth and a strong jaw is needed, hence the sagittal crest.

The position of the foramen magnum is also different compared to a humans. In a gorilla this is situated further back in the skull and is related to their posture when moving. Gorillas are knuckle walkers and therefore use all four limbs to move about which results in a different posture and postion compared to humans who walk on two legs.

One of the easiest ways to spot a primate skull is to examine the dentition. All primates have a similar dentition pattern although this differs between families. The apes, which include humans and gorillas, have a dental formula of 2.1.2.3 which translates as two incisors, one canine, two pre-molars and three molars on each side of the mouth. This is repeated in both the upper and lower jaw. Although we have the same dental formula there are obvious differences. As mentioned gorillas eat much harder food substances and therefore have larger molars. They also have larger incisors (see image) which assist with stripping and tearing fruit but also are used for display and threat purposes. Gorillas are a sexually dimorphic species (a notable size difference between males and females) and therefore males will use their teeth to display to attract females and to appear aggressive to frighten off other males.

Ape skeletons

Skulls

In comparison to human cranial anatomy, apes generally display a more projecting face, a larger brow ridge, a longer face, larger teeth in the front than in the back, larger jaws, and a posteriorly placed foramen magnum (the site on the skull where the spinal cord connects). A posteriorly placed foramen magnum is associated with quadrupedalism, while an anteriorly placed foramen magnum, like that in humans, is associated with bipedalism (allowing the head to sit atop the spine).

The gorilla has a distinct sagittal crest atop the cranium. This bony ridge at the top of the skull is a site for attachment of massive muscles for mastication. The gorilla, a large folivore who eats tough plants, requires such anatomy for its diet.

Postcranial

In comparison to human postcranial anatomy (skeletal anatomy that is below the skull), the ape pelvis is longer and narrower. A short, broad, bowl-shaped pelvis, like that of humans, is better adapted for bipedalism, as it better tolerates the pressure and shock of this locomotion pattern.

Characteristics

Apes tend towards large, barrel-shaped chests, which help balance the center of gravity for quadrupedalism. Also, apes have a relatively straight backbone. The human spine is curved into an S-shape instead of C-shaped (compare illustrations on page 35), making it comfortable and practical to stand upright for extended periods. The ape spine lacks this significant S-shaped curve, however, and thus continued bipedalism again causes high stress and impact.The ape foot is dexterous, allowing for flexible mobility. Compared to the double-arch of the human foot, the ape foot is flat, though both humans and apes walk plantigrade (heel to toe). The hallux (big toe) on each ape foot is opposable. The opposability of the hallux and thumb for apes is essential to their grasping abilities and fine motor skills.

Ape Dentition

All apes share the same dental formula. A dental formula reflects the number of the four teeth types (incisor, canine, premolar and molar) a species has. The dental formula is determined by dividing the entire mouth into equal quadrants, and recording the number of incisors, canines, premolars, and molars found in one of the quadrants of the upper jaw, and then in one of the quadrants of the lower jaw. Multiplying each of these formulas by 2 gives the total number of teeth in the mouth.For apes, including humans (with wisdom teeth), the dental formula is: 2.1.2.3 / 2.1.2.3 (=32 total teeth)The incisors in apes are generally large to support frugivorous diets, as incisors are needed for piercing and stripping fruit. The molars are essential to pulping fruit. In gorillas, the molars are particularly broad for grinding plant materials.Ape premolars have one cusp, making them useful for sharpening the canine tooth. Human premolars are bicuspid. The two cusps serve to make the human premolar more like a molar, because of the importance of the back teeth in humans (who, compared to apes, have larger back teeth than front teeth for mouth size).

Orangutan Canines vs. Human Canines

Cranial Capacity

Cranial capacity is a measure of the total volume of the interior of the cranium or brain case. Comparatively among species, a larger cranial capacity in relation to body size is generally associated with enhanced cognitive abilities and behavioral complexity.

Encephalization is the evolutionary trend toward increase in brain size beyond that which would be expected of body size. Apes are characteristically known for their large brains, enhanced cognition and behavioral complexity.

The use of cranial capacity as a measure of intelligence is fiercely debated among scientific circles. To contextualize the relevance of cranial capacity as a measure, brain weight is often divided by body mass, and the quotient is known as the brain:body mass ratio. A higher brain:body mass ratio is associated with higher cognitive abilities and behavioral complexity.

Classifying Teeth:

There are four primary teeth types, each with a different role. Within a species, these teeth types are uniquely shaped and sized to suit the species’ particular diet.

These teeth types include:

1. Incisors – the front teeth, used for seizing, stripping, biting and puncturing

2. Canines – located between incisors and premolars, bladelike with varying length and sharpness; used in gripping, stabbing, tearing; can also be used by males for aggressive display behaviors

3. Premolars – located between canines and molars; used for crushing and grinding, in some cases also used to sharpen canines

4. Molars – back teeth, broadest; used for crushing and grinding

Distinguishing Among Primate Dentition:

The different classifications of primates can differ in dentition formula, teeth shape and size, and jaw shape and size. Consider the following:

• The lower jaw of apes and humans has a rounded angle. The lower jaw of other primates generally has a sharper angle.

• Human premolars are called bicuspids because they have two cusps, or points. Ape premolars have only one cusp, which is useful for sharpening canines. Also, the front teeth of apes are generally larger than the back teeth, while in humans, the back teeth are generally larger than the front.

• Canines in apes are pronounced, while in humans they are blunt and reduced. These large canines are more associated with display behaviors (e.g. showing off the large canine teeth to intimidate others) than with diet.

• A dental comb is a special adaptation seen in many prosimians. The front teeth of the lower jaw point forward together to form the dental comb, which is used for grooming.

To calculate dental formula: Draw a vertical line down the front half of the teeth (in between the front incisors), then draw a horizontal line between the upper and lower jaw. This should divide the teeth into equal-sized quadrants. Note that each half of the jaw is symmetrical. The two halves of the upper jaw are identical to each other, and the two halves of the lower jaw are identical to each other. However, the upper and lower jaws may differ.

Teeth and Diet:

Primates are not specialized eaters, but do generally eat one type of food more often than another. Therefore, we can deduce information about a primate’s diet by examining the size and shape of the different teeth types. Consider these general observation....

Ok, sorry, I got a wee bit sidetracked on apes.

Now back to teeth in general....

Premolars and Molars

Close your eyes and imagine that I gave you an ice cube to chew on. Which teeth did you use to grind up the ice? Your premolars and molars, also referred to as your “cheek teeth.” Adults have 8 premolars and 12 molars. The premolars are located behind the incisors and canines. The molars are located behind the premolars. Children have 8 premolars and no molars.

You can usually tell the difference between a carnivore and an herbivore skull based on the shape of the cheek teeth.

Carnivores, such as dogs and cats,have cheek teeth that are sharp and pointed for cutting and tearing flesh. The pointed tips are like a pair of scissors or knives, helping the animal tear meat tissue apart.

Herbivores, such as deer and rodents,have wider and flatter cheek teeth. The surfaces of an herbivore’s cheek teeth are highly corrugated with distinct grooves and edges. The complex tooth surfaces help the animal grind and chew up plant material.An herbivore moves its lower jaw from side to side to chew its food.

Omnivores, such as raccoons,have cheek teeth with a combination of pointed tips and complex surfaces.Cheek teeth are a combination of sharp scissor-like teeth for slicing meat and teeth with flatter and wider surfaces for grinding and crushing plant material. An omnivore doesn’t have side to side lower jaw movement.

Dental Formulas

Each species of mammal has a unique dental formula.The animal’s jaw is divided into four parts: upper left, upper right, lower left, lower right. Then we count the number of teeth by type (incisors, canines, cheek teeth) in each of the four parts. We write the dental formula separately for the upper jaw and lower jaw. Each number in the dental formula indicates the number of teeth by type of tooth in each of the four parts of the animal’s jaw.

Humans have 32 teeth. We have 8 incisors, 4 canines, and 20 cheek teeth. In each of the four parts of our jaw we have 2 incisors, 1 canine, and 5 cheek teeth.

Therefore, Our dental formula is:

Upper jaw 2 1 5

Lower jaw 2 1 5

A deer has 32 teeth: 6 lower incisors, 2 lower canines, and 24 cheek teeth.

Upper jaw 0 0 6

Lower jaw 3 1 6

A raccoon has 40 teeth: 12 incisors, 4 canines, and 24 cheek teeth.

Upper jaw 3 1 6

Lower jaw 3 1 6

A beaver has 20 teeth: 4 incisors, 0 canines, and 16 cheek teeth.

Upper jaw 1 0 4

Lower jaw 1 0 4

A coyote has 42 teeth: 12 incisors, 4 canines, and 26 cheek teeth

Upper jaw 3 1 6

Lower jaw 3 1 7

A woodchuck has 22 teeth: 4 incisors, 0 canines, and 18 cheek teeth

Upper jaw 1 0 5

Lower jaw 1 0 4

A muskrat has 16 teeth: 4 incisors, 0 canines, and 12 cheek teeth

Upper jaw 1 0 3

Lower jaw 1 0 3

A rabbit has 26 to 28 teeth: 6 incisors, 0 canines, and 20 or 22 cheek teeth

Upper jaw 2 0 5-6

Lower jaw 1 0 5

A black bear has 40 to 42 teeth: 10 or 12 incisors, 4 canines, and 26 cheek teeth. Its premolars may be small or absent.

Upper jaw 2-3 1 6

Lower jaw 3 1 7

Dental Formula FOR Mammal Skulls
of North America

How to use this chart

This chart is useful for identifying skulls when there are still teeth present.

Count the number of teeth of each type in the upper (U) and lower (L) jaw. Each row in the chart shows the number of each type of teeth in the Upper (U) and Lower (L) jaw, and on the right and left side. The numbers are of the form "5-5" (for example). This means that there are 5 teeth on the left side, and 5 teeth on the right side.'

For example, the Opossum has 5 incisors on the left upper jaw, 5 incisors on the right upper jaw, 4 incisors on the left lower jaw, and 4 incisors on the right lower jaw.

If you can't tell the different types of teeth apart, start by getting the total number of teeth in both upper and lower jaws. Then use the "Total" column as a starting point. From there you may be able to narrow it down by the size of the skull (a raccoon skull will be smaller than a bear skull, for example), or by other characteristics.

The chart is arranged in order by the total number of teeth, from the most down to the least number.

Incisors are the teeth closest to the front of the skull, Molars are the farthest to the rear.

Sometimes there are multiple species listed in the Latin Names and Common Names columns. This means that all of the species listed have that particular dental formula.

Sometimes a species will have a varying number of teeth. This is indicated, for example, as follows:
Rangifer (32/34) (which means that they will have either 32 or 34 teeth in total), or Dasypus (28-32) which means that they will have between 28 and 32 teeth in total.

	Incisors	Canines	Premolars	Molars	Total U Total L	Total	Latin Names	Common Names
U L	5-5 4-4	1-1 1-1	3-3 3-3	4-4 4-4	26 24	50	Didelphis	Opossum
U L	3-3 3-3	1-1 1-1	4-4 4-4	3-3 3-3	22 22	44	Condylura Parascalops Scapanus Sus	Starnose Mole Hairytail Mole Townsend, Pacific, California Mole Wild Boar
U L	3-3 3-3	1-1 1-1	4-4 4-4	2-2 3-3	20 22	42	Alopex Canis Thalarctos Urocyon Ursus Vulpes	Arctic Fox Coyote, Grey Wolf, Red Wolf Polar Bear Grey Fox Black, Grizzly, Big Brown Bear Red, Swift, Kit Fox
U L	3-3 3-3	1-1 1-1	4-4 4-4	2-2 2-2	20 20	40	Bassariscus Nasua Procyon	Ringtail Coati Racoon
U L	2-2 3-3	1-1 1-1	3-3 3-3	3-3 3-3	18 20	38	Myotis Pecari	Myotis group of Bats Peccary
U L	3-3 3-3	1-1 1-1	4-4 4-4	1-1 2-2	18 20	38	Gulo Martes	Wolverine Marten, Fisher
U L	3-3 2-2	1-1 0-0	3-3 3-3	3-3 3-3	20 16	36	Scalopus	Eastern Mole
U L	2-2 1-1	1-1 1-1	3-3 4-4	3-3 3-3	18 18	36	Neurotrichus	Shrew-Mole
U L	2-2 3-3	1-1 1-1	2-2 3-3	3-3 3-3	16 20	36	Lasionycteris Plecotus	Silver-haired Bat W. & E. Big-eared Bat
U L	3-3 3-3	1-1 1-1	4-4 3-3	1-1 2-2	18 18	36	Lutra	River Otter
U L	2-2 2-2	1-1 1-1	2-2 3-3	3-3 3-3	16 18	34	Macrotus Mormoops	Leafnose Bat Leafchin Bat
U L	2-2 3-3	1-1 1-1	2-2 2-2	3-3 3-3	16 18	34	Euderma Pipistrellus	Spotted Bat W. & E. Pipistrel
U L	3-3 3-3	1-1 1-1	3-3 3-3	1-1 2-2	16 18	34	Mephitis Mustela Spilogale Taxidea	Striped Skunk Shorttail, Least, Longtail Weasels Black-footed Ferret, Mink Spotted Skunk Badger
U L	0-0 3-3	1-1 1-1	3-3 3-3	3-3 3-3	14 20	34	Cervus Rangifer (32/34)	Elk Woodland, Barren Ground Caribou
U L	3-3 1-1	1-1 1-1	3-3 1-1	3-3 3-3	20 12	32	Blarina Microsorex Sorex	Shorttail Shrew Pigmy Shrew Various Shrews
U L	2-2 3-3	1-1 1-1	1-1 2-2	3-3 3-3	14 18	32	Eptesicus	Big Brown Bat
U L	1-1 3-3	1-1 1-1	2-2 2-2	3-3 3-3	14 18	32	Lasiurus borealis Lasiurus cinereus Lasiurus seminolus Tadarida brasiliensis	Red Bat Hoary Bat Seminole Bat Mexican Freetail Bat
U L	3-3 2-2	1-1 1-1	3-3 3-3	1-1 2-2	16 16	32	Enhydra	Sea Otter
U L	3-3 3-3	1-1 1-1	2-2 3-3	1-1 2-2	14 18	32	Conepatus	Hognose Skunk
U L	0-0 3-3	0-0 1-1	3-3 3-3	3-3 3-3	12 20	32	Alces Antilocapra Bison Odocoileus Oreamnos Ovibos Ovis Rangifer (32/34)	Moose Pronghorn Bison Mule, Whitetail Deer Mountain Goat Muskox Bighorn, White Sheep Woodland, Barren Ground Caribou
U L	0-0 0-0	0-0 0-0	8-8 8-8		16 16	32	Dasypus (28-32)	Armadillo (28-32 teeth)
U L	3-3 1-1	1-1 1-1	2-2 1-1	3-3 3-3	18 12	30	Cryptotis	Least Shrew
U L	2-2 0-0	1-1 1-1	2-2 3-3	3-3 3-3	16 14	30	Choeronycteris	Hognose Bat
U L	2-2 2-2	1-1 1-1	2-2 3-3	2-2 2-2	14 16	30	Leptonycteris	Longnose Bat
U L	1-1 3-3	1-1 1-1	1-1 2-2	3-3 3-3	12 18	30	Lasiurus ega Lasiurus intermedius Nycticeius	Western Yellow Bat Eastern Yellow Bat Evening Bat
U L	1-1 2-2	1-1 1-1	2-2 2-2	3-3 3-3	14 16	30	Eumops Tadarida femorosacca Tadarida molossa	Mastiff Bats Pocketed Freetail Bat Big Freetail Bat
U L	3-3 3-3	1-1 1-1	3-3 2-2	1-1 1-1	16 14	30	Felis	Jaguar, Mountain Lion, Ocelot
U L	3-3 1-1	1-1 1-1	1-1 1-1	3-3 3-3	16 12	28	Notiosorex	Grey Shrew
U L	1-1 2-2	1-1 1-1	1-1 2-2	3-3 3-3	12 16	28	Antrozous	Pallid Bat
U L	3-3 3-3	1-1 1-1	2-2 2-2	1-1 1-1	14 14	28	Lynx	Lynx Bobcat
U L	2-2 1-1	0-0 0-0	3-3 2-2	3-3 3-3	16 12	28	Lepus Sylvilagus	Hares & Jackrabbits Rabbits
U L	0-0 0-0	0-0 0-0	7-7 7-7		14 14	28	Dasypus (28-32)	Armadillo (28-32 teeth)
U L	2-2 1-1	0-0 0-0	3-3 2-2	2-2 3-3	14 12	26	Ochotona	Pikas
U L	1-1 1-1	0-0 0-0	2-2 1-1	3-3 3-3	12 10	22	Ammospermophilus Aplodontia Citellus Cynomys Eutamias Glaucomys Marmota Sciurus aberti Sciurus carolinensis Sciurus griseus Tamiasciurus	Antelope Squirrels Mountain Beaver Rock, Ground, Golden-mantled Squirrels Prairie Dogs Chipmunks except Eastern Flying Squirrels Woodchuck, Marmots Tassel-Eared Squirrel Eastern Grey Squirrel Western Grey Squirrel Red Squirrel (usually 20 teeth)
U L	1-1 1-1	0-0 0-0	1-1 1-1	3-3 3-3	10 10	20	Castor Cratogeomys Dipodomys Erethizon Geomys Liomys Microdipodops Myocastor Perognathus Sciurus apache Sciurus arizonensis Sciurus niger Tamias Tamiasciurus Thomomys	Beaver Mexican Pocket Gopher Kangaroo Rats Porcupine Pocket Gophers (except Mexican) Mexican Pocket Mouse Dark, Pale Kangaroo Mouse Nutria Pocket Mice (except Mexican) Apache Fox Squirrel Arizona Grey Squirrel Eastern Fox Squirrel Eastern Chipmunk Red Squirrel (also 22), Chickaree Pocket Gophers
U L	1-1 1-1	0-0 0-0	1-1 0-0	3-3 3-3	10 8	18	Zapus	Jumping Mice (except Woodland)
U L	1-1 1-1	0-0 0-0	0-0 0-0	3-3 3-3	8 8	16	Baiomys Clethrionomys Dicrostonyx Lagurus Lemmus Microtus Mus Napaeozapus Neofiber Neotama Ondatra Onychomys Oryzomys Peromyscus Phenacomys Pitymys Rattus Reithrodontomys Sigmodon Synaptomys	Pygmy Mouse Redback Voles Collared Lemmings Sagebrush Vole Brown Lemming Voles (except Pine & Sagebrush) House Mouse Woodland Jumping Mouse Florida Water Rat Woodrats Muskrat Grasshopper Mice Rice Rat Mice: Cactus, Merriam, California, Canyon, Deer, Sitka, Oldfield, White-footed, Cotton, Brush, White-ankled, Pinon, Rock, Florida, Golden Phenacomys Pine Vole Norway, Black Rats Harvest Mice Cotton Rats Bog Lemmings

TRY DENTAL FORMULAS YOURSELF

Try your hand at the dentition of this red fox skull. I'm going to try to stump you here, because this was a relatively young animal when it perished. Look at the lower jaw, you can see that one side has erupted teeth, and one side does not, just behind the canine. Assume that if it had lived, it would have had a complete set of erupted teeth.

First, is it a carnivore, herbivore, or omnivore?

I __/___ C __/___ P __/___ M___/___= ______ x2= _____ total teeth

Here's the answer if you're not sure: I 3/3, C1/1, PM 4/4, M 2/3 = 21 x 2 = 42.

INCOMPLETE SKULLS

Often times you'll find skulls that are missing their lower jaws, teeth have fallen out, or various and sundry things have happened to the skull, so the teeth are hard to count or may be missing. Here are a few examples. See if you can guess the dentition.

Ok, this opossum skull is rough. It has both upper and lower jaw, but many teeth are missing and the jaw image is from only one direction. Try the dentition yourself first, then scroll to the bottom of the "jaw" image to see if you're correct.

American opossum skull upper mandible (the North American mammal with the most teeth by the way!)

American Opossum Dentition: I 5/4 C 1/1 P 3/3 M 4/4 = 25 x 2 = 50

Here's a really challenging skull. It's a rabbit, specifically a jackrabbit, not a rodent. Notice, some of the back molars are just erupting, and we only have the top mandible.

Because this is a rabbit, it has an additional set of teeth behind its long front teeth (unique to hares and rabbits, not found in rodents), so the count is: I 2 C 0 P 3 M 3= 8 total or 16 in the top jaw alone.

To further simplify your task, below is a color chart to help you identify the type of teeth you are examining.

Incisors (dark blue) are at the front of the mouth and are usually for scraping or biting, so they are scoop shaped and smaller. Canines (green) are usually for ripping or tearing meat, so they are long and pointed. Premolars (pink), are behind the canines, and can be flat for grinding, like in the mouth of beavers, or they can be sharp and serrated like in dogs and canines, for tearing meat. Molars (turquoise) also vary, depending on their use. Often they are for grinding food, like in humans, but in meat eating creatures they too may be serrated and have sharp edges for ripping and tearing meat.

The number, shape, and size of teeth can help you determine what type of animal skull you've found. Knowing where molars and premolars begin and end can be tricky. There's no hard and fast rule for telling them apart, and often they can look very similar. The other types of teeth are much easier. You'll have to practice skull identification, and looking at different types of teeth to get comfortable. For now, if it helps, focus mostly on the incisors, canines and molars (farthest back two pairs of teeth) if you're not sure.

The last tidbit you should know, is about bilateral symmetry. All mammals, like you and me, have bodies with mirror halves. The right side of our skeleton, and our external body, matches the left. This means, that when you study the teeth of a mammal you only need to study one side of the mouth, or count teeth on one side of the skull. The other half of the jaw is exactly the same (for dental formulas you then multiply by two). For example, in the image above, there are three incisors, one canine, four premolars, and two molars on one side. You would double that for a full tooth count.

Just remember that animal skulls will not always have the same number of teeth in their upper and lower jaws. This is because each jaw may have a different function. In deer (and sheep, horses, etc.), the upper jaw has no incisors, but the lower jaw has a full set of incisors. This is because they use their lower jaw to "scoop" grass and leaves, and then the vegetation is passed to the back molars for grinding (this scooping action is what animal trackers look at to know the difference between the shearing cuts of rabbit teeth and the ragged scoop of deer teeth on vegetation).

See our other article on Teeth.

Southern SASquatch Expeditions
Author: Angela Ashton, Founder
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Identifying Teeth Found in Forests

2019-03-14T13:32:00.000-05:00

The teeth of living marsupials and placentals are believed to have evolved from tribosphenic teeth:

upper tribosphenic molar


lower tribosphenic molar

In the tribosphenic teeth of the upper jaw, the three main cusps are the protocone, paracone, and metacone. A shelf called a cingulum runs around the lingual side of the protocone. A small shelf named the stylar shelf runs along the (lip) side of the tooth. On it are located several smaller cusps (the and others). These outer cusps may be connected to each other, the paracone and the metacone by a ridge called an ectoloph. In lower tribosphenic teeth, we recognize a trigonid formed by three main cusps, the paraconid, protoconid, and metaconid. Posterior to it is the talonid basin. The talonid basin also has three cusps, the hypoconid, hypoconulid and entoconid. These terms and structures are described in more detail in the section on The Basic Structure of Cheek Teeth.

This pattern is believed to be primitive for mammals, and we can still see the vestiges of it in the teeth of many species. In this section, we will go over some of the ways in which tribosphenic teeth have been modified. Keep an eye on how the main cusps are changed as mammals adapt to different feeding styles and food consistencies.

A zalambdodont upper molar is characterized by a V-shaped crest (an ectoloph). The largest cusp is at the apex of the V (on the lingual or tongue side of the tooth). This cusp is believed to be homologous with the paracone of a tribosphenic tooth (although in a zalambdodont tooth the paracone is sometimes probably fused with the metacone). The crests that make up the ectoloph run to smaller cusps located on an expanded shelf on the labial side of the tooth, which is called the stylar shelf. The protocone is typically missing. Zalambdodont teeth are found, for example, in golden moles (Chrysochloridae) and solenodons (Solenodontidae).

A dilambdodont upper molar is also characterized by a well-developed ectoloph, but in this case the ectoloph is W-shaped. At the bottom of the W are the metacone and paracone. Crests run from these cones to cusps on the stylar shelf to form the rest of the W. A protocone sits apart, not part of the ectoloph and lingual to it. Examples of mammals with dilambdodont teeth include shrews (Soricidae), moles (Talpidae), and many insectivorous bats (e.g., Vespertilionidae).

Zalambdodont

Dilambdodont

A change that occurred early in mammalian history is the addition of a fourth main cusp, the hypocone, to the upper molar. The hypocone is located on the lingual side of the tooth, posterior to the protocone. Its addition results in a more-or-less square surface. Upper teeth with four main cusps, protocone, paracone, metacone, and hypocone, are termed quadrate, quadritubercular, or euthemorphic. These teeth are found in many kinds of mammals. Especially good examples can be seen in hedgehogs (Erinaceidae), raccoons (Procyonidae), and many monkeys (e.g., Hominidae, Cercopithecidae, Cebidae).

Quadrate (=euthemorphic) teeth of a hedgehog

nother common change is the addition of small cusps () between the larger ones. Examples include a (between paracone and metacone) and the already-mentioned hypoconulid (between hypoconid and entoconid). These teeth belong to a red panda (Ailurus fulgens, Ursidae)

Mammals that feed on abrasive substances are subject to rapid wear on their teeth. Many of these species have especially high-crowned teeth, that is, teeth that extend unusually far above the gumline, providing lots of extra material for wear. These teeth are called hypsodont. The teeth of cows and horses are hypsodont. The opposite condition, low-crowned teeth, is termed brachydont. Human teeth are brachydont. In some species, hypsodont teeth continue to grow throughout an animal's life (e.g., many species of the rodent subfamily Arvicolinae, family Muridae).

Herbivores must efficiently and thoroughly grind their food, which is many cases is hard and abrasive. The addition of hard enamel ridges to the teeth improves their grinding action. These teeth are often either lophodont or selenodont. Lophodont teeth have elongated ridges called lophs that run between cusps. Lophs may be oriented antero-posteriorally, or they run between labial and lingual parts of the tooth. The molars and premolars of tapir (Tapiridae), manatees (Trichechidae), and many rodents are lophodont. Extreme lophodonty is seen is modern elephants (Elephantidae) and some rodents (Hydrochoerus, fam. Hydrochaeridae; Otomys, fam. Muridae). In these forms, the teeth look like an old-fashioned washboard, a condition referred to as loxodont.

In the simplest cases, such as the tapir (above), it is still easy to identify protocone, paracone, metacone, and hypocone. In more extreme cases this is no longer possible.

A common lophodont pattern in primates is for the surface of the tooth to be made up of two main transverse lophs, a condition called bilophodont or biscuspid (e.g., Cercopithecidae). In the baboon, below, the lophs run between protocone and paracone and between hypocone and metacone.

Another means of increasing the number and size of enamel cutting surfaces is to elongate the primary cusps in an anterior-posterior direction. The resulting teeth are called selenodont. The cheek teeth of deer (Cervidae) and cattle (Bovidae) are selenodont.

Many mammals, including humans, pigs, bears, and raccoons, have roughly quadrate (euthemorphic upper) cheek teeth with low, rounded cusps. The lower teeth are also quadrate, usually as a result of the loss of the paraconid (so that the four major cusps are the protoconid, metaconid, entoconid, and hypoconid). These upper and lower cheek teeth are termed bunodont. Species with bunodont teeth often have broad diets consisting of many different kinds of foods with different consistencies. In addition to hominids (Hominidae), bear (Ursidae), raccoons (Procyonidae), pigs (Suidae), and many other kinds of mammals have bunodont teeth.

The fourth upper premolar and first lower molar in the jaws of many (but not all!) modern Carnivora are enlarged and bladelike. Termed carnassial teeth, they are used for slicing and chopping. When a dog or cat brings the side of its head up against a bone on which it is gnawing, it is probably using its carnassials.

A general term for bladelike teeth is secodont or plagiaulacoid. Such teeth are also found in some herbivores. The next image shows the plagiaulacoid of a macropodid marsupial (Macropodidae) (and as well, a series of bilophodont molars).

See our latest article on Identifying Skulls here.

Southern SASquatch Expeditions
Author: Angela Ashton, Founder
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Special thanks to the museum of zoology for the information.

Hairy Wild People in History (Hypertrichosis)

2019-03-01T17:36:00.000-06:00

Following her death in 1860, this woman was sadly stuffed & displayed as when she was alive. Born with hypertrichosis (werewolf syndrome), her features were gorilla-like; her nose & ears especially large, face covered with hair, & a double pair of teeth. There have been numerous cases of this disease throughout history. Hypertrichosis, also known as werewolf syndrome, is a condition characterized by excessive hair growth anywhere on a person's body. It can affect both women and men, but it's extremely rare. The abnormal hair growth may cover the face and entire body or occur in small patches. The cause of hypertrichosis is unknown. Congenital hypertrichosis is believed to be a genetic disorder that is inherited or occurs as a result of spontaneous mutation.

Also in history, at least five members of the family of Petrus Gonzales, who lived at the French court and then at various Italian courts in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, were afflicted with a genetic abnormality that causes the body to be covered with hair. Physicians and scientists studied the hairy Gonzales

children and their hairy father, and artists painted their portraits. Building on a book on the Gonzales sisters, The Marvelous Hairy Girls : The Gonzales Sisters and their Worlds, this paper examines the ways in which people living at the time understood and contextualized the male and female members of the Gonzales family. To most people, they evoked animals or animal hybrids, or else the wild folk that lived in Europe’s wilderness areas or across the sea. To a very few, they were simply humans with unwanted hair.

People with this disease were not accepted in society, and called monsters...some people stricken with this disease took to the woods to live (just something to think about when you are out there firing guns at bipedal hairy creatures in the forest). They were referred to as "wild men of the woods" by the townspeople. According to many stories from all over Europe, wild people slept in caves or hollows in trees, ate food they had gathered or animals they had hunted, devouring this raw. Sometimes these wild folk had begun life as normal people, but had left civilization, growing progressively hairier the longer they were away. Most wild men were thought to be violent and fearsome, attacking travelers with clubs or uprooted trees, snatching children, and howling with rage. Not all wild folk were dangerous, however; and some were revered as saints.

Both terrifying and saintly, wild folk were described in stories told to children, epics and romances recited at court and read by the fireside, and books of saints’ lives. They were shown in sculpture, paintings, stained glass, tapestries, and on dishes, chests, drain downspouts, and playing cards. They were in the margins of books, on choir stalls in churches, and on cathedral doors. Everywhere people looked, they saw hairy wild people. Images of wild men became even more common in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when Europeans were coming into contact with people they regarded as “wild” in Africa and the Americas.

The issue for women is more complicated, however. There were, of course, stories of saintly wild women : Everyone knew about Mary Magdalene, whose life story became more elaborate over the centuries. According to the standard story, Mary and some companions, set adrift by heartless non-believers in a boat without a rudder, landed in southern France. She preached to the local people, winning many converts, and then lived alone in a cave, doing penance for her formerly sinful life. Mary’s body became covered with hair, sometimes shown as beautiful flowing strands and sometimes as rough fur. She became a model for legends of other saintly women whose hair helped protect their honor, making them unattractive to any would-be attacker.

There were other tales of wild hairy women in Europe besides those about saints. In the medieval German epic Wolfdietrich, the hero—who had earlier been saved by a pack of wolves from being killed at the order of his father—encounters Raue Else, a wild woman who runs on all fours toward his fire. She “had a body covered with a thick hairy pelt, slimy and wet like the bride of the devil” and demands that Wolfdietrich love her. He refuses, she turns him into a wild man, he promises to marry her if she will become a Christian, she does, and she then turns back into her former self, a smooth-skinned princess.

Like those of wild men, depictions of wild women became more positive during the sixteenth century, even those who did not magically turn into princesses. On stained glass windows and drinking cups, wild women held up shields with coats-of-arms, often nursing a baby at the same time. Their hair did not interfere with their motherly nurturing as they offered protection and strength to the noble family whose shield they displayed.

In the European imaginary, hairy wild folk could be found not only in nearby forests and hills, but also across the sea. Pliny’s Natural History, copied and recopied throughout the Middle Ages and then published in many editions, described monstrous races in distant parts of the world, including, “the Choromandae, a forest tribe that has no speech but a horrible scream, hairy bodies, keen grey eyes, and the teeth of a dog... [and] the Astomi tribe, that has no mouth and a body hairy all over ; they dress in cottonwool and live only on the air they breathe and the scent they inhale through their nostrils.”

John Mandeville’s Travels, a book purporting to be by an English knight who had traveled in the East, told of “people who walk on their hands and their feet like four-footed beasts : they are hairy and climb up trees as readily as apes.” Further on his voyage was “another isle, where the people are covered in feathers and rough hair, except for the face and the palm of the hand.”

Comparisons with animals or with wild folk were the most common means through which people understood the Gonzales family, but one of the two scientists who examined some of the children put them in a very different framework. On their way from Paris to the Parma courts in Italy, several members of the Gonzales family stopped in Basel. Here Felix Platter was the city physician, and a professor at the renowned university medical school. Among the many medical examinations contained in Observations, his three-volume book of cases, was the following, worth quoting at length.

Some hairy and exceedingly hirsute men....

It is commonly believed that there are men among the savages with hairy skin on their whole body surface, except for the tip of the nose, the front part of the knees, buttocks, palms, and soles of the feet, as they are usually described. But we can understand that this is false, based on the following.

Cosmographers, who described the whole world, never mention these men, although they never forget the fiercest of peoples, like Amazons, Cannibals, Americans, and others, who walk naked yet are not hairy and shave their naturally growing hair. This, instead, is true : There are humans of both sexes, especially males, whose legs, arms, chest and face are shaggy, with long hair.

In Paris there was one of those men, exceptionally hairy in his whole body, very dear to King Henry II and attending his court, with his whole body covered in long hair, and his face all covered as well, except for a small part under the eyes, with eyebrows and hair on the forehead so long that he had to pull it up to be able to see.

After marrying a hairless woman, similar to other women, he had by her some children, hairy as well, who were sent to the Duke of Parma in Flanders. Mandeville writes, "I saw them, with their mother, a nine-year-old boy and a seven-year-old girl, in Basel in 1583, while they were in the process of being sent to Italy, and I made sure to have them portrayed. They were hairy in the face, especially the boy, a little less the girl, whose dorsal region along the vertebra of her spine was exceedingly hairy"

Gummy substances with which to yank out unwanted hair are still with us today (hot wax), of course, and it is tempting to read Platter’s empirical approach and inclusive language as somehow “modern,” while judging the words of those who viewed the Gonzaleses as akin to unreasonable animals or violent wild folk as “premodern.” It is Aldrovandi, however, who is generally viewed as the modern scientist, and his collection forms the core of the natural history museum in Bologna. John Bulwer, who described all bearded women as “monstrous,” was a supporter of the new scientific methodology of Bacon and one of the first to suggest that deaf people could be educated. Most of those who commented on the family

had been trained as humanists or natural scientists, that is, in new styles of learning. Recent interest in the Gonzales family—they or their portraits have been examined in scholarly articles in art history, medical history, anthropology, the history of freaks and marvels, folk-lore, the history of science, genetics, and ethnography—has also emerged among those trained in the newest theories : feminist theory, post-colonial theory, queer theory, disability theory, and yes, even monster theory. We may pride ourselves on having gone beyond those who viewed them as animals or monsters, yet just like people who lived in their own times, we are drawn to the Gonzales family because of the same reason. It’s the hair.

Southern SASquatch Expeditions
Author: Angela Ashton, Founder
#southernsasquatchexpeditions #bigfoot #sasquatch
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Animal Communications, Infrasound & Ultrasound

2018-01-14T16:09:00.003-06:00

Nature has been playing symphonies since long before man discovered ‘music’. They resonate through landscapes and urban cities all around the world to remind us that we aren’t alone. I have been doing extensive research into sound, it's uses in the animal kingdom, and it's effects in extreme ranges on humans. If you are not so much into the science of things, I apologize in advance for the lengthy amount of scientific references and findings in my article.

The variety of sounds, from the rustle of the leaves to the call of the Langurs, produced in different ways, convey their own unique meanings. This has been studied for hundreds of years in order to understand how similar animal communication is to that of us humans. Sound is converted to an electrical signal when it enters the ear. This signal travels up the auditory nerve to the part of the brain that processes sound, the auditory cortex. From there, the signals travel throughout the brain, creating a variety of responses. The effects of sound in the brain include evoking emotions, triggering the release of stress chemicals and impacting the development of new neural pathways in the brain.

Click Here for Leopard Monkey Alert Sounds! - BBC Video
Amazing footage of how different types of monkey have distinct calls to warn their troop members of an invading big cat predator. Amusing footage of how David Attenborough reveals their hidden behaviors with a special stuffed toy. From BBC's Life of Mammals.

Music impacts the part of the brain that controls the link between sound, memories and emotion, the

medial prefrontal cortex, says the National Institutes of Health. Listening to music can soothe the emotions. A study published in the December 2009 journal Pediatrics found that premature babies demonstrated an increased rate of weight gain when they were exposed to music by Mozart. The music soothed the babies, reducing their resting energy expenditure. Researchers speculate that the weight gain seen in premature babies who are exposed to Mozart results from this lower energy expenditure. In May 2006, the Journal of Advanced Nursing reported that people who listen to music experience less pain and lower levels of depression and disability related to pain than those who don't listen to music. This indicates that music can effect the brain by lifting the mood and alleviating the perception of pain.

Loud noises evoke an instinctive fight or flight reaction in the brain, according to The Franklin Institute. The fight or flight reaction is a release of chemicals that stimulates immediate action. This reaction has been crucial to ensure human survival in the wilderness, and remains important in the modern world. If you hear a loud honk from a car horn, your brain and body respond quickly to move you out of harm’s way. Once danger has passed, the brain releases tranquilizing chemicals that counteract the stimulating chemicals.

Exposure to too many loud noises can overload your brain with stimulating chemicals. Without the balancing effect of the brain’s tranquilizing chemicals, the stimulating chemicals can damage brain cells. The world is full of noise, from the thumping bass in a teenager’s car to the roar of jet engines and the perpetual sound of televisions and chatter. Solutions include wearing noise-deadening headphones when they can be safely used, using sound-proofing materials in your home, and making choices to turn down controllable noise sources such as the television or stereo.

Among the more consistent findings in humans were changes in blood pressure, respiratory rate, and balance. These effects occurred after exposures to infrasound at levels generally above 110 dB. Physical damage to the ear or some loss of hearing has been found in humans and/or animals at levels above 140 dB. Similar results were found in studies relating to excessive ultrasound dB.

Many creatures tend to fall prey to those at higher trophic levels. In order to survive, many organisms

have their own unique way of communicating, in order to protect themselves from predators. What are these ways of communicating? How do organisms convey ideas using these different methods and sounds? Much of this communication involves infrasound. An ongoing debate about the elusive Bigfoot creature revolves around the issue of infrasound. After reading this article though, if you are a researcher who leans toward this infrasound theory, you may be asking yourself, "is it infrasound, or could it be ultrasound, as with the primate distant cousins mentioned in the article below?"

First I would like to talk a little bit about sound, and animal communications. Sound is a vibration that is transmitted in a medium (e.g. air), that can be heard by a human ear. If you were an ant or a bird, the meaning of sound would be different. Sound specifically refers to what the human ear can hear. All vibrations, including sound, have a frequency. Frequency is a measure of how often something “vibrates “ per second. The unit of frequency is Hertz, the official symbol being Hz, and can be thought of as “vibrations per second “ (in layman's terms). The human ear can hear between frequencies of about 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. So “sound is vibrations in this frequency range.

The extent of biodiversity in our world means that organisms are able to use a large number of different techniques to communicate with one another. Although my topic focuses on auditory communication, organisms effectively use all their other senses to interact with other animals as well:

Visual
Olfactory
Electrocommunication – fish create an electric field, that if disturbed, convey information
Touch
Seismic – vibrations created by the organism itself are used as signals
Thermal
Autocommunication – the signal is sent by an organism and received back by the same organism after the environment has modified it.

Auditory communication is further classified based on the methods of sound production and the type of sounds produced. When looking at classification based on the method of sound production, we must understand that any movement that causes molecules in the air to vibrate about or causes pressure waves will produce sound. In order to carry out these actions, many organisms have adapted body features. These include:

A Vibrating Membrane that is attached to a muscle. This membrane is like a drum. It is often found in insects and is used to producing mating calls.
A Stridulatory Organ that consists of a ‘scraper’ and a rough surface, present on two different parts of the body. When these are rubbed together they produce a ‘chirp,’ which is higher pitched based on the speed at which the two surfaces are rubbed together. This, again, is found in insects.
A vibrating membrane present in the Larynx of amphibians and mammals, and the Syrinx of birds. The vibration is caused by air pushed up along it by the lungs. The pitch can be changed based on how fast the vibrations are. These vibrations are controlled by muscles, which contract and relax to control the membrane.
A surface, which is struck to produce sounds. This technique is used by a large number of creatures. For example, beavers use their tails to hit the surface of water to create a warning or alarm signal. This is an efficient method of communication, as sound travels very quickly in water.

Why do organisms need to use so many different methods of communication? What would happen if all of organisms of just one species used only a single method to communicate?

One theory could be that animals may not be able to convey all their ideas using just one method of communication. They may require more complex techniques to share more complex messages. Further, I believe that if all organisms used the same technique to exchange information, then the ‘soundscape’ of the organisms, may get ‘saturated’ with sound. The soundscape may get so full of the same sound that messages may be interrupted and organisms may not be able to communicate efficiently. So, by having diversity in the methods of communication, the environment is less full of the same sound, and organisms are able to interact properly.

Another question to consider is what originally influenced the development of these methods of communication. Was it the physiology of the animal, or was it the features of the environment itself? For example, the beaver uses its tail to strike the water and create sound. Did this technique develop because the beaver’s tail was able to create the sound, or because the water was already present in the environment and the beaver could use it to communicate? Although this is a question that may not have a definite answer just yet, it is an interesting one to think about.

When auditory communication is classified based on the type of sound produced, it is usually categorized into the following:

Infrasound – sounds that are below the lower bound of the frequency range that humans can hear.
Audible sound – sounds that humans are able to hear.
Ultrasound – sounds that are above the upper bound of the frequency range that is audible to human.

The most common use of ultrasound is in echolocation, which is carried out by many organisms,

including bats, whales, dolphins, and a few species of birds. This process involves the emission of ultrasound from an organism into the environment. The animal waits and ‘listens’ for the echoes after the sound waves reflect off surfaces. The process of echolocation is used to locate and identify objects. Most organisms use it as a form of navigation system, a process known as biosonar. This is used to locate and capture their prey. Many fish, such as herring, are only able to hear up to 4 kHz. However, there are many other fish of the subfamily Alosinae, which are able to hear up to 180 kHz. Porpoises also have one of the highest known frequency ranges, with an upper limit of 160 kHz.

Another example of an organism that has the ability to hear ultrasound, is a dog. Humans are not able to hear dog whistles, but the dog themselves are able to do so because the whistle is produced at a very high frequency, that is only audible to dogs. Many insects are also able to hear ultrasound, which they often take advantage of in order to identify incoming bats (their predators) that are using echolocation.

Interestingly, it has been found that a few individuals, who are blind, are also able to use echolocation to help ‘visualize’ their surroundings.

Sound is energy that travels in waves. Our ears are capable of receiving the waves and transmitting them through the eardrum and ear bones to the cochlea, which converts the vibrations into electrical impulses that the brain can interpret. People with hearing loss may benefit from a cochlear implant, a device that “assists” the ear electronically. Sound is measured in decibels—40 decibels is normal talking volume, while 120 is the sound of a plane taking off. Scientists have found ways to get rid of noise by using sound waves to mirror the noise waves and cancel them out. You would not want to cancel the sounds of a good pianist. When keys strike and vibrate strings inside a piano, the result is beautiful music. Sound is far more than music to many animals. For elephants, infrasound is a way to communicate across long distances. Bats use high-frequency sounds in echolocation. Their clicks bounce off objects, helping them navigate in darkness and find prey in the form of flying insects. Scientists suspect that bats may effectively be able to slow down time in order to process the echoes returning from their clicks. Now that is a superpower.

Acoustic communication is the sending and receiving of messages using sound. Bird song, the roars of lions and the chirping of cicadas are all examples of this. Sometimes the messages are outside the range of human hearing, such as the ultrasonic squeaks of baby rats or the infrasound rumbles of elephants. Most acoustic communication is not language, in the sense that humans use it, although language is one aspect of this adaptation. Howler monkeys for example, are usually only active during the day. But before night falls, they climb trees to escape ground-based predators and sleep. However, if nocturnal arboreal threats wake them, the howler monkeys produce a very eerie call.

Click Here for One Minute of Howler Monkeys Video
Awesome sounds of howler monkeys taken in the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica. It was too dark to see anything, but the sounds were hauntingly beautiful.

The Rhino's Silent Call

In the biological world, the ability to produce or perceive infrasound has been considered a rarity. Source: Discover Magazine

One day the San Diego Zoo, a female Sumatran rhinoceros named Barakas was singing a mournful,

whalelike song punctuated with grunts and moans. Through a window in her indoor enclosure she occasionally rubbed noses with Ipuh, a newly arrived male from Indonesia. Ipuh was munching abstractedly on ficus leaves and looking bored. But animal behaviorist Elizabeth Von Muggenthaler, crouching among buckets and hay bales in an adjoining storeroom, was not deceived. She watched the fluttering needle on her tape recorder, which was hooked up to a microphone in Ipuh’s stall, and she suspected the rhino was rumbling--but in a basso so profundo as to be below the hearing range of human eavesdroppers. Elizabeth Von Muggenthaler is president of Fauna Communication Research Institute, where amazing breakthroughs are being made that may forever change the way we listen to the animals.

Elizabeth Von Muggenthaler is a bioacoustician, a scientist that studies natural sound, in the air, underwater and seismically. She is president of Fauna Communications Research Institute, www.animalvoice.com and former chair of the Acoustical Society of America, American Institute of Physics North Carolina Chapter, which covers the Southeast. She is the first to investigate the infrasonic (below) and ultrasonic (above) human hearing range communication of dozens of animals. Von Muggenthaler was invited to the American Institute of Physics international acoustics conference for her design of equipment capable of real-time computer analysis and storage of ultrasonic and infrasonic signals.

Elizabeth has an interdisciplinary and creative approach to research. Paleontologists, marine biologists, and zoologists helped determine that the Sumatran rhino (the most critically endangered rhino) sing like whales because they may be genetically related. After recording over 200 species that have infrasonic and ultrasonic vocalizations, many sound and look like whale under analysis. There may be such a thing as an “ancestral song” of the planet. Interviews with 50 experts in human medicine, veterinary medicine, biology, genetics, paleontology, and acoustics and over 3000 veterinary, human medical, and acoustic scientific journals and books, allowed Elizabeth to solve the mystery of why cats purr. Felines that purr are healing themselves; indeed all cats that purr do so at pitches that correlate exactly to bio-mechanical stimulation vibration frequencies used in the human medical community for osteoporosis, fracture healing, muscle tendon and ligament repair, wound healing, pain relief, Chronic Pulmonary disease, and many other ailments.

As a research scientist and bio-acoustic specialist, Elizabeth has gone where no man (or woman) has gone before — into the mysterious realm of the healing power of a cat's purring, the haunting whale-song of the Sumatran rhino, and sounds that we feel but never hear. Elizabeth tells us that there is something called an ancestral song. It's never been formulated into a scientific fact, but among certain mammals the elements of a basic song are found. Some of it or all of it sounds very much like whale song. The sounds of the Sumatran rhino may be linked to this ancestral song. These rhinos are supposedly solitary in the wild, rarely seen together, and it's really curious to me that such a solitary creature has developed such an extensive repertoire. They like to lie in their mud wallows and sing.

Part of their song is very low frequency. They also have a whistle blow that will travel for miles through the forest. In my mind it seems to be some sort of meditation. When I watch them, they will stand there singing in their little mud wallow and being really peaceful.

I can't help but feel that while they're doing this they are somehow singing with the forest, connecting with the Earth. I get emotional about them. They are so beautiful. And as I said, there are only around 200 left in the world, and not much is being done about that.

An example of infrasound can be seen when you're in your car stopped at a traffic light, and you look over and see that the car next to you is shaking because the music is so loud. It's the infrasound that's making the car shake. It's below our normal range of hearing. Another example of how infrasound affects people is in car sickness. The reason some one gets car sick is not always that the car is moving. Car sickness is sometimes caused by the car's vibration — around 4 Herz. In fact, cars are interesting; you get all kinds of low-frequency vibrations from them — 4 Herz, 7 Hertz — that kind of thing. Frequencies of 7 Hertz can cause osteoporosis.

Source: David Gregg, Michael Teachings

Low frequencies like 18 Hertz can cause dizziness, blackouts, and feelings of terror. There is a theory that some ghost hauntings are actually caused by low-frequency vibrations of around 18 Hertz in a building. That's a fairly common frequency in structures. But what about high frequencies? We are going to address that in this article as well. We know that certain frequencies of both, infrasound and ultrasound are used for healing. We also know from the medical field that we can aim ultrasound waves....they then hit their target and travel back to you; Therefore the distance to the boundary is half the total distance. If a subject is using ultrasound, it may have numerous uses, but unlike infrasound, ultrasound can be used to read your surroundings, and even your subject. We all know that bats and dolphins use ultrasound to navigate. Since ultrasound bounces off objects, they are easily able to determine location of objects in their surroundings, and calculate distance to these objects. So what determines how far ultrasound waves can travel? The frequency of the transducer....the higher the frequency, the less it can penetrate. The lower the frequency, the deeper it can penetrate. Attenuation is directly related to frequency, which I find very interesting in the Cryptozoology field of study as it relates to sound frequencies.We can only assume that the Bigfoot creature is much like humans, but probably more attuned to its senses. Humans rely heavily on our sense of sound. We can hear a relatively normal range of sound waves, from about 16 - 200000 Hz. Ultrasound waves are similar to the ones we can hear. However, the major difference is that they are higher pitched. They vary in frequency from 20 000 Hz to 15 MHz (15 000 000 Hz). As a result of the higher frequency (cycles per second) of the sound waves, humans cannot hear ultrasound waves, nor see them.

Tigers roar at around 18 Hz. It doesn't matter that you can't see the tiger. Just hearing the sound is

pretty terrifying. Although we haven't been able to 100% prove that the infrasound made by a Tiger paralyzes or stuns it's victims, Elizabeth says they have recorded the exact frequency of the tiger's range and found that its highest frequency is right around 18 Hertz. So theoretically the tiger's roar could cause temporary paralysis, weakening of the muscles, feelings of terror, coldness, blackouts, and headaches — that kind of thing. So many organisms do use infrasound for purposes other than communication and protection. An interesting use of infrasound is when a tiger roars. Elizabeth's studies showed that the tiger’s infrasound roar has the ability to temporarily paralyze an animal or human. Although it remains a mystery as to how this happens, it is clear that the roar is felt by the organism, but not heard. She carried out the research by playing infrasound and checking whether the tiger would react to it. The reaction by the tiger showed that they were able to hear and therefore produce sounds at very low frequencies. The use of this infrasound roar aids the tiger when it is stalking its prey, as it helps to stall the prey, giving the tiger an opportunity to kill it.

The wave of infrasound actually goes between particles and molecules of an object rather than bouncing off them, because it's a long wave, therefore it can travel through objects. It goes through buildings, through mountains, through whatever, and travels great distances.

Discovery lifts off at the start of STS-120.

An interesting thing happens when the space shuttle takes off, for example. It creates infrasound that travels the earth about seven times before it dissipates. In fact, if you go about 30 miles south of Coco Beach there's a little place called Satellite Beach where there is a hotel built mostly of glass. If you are in one of those rooms when the space shuttle is taking off, you will see the panes of glass bow inward about two-and-a-half inches!

The most acute human ear can perceive frequencies as low as 20 hertz. Frequencies lower than that are called infrasound. Unbeknownst to us, the physical world throbs with infrasonic noise, a symphony of deep booms produced by thunder, air turbulence, jet engines, volcanoes, earthquakes, crashing ocean waves, and even shuddering buildings. (Of course, these phenomena produce audible frequencies as well.)

In the biological world, however, the ability to produce or perceive infrasound has been considered a rarity. Until Elizabeth Von Muggenthaler, an undergraduate at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, taped her first rhino in 1990, only blue whales, elephants, and alligators were known to produce infrasonic calls. Indeed, Von Muggenthaler was at the Virginia Zoological Park trying to tape an African elephant named Monica when she lucked onto her infravocal rhino. Analyzing the recording, she found that the frequency pattern was unusual for an elephant. The infrasound turned out to be coming from Monica’s neighbor, a male white rhino named Rufus.

With the help of her adviser, reproductive biologist Joseph C. Daniel Jr., Von Muggenthaler has since recorded more than two dozen rhinos of four different species (blacks, whites, Sumatrans, and Indians) at zoos around the nation. She picked up sounds in the 5 to 75 hertz range from all of them. (A human bass, in contrast, rarely dips below 100 hertz.) Some of the sounds appeared to be dialogues between the animals; at the very least, judging from their nonrandom patterns, the sounds were more than mere breathing noises or stomach rumblings.

During one of the rhino recording sessions, Von Muggenthaler caught an excited hippopotamus cutting loose in infrasound, too. More recently she has added okapis, zebra-size relatives of the giraffe, to the list of infrasound vocalists. Von Muggenthaler suspects that other animals may also have the ability, and she is trying to pin down the skull characteristics that are required to send and receive infrasound.

She also hopes to find out whether rhinos actually communicate in infrasound, as opposed to merely sounding off. For instance, female rhinos may use infrasound to indicate when they are receptive to male advances; unlike some other animals, rhinos don’t send obvious (to us) signals when they’re in heat. I recorded one female white rhino, Von Muggenthaler recalls, and when I looked at the graph of spectral activity I thought, ‘Wow, what she must be going through!’ All that noise and yet you couldn’t hear anything. That’s what’s fascinating.

The advantage of infrasound for communicating is that it travels long distances. Low-frequency

sounds have long wavelengths, and long waves are less prone than short ones to being scattered by trees and hills. Astonishingly, elephants appear to communicate by infrasound over distances of several miles--at least, that’s one hypothesis to explain why widely separated herds seem to synchronize their maneuvers. Wildlife ecologist Kes Hillman Smith of Garamba National Park in Zaire has observed similar coordinated movements among female white rhinos, and she now thinks infrasound communication may account for it. Von Muggenthaler hopes to take her recording equipment to Africa to find out. We don't have as much research to reference on increased Ultrasound waves. Ultrasound is high frequency mechanical vibrations or pressure waves above a frequency the human ear can hear. Ultrasound uses a pulse-echo technique of imaging the body. Pulses transmitted into patient and give rise to echoes when they encounter interfaces/reflectors. These interfaces/reflectors are caused by variations in the "acoustic impedence" between different tissues.

Her long-term dream is to show that the animals she studies have something akin to human language. Von Muggenthaler’s interest in the issue is more than academic. It’s an important question because we humans equate language with intelligence, and we value intelligence, she says. I think people will value animals more and do more to save them if they consider them intelligent. She has done extensive studies into the infrasound from a cat's purr, and how it has healing properties...so according to Elizabeth, not all infrasound effects are frightening.

We as humans can't even begin to understand what a dog smells, for example. Their noses are many times more efficient than ours. A scallop has a hundred eyes, so it really does see us as we're ripping it from its home. Birds see in the ultraviolet spectrum. We can't see that. We're so limited. It would be nice to spend a day inhabiting the body of several different creatures, just to experience what they're able to see, hear and smell, that we can't.

Interesting stories behind activity in the Mysterious Forest of Hoia Baciu (see video below). Although apparently not Bigfoot related, you may find it of interest since most of us researchers spend much of our lives in the forest. The symptoms exhibited in this forest sound much like infrasound effects. A tiger’s roar, for example, has been measured and emits infrasound around 19 HZ, inducing fear in its prey. Is it possible that the elusive Bigfoot creature uses infrasound as a fear tactic to keep away possible predators, and avoid being seen?

Infrasound can also be man-made. Controlled experiments by British scientists demonstrated that infrasound produces a range of bizarre effects in people, including anxiety, dizziness, nausea, headache, extreme sorrow/oppression, chills, apparitions and hallucinations, supporting the link between infrasound and strange sensations attributed to allegedly haunted sites. So if infrasound is produced by natural disasters, why didn’t humans detect infrasound sensations during the tsunami? It’s quite possible that some did, especially those with certain types of brain signatures, but didn’t associate it with impending danger. It’s worth noting that sleep paralysis, accompanied by hallucinations, is a common phenomena in geodynamic areas along the Pacific Ring of Fire. Many myths exist due to sleep paralysis. Infrasound is sound below 20 Hz in frequency, lower than humans can perceive. It is a frequency that is difficult for humans to hear, but can still cause physiological effects, and can make windows, doors, and other objects vibrate. These lower frequencies have the advantage of carrying farther.

Click Here for Alien Star's Video Story of the Creepy Forest of Hoia Baciu
Transylvania's Bermuda Triangle: The Mysterious Forest of Hoia Baciu

Infrasound can result naturally from severe weather, surf, lee waves, avalanches, earthquakes, volcanoes, bolides, waterfalls, calving of icebergs, auroras, lightening and upper-atmospheric lighting, and has also been used in government experiments. The government is exploring the use of audio to influence humans physically and psychologically as a means of non-lethal warfare methods. The device known as the ‘Wirbelwind Kanonew’ , is perhaps the only known fully developed infrasonic weapon created in order to physically effect it’s target, with the intention of countering enemy aircraft and infantry by creating a vortex of sound (Crab, 2008). The effect of emotional and psychological change as a result of infrasonic exposure can later be found during the second Indochina war. In 1973, The United States deployed the Urban Funk Campaign, a psychoacoustic attack during the war with the intention of altering mental states of their enemies (Goodman, 2010). The device utilized both infrasonic and ultrasonic frequencies, which emitted high

decibel oscillations from a mounted helicopter onto the Vietnamese ground troops (Toffler, Alvin, & Toffler, 1995). Though there is no record of the specification of this device, one can assume that the U.S Military had tested the infrasonic frequency ranges in order to achieve a psychological effect on it’s targets. As previously cited by (Goodman, 2010), it is documented that the frequency range of 7Hz is thought to instill effects of uneasiness, anxiety, fear and anger. (Walonick, 1990) reports in a experiment that below 8Hz had caused agitation and uneasiness for participants. Goodman also supports this discussing “It has been noted that certain infrasonic frequencies plug straight into the algorithms of the brain and nervous system. Frequencies of 7 hertz, for example, coincide with theta rhythms, thought to induce moods of fear and anger.” (Goodman, 2010). It is within the psychological change that we begin to question the reasoning behind it, many of the studies in the next chapter of this study suggest that resonance is perhaps the reason as to why there could be an emotional and psychological change to human’s when exposed to infrasonic frequencies.

All objects have a property known as their resonant frequency, this involves the “re- enforcement of vibrations of a receiving system due to a similarity to the frequencies of the source” (Pellegrino & Productions, 1996). It is this property that is held within all matter, that we can apply sound as a means of resonance within the human body. It is resonance within the human body that is thought to create the psychological effects of that mentioned in this article.

NASA technical report mentions a resonant frequency for the eye as 18 Hz (NASA Technical Report 19770013810). If this were the case then the eyeball would be vibrating which would cause a serious ‘smearing of vision. Another NASA report (NASA Technical Report 19870046176) mentions hyperventilation as a symptom of whole body vibration. Hyperventilation is characterized by quick

shallow breathing and reduces the amount of carbon dioxide retained in the lungs. Hyperventilation can have profound physiological effects. For example, symptoms of hyperventilation are described as ‘breathlessness usually at rest, often accompanied by light-headedness, muscle cramps, fear of sudden death and a feeling of difficulty in breathing in’. A panic attack is often described as ‘a synergistic interaction between hyperventilation and anxiety.’ and suggests that as the carbon dioxide is expired physiological changes cause the body to respond by feeling fear. This feeling of fear activates the sympathetic nervous system which increases the respiration rate making the hyperventilation worse. The panic attack will therefore feed itself and increase in intensity. 20 Hz is considered the normal low-frequency limit of human hearing. When pure sine waves are reproduced under ideal conditions and at very high volume, a human listener will be able to identify tones as low as 12 Hz. Below 10 Hz it is possible to perceive the single cycles of the sound, along with a sensation of pressure at the eardrums.

From about 1000 Hz, the dynamic range of the auditory system decreases with decreasing frequency.

This compression is observable in the equal-loudness-level contours, and it implies that even a slight increase in level can change the perceived loudness from barely audible to loud. Combined with the natural spread in thresholds within a population, its effect may be that a very low-frequency sound which is inaudible to some people may be loud to others.

One study has suggested that infrasound may cause feelings of awe or fear in humans. It has also been suggested that since it is not consciously perceived, it may make people feel vaguely that odd or supernatural events are taking place. Engineer Vic Tandy provided such an explanation in his investigations in the 1980s. Tandy, while working in his laboratory, started to feel uneasy and as if a supernatural presence was with him. Later, he could attribute these feelings to a broken metal fan that was causing noises of a frequency that triggered them. The noise could not be perceived by the human ear, but Tandy's body reacted to the 19Hz sounds.

A scientist working at Sydney University's Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory reports growing evidence that infrasound may affect some people's nervous system by stimulating the vestibular system, and this has shown in animal models an effect similar to sea sickness.

In 2006 research about the impact of sound emissions from wind turbines on nearby population,

perceived infrasound has been associated to effects such as annoyance or fatigue, depending on its intensity, with little evidence supporting physiological effects of infrasound below the human perception threshold. Later studies, however, have linked inaudible infrasound to effects such as fullness, pressure or tinnitus, and acknowledged the possibility that it could disturb sleep. Other studies have also suggested associations between noise levels in turbines and self-reported sleep disturbances in the nearby population, while adding that the contribution of infrasound to this effect is still not fully understood.

In a study at Ibaraki University in Japan, researchers said EEG tests showed that the infrasound produced by wind turbines was “considered to be an annoyance to the technicians who work close to a modern large-scale wind turbine.” Source: Wikipedia

Pedestrians can hear the thump of bass coming from an overamplified car stereo while remaining blissfully unaware of the higher pitches. We hear the rumble of distant thunder but can’t hear the crack of lightning unless it strikes close by. We hear the bass in these sounds but not the treble because powerful low-frequency sound travels long distances well. But the bass humans hear cuts off at about 20 Hz. Below that, a human can only feel the sound at close range, as it vibrates his or her chest.

Elephants, whales, hippopotamuses, the okapi and rhinoceroses, on the other hand, appear to hear and produce sounds well below our range. And it’s not just the large animals that hear infrasound. Pigeons, guinea fowl, cod, cuttlefish, octopus, squid and the capercaille, a Eurasian grouse, all hear infrasound.

Sound, as vertebrates hear it, consists of waves of relatively high and low air pressure. When these waves reach the eardrum, they push it in and pull it out, setting in motion a vibration transmitted through the middle ear bones to the cochlea, where specialized cells produce nerve impulses. Our brains interpret these impulses as sound. The waves we hear best range from about a yard peak to peak down to tiny fractions of an inch. Infrasound waves range from tens of yards to miles in length.

These long waves travel through brush and trees relatively unimpeded because the ability of an object to reflect a sound wave depends on the ratio of the wavelength to the size of the object. Normal objects such as grass stems, leaves and trees have no effect on very long infrasound waves. On the other hand, they reflect and scatter higher frequencies easily. Even the molecules in air absorb a good deal of high frequency sound, while leaving infrasound unaffected. This makes infrasound ideal for long-distance communication.

Sound travels from its source in all directions losing about 6 decibels for every doubling of distance. With no interruption, the sound will spread spherically. (Certain shapes can modify this spreading effect. A horn couples the sound source—a trumpet player’s lips or the tiny speaker in a horn-loaded audio speaker system—with the air. The larger opening then becomes the sound source, and sound spreads from there.) In a field study of infrasound in Africa, Langbauer found that environments such as bare ground, tall grass and woodland had little or no effect on sounds below 60 Hz projected from a custom-made Pachyderm 2 loudspeaker and recorded at four distances from about 10 to 125 yards from the speaker.

Even very large speakers can’t duplicate the power of elephant infrasonic calls, which have been measured at near-thunder levels about five yards from the elephant. The speakers used in field experiments, although huge by home stereo standards, can only produce volumes half that. Extrapolating from playback experiments, Langbauer estimates elephants can hear infrasonic calls at least 2.5 miles away. Source: eugraph

As humans, we can hear the rumble of distant thunder but can’t hear the crack of lightning unless it strikes close by. We hear the bass but not the treble because powerful low-frequency sound travels long distances well. But since the bass humans hear cuts off at about 20 Hz – below that, you can only feel the sound at close range as it vibrates your chest. If we were capable of hearing bass frequencies lower than 20Hz, we would be able to hear our own muscles moving.

In an edition of Science, an international team of voice researchers and cognitive biologists led by Christian Herbst, Angela Stoeger and Tecumseh Fitch, provides new insights into the production of Elephant communication. The so-called "infrasounds," i.e. sounds with pitches below the range of human hearing, are found to be produced with the same physical mechanism as human speech or singing.

Elephants can communicate using very low frequency sounds, with pitches below the range of human hearing. These low-frequency sounds, termed "infrasounds," can travel several kilometers, and provide elephants with a "private" communication channel that plays an important role in elephants' complex social life. Their frequencies are as low as the lowest notes of a pipe organ.

Although the sounds themselves have been studied for many years, it has remained unclear exactly how elephant infrasounds are made. One possibility, favored by some scientists, is that the elephants tense and relax the muscles in their larynx (or "voice box") for each pulse of sound. This mechanism, similar to cats purring, can produce sounds as low in pitch as desired, but the sounds produced are generally not very powerful.

The other possibility is that elephant infrasounds are produced like human speech or singing, but

because the elephant larynx is so large, they are extremely low in frequency. Human humming is produced by vibrations of the vocal folds (also called "vocal cords"), which are set into vibration by a stream of air from the lungs, and don't require periodic muscle activity. By this hypothesis, elephant infrasounds result simply from very long vocal folds slapping together at a low rate, and don't require any periodic tensing of the laryngeal muscles.

To find out, researchers at the University of Vienna, led by voice scientist Christian Herbst and elephant communication expert Angela Stoeger, removed the larynx from an elephant (which died of natural causes), and brought it into the larynx laboratory of the Department of Cognitive Biology (headed by Tecumseh Fitch). By blowing a controlled stream of warm, humid air through the larynx (substituting for the elephants lungs), and manually placing the vocal folds into the "vocal" position, the scientists coaxed the vocal folds into periodic, low-frequency vibrations that match infrasounds in all details.

Since there can be no periodic tensing and relaxing of vocal fold muscles without a connection to the elephant's brain, low-frequency vibrations in the excised larynx clearly demonstrate that the "purring" mechanism is unnecessary to explain infrasounds. Thus, elephants "sing" using the same physical principles as we do, but their immense larynx produces very low notes.

As an additional insight, the scientists were able to get a very clear look at some fascinating types of vibration called "nonlinear phenomena." When a baby cries, or a heavy metal singer screams, the vocal folds vibrate in an irregular manner, which is very grating to our ears. Young elephants also scream and roar, and the mechanism they use is again identical to that seen in humans.

This research shows that the physical principles underlying the human voice extend over a remarkable range, from bat's incredibly high vocalizations (too high for us to hear), all the way down to elephants' subaudible infrasounds. How whales, the largest animals, make their even lower frequency sounds remains to be determined. Source: University of Vienna

Meet the world's tiniest cryptographers. Philippine Tarsiers (Tarsius syrichta), primates native to

Southeast Asia that are often no bigger than a human hand, pass messages using an unbreakable code: ultrasonic sounds. A new study shows that these tree-dwellers emit squeaky calls well above the vocal range of any known monkey or ape, perhaps to dodge eavesdropping predators.

New Scientist told us about the only known primate that communicates using pure ultrasound. A Tarsier could be screaming its head off and you would never know it. Uniquely among primates, some of the diminutive mammal’s calls are made up of pure ultrasound. Marissa Ramsier of Humboldt State University in California and her colleagues were puzzled to sometimes hear no sound when Philippine Tarsiers (Tarsius syrichta) opened their mouths as if to call. Placing 35 wild animals in front of an ultrasound detector revealed that what they assumed to be yawns were high-pitched screams beyond the range of human hearing.

While some primates can emit and respond to calls with ultrasonic components, none are known to use only ultrasonic frequencies in a call. The dominant frequency of the Philippine Tarsier’s ultrasonic call was 70 kilohertz, amongst the highest recorded for any terrestrial mammal. They can hear up to 91 kHz, well beyond the 20 kHz limit of human hearing. Whales, dolphins, domestic cats and some bats and rodents are the only other mammals known to communicate in this way.

Having the equivalent of a private communication channel could help Tarsiers warn others of predators such as lizards, snakes and birds which can’t detect such frequencies, says Ramsier. Eavesdropping on insects could also help them locate their prey. Tarsiers are pint-size primates from Southeast Asia who produce some of the most extreme ultrasonic calls in the animal kingdom, well beyond the threshold of human hearing.

Although the Tarsier’s hidden talent may be unique, future studies could reveal that more primates use pure ultrasound calls. “Many primatologists have observed ‘silent’ mouth-opening behaviors in other primates,” says Ramsier. “It is certainly possible that some of these behaviors are accompanied by ultrasonic vocalizations.” Tarsiers' ultrasonic calls -- among the most extreme in the animal kingdom -- give them a "private channel" of communication, says an anthropologist.

Tarsiers from Borneo and the Philippines have conventionally been described as "ordinarily silent." This apparent lack of vocalizations led investigators to suspect that the animals were indeed engaged in these critical communications. We just couldn't hear them.

Nathaniel Dominy, an associate professor of anthropology at Dartmouth, describes the Tarsier's ultrasonic vocalizations as "extreme, and comparable to the highly specialized vocalizations of bats and dolphins, which are used primarily for echolocation."

Dominy and a cadre of colleagues have been studying the hearing and vocalizations of one Tarsier species in the Philippines, Tarsius syrichta. Results of their research appeared online in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters, on February 8, 2012.

Recent technical advances allowed the investigators to test the hearing of six wild Tarsiers on the island of Mindanao. They found "an audible range that extended substantially into the ultrasound," reaching a high of 91 kilohertz (kHz), "a value that surpasses the known range of all other primates and is matched by few animals."

They also used a microphone and recording unit capable of registering sounds up 96 kHz. The upper limit of human hearing is generally set at 20 kHz, and frequencies above this limit are classified as ultrasound. In the field, the team recorded the sounds of 35 wild Tarsiers from the islands of Bohol and Leyte with this equipment, documenting eight individuals giving out a purely ultrasonic call at approximately 70 kHz. The tone-like structure of the call resembles those of other Tarsier species, but none were purely ultrasonic.

The researchers observed that Tarsiers emitted their ultrasonic call when humans were near, suggesting they were voicing alarm. "Ultrasonic alarm calls can be advantageous to both the signaler and receiver as they are potentially difficult for predators to detect and localize," they write.

Dominy and his group conclude that there may be selective advantages to vocalizations in the pure ultrasound. They call them "private channels of communication with the potential to subvert detection by predators, prey, and competitors."

"Our findings not only verify that Tarsiers are sensitive to the ultrasound, but also that Tarsius syrichta can send and receive vocal signals in the pure ultrasound," Dominy says.

Like any good code, ultrasound works because it's rarely used. Few land mammals—bats and kittens are exceptions—coo or call at frequencies above the normal range of human hearing (about 20 kilohertz). That's largely because ultrasonic waves, unlike other sound waves, spread out quickly; that makes it harder for animals to pinpoint the locations of faraway calls, says study co-author Marissa Ramsier, an anthropologist at Humboldt State University in Arcata, California.

The first clue that Tarsiers use ultrasound came from observing an odd behavior. The big-eyed, nocturnal creatures occasionally open their mouths as if ready to shout, but no sound humans can hear comes out. On a whim, co-author Sharon Gursky-Doyen, a biological anthropologist at Texas A&M University in College Station, brought a microphone used for recording bat chirps to a Philippine jungle frequented by the primates. The animals, it turns out, are boisterous—just not to human ears. "Philippine Tarsiers have often been described as quiet," Ramsier says. But "they're screaming and talking away, and we just didn't know it." To see more about the study findings on their sound frequencies, click here.

The ultrasonic calls possessed the same tone-like structure heard in the audible calls of the other Tarsier species, suggesting they really are using these frequencies for the same sorts of communication. You can hear a recording of one of these ultrasonic calls at this link, as it's been slowed down to an eighth of its normal speed so that it's audible to human ears. Though I'll warn you now - it is not a pleasant sound.

Many people are aware of the effects of infrasound, but are you aware of the effects of ultrasound on humans? Ultrasound at high decibels produces the same physical, psychological and psychoaccoustic effects on the body and the brain. To use ultrasound "to find things", we first need to have a way of generating them. In the medical field for example, we need something to create vibrations that will travel in the tissues in a patient. Some of the ultrasound waves are attenuated. That is, the body absorbs the ultrasound energy, making the waves disappear. These waves don’t return to the probe and are therefore “wasted”. The more the body tissues that the ultrasound waves have to cross, the more attenuation the waves suffer. The sound waves travel at different speeds depending on the type of tissue encountered — fastest through bone tissue and slowest through air. The speed at which the sound waves are returned to the transducer, as well as how much of the sound wave returns, is translated by the transducer as different types of Tissue.

Many people think our mammal friends, the bat is blind, but in fact they can see almost as well as humans. However, at night, their ears are more important than their eyes - they use a special sonar ultrasound system called 'echolocation,' meaning they find things using echoes. As bats fly they make shouting sounds, which are too high for most humans to hear. The echoes they get back from their shouts give them information about anything that is ahead of them, including the size and shape of an insect and which way it is going.

So how does ultrasound work? Ultrasonic sensors measure distances by sending out an ultrasonic

pulse wave then wait for it to bounce back. The sound will be reflected off structures inside the body, and the ultrasound machine will analyze the information from the sound waves. Notably, thermal imaging also assesses its environment by creating images based on differences in surface temperature & by detecting infrared radiation (heat) that emanates from objects and their surrounding environment. Is it possible that some animals use ultrasound in the thermal range to read other animals in much the same way, in order to assess their intent? This brings me to infrared light. devices are also used as proximity sensors similar to ultrasound sensors. Instead of using ultrasound waves, IR sensors use infrared light which is not visible to the human eye. It is believed in the field that Bigfoot creatures avoid infrared light, so let's take a look. Infrared radiation is emitted or absorbed by molecules when they change their rotational-vibrational movements. It excites vibrational modes in a molecule through a change in the dipole moment, making it a useful frequency range for study of these energy states for molecules of the proper symmetry. Infrared spectroscopy examines absorption and transmission of photons in the infrared range. Since ultrasound is used to read its subject or environment, and IR light changes vibration and frequency range, it would stand to reason that IR light would interfere with ultrasound readings.

Sunlight, at an effective temperature of 5,780 kelvins, is composed of near thermal-spectrum radiation that is slightly more than half infrared. At zenith, sunlight provides an irradiance of just over 1 kilowatt per square meter at sea level. Of this energy, 527 watts is infrared radiation, 445 watts is visible light, and 32 watts is ultraviolet radiation.Nearly all the infrared radiation in sunlight is near infrared, shorter than 4 micrometers. On the surface of Earth, at far lower temperatures than the surface of the Sun, almost all thermal radiation consists of infrared in mid-infrared region, much longer than in sunlight. Of these natural thermal radiation processes only lightning and natural fires are hot enough to produce much visible energy, and fires produce far more infrared than visible-light energy. Infrared Light has low attenuation losses. So on a more logical level, perhaps these creatures are familiar with, and can possibly visibly see, thermal radiation, and thus they tie infrared light to lightning and natural fires, so they would naturally avoid it for those reasons alone. Or perhaps it is something more scientific.

The effects of Ultrasound technology have been proven to have many effects on the fetal bodies. Fetuses are not the only ones effected by the possibly damaging effects of ultrasound. One of the most well known effects of ultrasound is that as Ultrasound waves pass through a tissue they tend to heat it up. The tissue can easily be warmed to 40 degrees Celsius. Although in vivo the heat is usually easily carried away by blood circulation or simply dissipated into surrounding tissues. this regiment can be applied in a technique called Ultrasound therapy where this heat is used to stimulate repair to damaged internal tissues. Another well known effect of Ultrasound are cavitations - The main non-thermal effect is called cavitation. Body tissues and fluids contain dissolved gases. When some of the sound energy is absorbed by the tissue, the energy could create bubbles from the dissolved gases. The bubbles then vibrate due to more absorption and finally burst, causing very intense, localized effects. Cavitations are normal bubbles of gas that are released upon exposure to extreme negative pressure. These bubbles can cause cells or even tissues to rupture. Thermal: When the sound waves pass through the tissue, not all of the waves pass through the tissue or get reflected, some are absorbed by the material. Only a very normal amount gets absorbed, and often the heat generated by the energy is quickly dissipated. But what about higher decibels? Although Ultrasound cannot be heard by humans, at high decibels it can still cause direct damage to human ears. Ultrasound in excess of 120 decibels may cause Hearing damage. Exposure to 155 decibels causes heat levels that are harmful to the body. 180 decibels may even cause death.

Sounds with a frequency of 20 kHz and higher are referred to as ultrasound (or ultrasonic sound).

High frequency sound is sound of which the frequency lies between 8 and 20 kHz. High frequency sound with a frequency over 16 kHz can hardly be heard, but it is not completely inaudible. High frequency sound and even ultrasound in the lower frequency zone (up to 24 kHz) can be audible if the sound level is high enough. The sound threshold (the sound level where sound can be perceived) rises sharply once the frequency (and therefore, the tone) becomes higher. Younger persons hear high frequency sound better and their hearing range is greater toward the high frequencies. It is assumed that high frequency sound and ultrasound with sufficient intensity can be traumatic for the hearing, and can cause other effects as well. High frequency sound causes two types of health effects: on the one hand objective health effects such as hearing loss (in case of protracted exposure) and on the other hand subjective effects which may already occur after a few minutes: headache, tinnitus, fatigue, dizziness and nausea. Depending on the personal sensitivity (this can be age-related or health-realted) people may already experience these subjective effects at a sound level of 75 dB. Note that ultrasound (and sound of high frequencies) is expressed in dB contrary to normal sound which is measured in dB(A). Source: Belgium Government Health Dept

Research in the effects of higher range ultrasound is currently in its infancy but there are some interesting research results coming out. Click here for more research information. The aim of one half

of this project was to explore whether hearing thresholds could be extended into the infrasound and ultrasound ranges making use of various approaches including looking for brain activation through the use of MEG and fMRI imaging. From the results in this project it is clear that some people are much more affected by low frequency ultrasound than others. At the upper frequency limit of human hearing there is a very steep drop in the sensitivity of the ear but the frequency of onset can vary significantly between different people. As a result some people are very sensitive to frequencies above 20 kHz whilst others have no conscious perception at all. However, a lack of perception does not mean that there is no brain activity. As the MEG ultrasound testing was the last part of the project the full set of results are yet to be published but hopefully they will give us some insight and help with developing improved guidelines on ultrasound exposure.

In conclusion regarding ultrasound effects, I would say that anecdotal evidence shows that high

amplitude ultrasound does have an impact on humans, but there is currently not enough research to answer the questions of what frequency range, what amplitude, what exposure time and at what distance. The work in the EARS project mentioned above is a first step towards developing a dose-response relationship but there is plenty more to be done and if you find personally that you experience negative effects from the presence of an ultrasound source currently the best solution is to avoid the source as much as possible.

John Mitani is a primate behavioral ecologist who investigates the behavior of our closest living relatives, the apes. His current research involves studies of an extremely large community of wild chimpanzees at Ngogo, Kibale National Park, Uganda. During the past 39 years, has conducted fieldwork on the behavior of all five kinds of apes: gibbons and orangutans in Indonesia, gorillas in Rwanda, bonobos in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and chimpanzees in Uganda and Tanzania. He found a decided trend for primates with larger home ranges to have loud calls with lower frequencies to travel further distances. Lower frequency sounds are also less susceptible to interference from surrounding environment.

Male chimpanzees produce a species-typical call, the pant hoot, to communicate to conspecifics over long-distances. Calls given by males from the well-known Gombe and Mahale populations typically consist of four different phases: an introduction, build-up, climax, and let-down. Recent observations suggest that chimpanzees living in the Kibale National Park, Uganda, consistently give calls that lack a build-up and are thus qualitatively distinguishable acoustically from those made by other East African conspecifics. We analyzed additional recordings from Mahale and Kibale to re-examine geographic variation in chimpanzee calls. Results indicate that males from both sites produce pant hoots containing all four parts of the call. Calls made by chimpanzees from the two populations, however, differ in quantitative acoustic measures. Specifically, males at Kibale initiate their calls with significantly longer elements and buildup over briefer periods at slower rates than individuals from Mahale. Kibale males also deliver acoustically less variable calls than chimpanzees at Mahale. Although climax elements do not differ between populations in any single acoustic feature, discriminant function analysis reveals that acoustic variables can be used in combination to assign calls to the correct population at rates higher than that expected by chance. Ecological factors related to differences in habitat acoustics, the sound environment of the local biota, and body size are likely to account for these observed macrogeographic variations in chimpanzee calls.

Chimpanzees pant-hooting Video
The pant-hoot is an awesome chimpanzee vocalization, made during times of excitement and to communicate with others. This video has clips of the dominant female chimpanzee at the sanctuary pant-hooting.

Pant hoots, for example, can consist of four distinct parts. Calls may begin with a brief introductory phase consisting of relatively long, tonal elements that emitted at low frequencies and amplitudes. The introduction is characterized by a sequential alternation of relatively high frequency elements followed by lower frequency sounds. The introduction grades into the build-up, a series of relatively short elements typically delivered at faster rates than those heard in the introduction and emitted both on inhalation and exhalation. Build-ups are followed by the climax, the loudest and highest frequency component of the call. Calls may end with a brief let-down phase, whose elements do not appear to differ appreciably from those emitted during the build-up. Male subjects at Mahale use pant hoots selectively to maintain contact with preferred associates and allies over long distances [Mitani & Nishida, 1993], and Kibale chimpanzees at Ngogo appear to employ these calls in the same fashion over similar distances. See more study results in frequencies here. Am. J.Primatol. 47:133–151, 1999.

In the 1950’s and the 1960’s, about 50,000 whales were killed each year, until the discovery of

something special by Roger Payne. The discovery of the Song of the Humpback Whale. This finding took place when military researcher, Frank Watlington, handed over recordings of submarines and dynamite explosions to Roger Payne, as he could not figure out what the noise in the background was. “These sounds are, with no exception that I can think of, the most evocative, most beautiful sounds made by any animal on Earth,” (May 2014) said Payne.

Payne discovered that the sound the whale was producing was a complex song, as the whale was continuously repeating itself. He realized that he may be able to use this beautiful sound to produce some changes in the whaling industry. In the year 1965, whaling was very severe and humpback whales became endangered. The International Whaling Commission did not allow whaling for a certain period of time, until the whale population increased once more. “Do you make cat food out of composer-poets? I think that’s a crime,” (May 2014) said Payne, as he began to think of ways to make everyone aware of these whale songs. His aim was to integrate the songs into our culture. He distributed the recordings to singers and composers all over the world. A singer crucial to the success of the project was Judy Collins. In her album Whales and Nightingales that was released in 1970, she included the song “Farewell to Tarwathie.” This song, which included actual recordings of whale songs that were given to her, became an instant hit. It spread the idea of whale songs to millions all across the globe.

A couple of years later, after hearing the songs, Greenpeace started their own movement called “Save the Whales,” which was a huge success. The song of the whale seemed to completely change the mindset of people. In this way, recordings of animals can really help in the conservation of the species.

After listening to the recordings, I felt guilt. Guilt for being part of a race that has been destroying these creatures. Guilt for doing nothing to protect these creatures. I am sure this was the same way people felt during the mid 20^th century, when the movement was introduced. The songs also give us an opportunity to think about the intelligence of the creatures. As former Greenpeace director Rex Weyler said, “It certainly was a huge factor in convincing us that the whales were an intelligent species here on planet Earth and actually made music, made art, created an aesthetic” (May 2014). Why would one kill organisms that are creating art, and are doing nothing to harm us?

People tend to associate certain actions and ideas with sound. This too could’ve been one of the crucial factors in convincing people to protect whales. An example of this idea can be seen in the movie The Big Lebowski, when the main character is listening to an audio recording of whale sounds, while relaxing and smoking marijuana. Here, the character associates the sounds with the idea of relaxation. In the same way people may associate certain ideas with animal recordings, which makes it more likely that they will refrain from harming such creatures.

By incorporating whale songs into our own songs, we tend to anthropomorphise (ascribe human features to) the whales. Why do we do this? Why do we incorporate them into human culture? By doing so, it feels as though they are now great parts of our lives. It is as if they have a role to play in our lives, whether it involves aiding in music production, or helping us relax. From my research, I also believe that by anthropomorphising the whales, we tend to feel as though the whales are expressing themselves. We tend to feel emotions as if the whales are feeling them too. Although the idea of animals communicating emotion in their sounds is complex, some investigations have been carried out in the field, and documents have been produced, in order to support this idea.

The basic idea of using recordings to convince individuals to help conserve a species can also be used for other animals as well. One example is the recording of tiger roars. Many countries are trying to introduce the recording of tiger roars in order to estimate the tiger population and whether each individual tiger is male or female. The recording is put into computer software that generates spectrograms showing each individual tiger’s roar. Each roar acts as an identity to each individual tiger and can be used to identify it. In the same way, these recordings are being used to estimate animal densities of various creatures all over the world.

Whale Song
Balaena universus hominis - Whale as one with Human Whale Song recording and mastering by The Oceania Project: https://soundcloud.com/iwhales Established in 1988, The Oceania Project is an independent, nonprofit, scientific research organization dedicated to the conservation and protection of Whales, Dolphins and the Oceans.

Around 5% of the studies carried out on human impact on animal communication show that, effects

artist Bill Asmussen

such as hunting, habitat fragmentation, chemical and noise pollution, “introduced diseases,” “direct human disturbance,” and urbanization, tend to affect acoustic communication (Laiolo, 2010). Therefore, another way recordings can help with conservation is by helping in identifying how humans have affected the organism’s bioacoustics. By comparing previous and current recordings, changes in the animal’s call can be identified. Although many organisms tend to adapt to their environment in this way, many adaptations may be disadvantageous to the species. This may be because other groups of the species are no longer able to communicate with them, sometimes sexual signs of animals are affected, echolocation of bats and cetaceans can be severely interrupted, habitat loss can affect the way birds select their nesting grounds based on acoustic cues, and noise pollution can also affect social signs of mammals. So through the use of recordings, identification of anthropogenic changes to bioacoustics is made easier. This could help with improvements in conservation of animals, as it is now clear what changes need to be made.

Bioacoustics is a cross-disciplinary science that combines biology and acoustics. Usually it refers to the investigation of sound production, dispersion and reception in animals (including humans).

Understanding bioacoustics is very important in a world where wildlife is in desperate need of conservation. By understanding the way organisms communicate, we will soon be able to understand the way organisms feel. Future developments may also see us being able to understand what the organisms are communicating about. By working to achieve our goal of decoding animal communication, efficient interspecies communication may develop as well to some extent, between humans and animals. This will open up a number of opportunities to both animal and man. By making us humans more aware about the way in which organisms live and interact, conservation of various species will improve. Protection provided by the government to the species will improve. People’s view of the organisms will improve. So working towards a positive goal, might give us a better future.

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Notes on Ultrasound:

Properties of an ultrasound wave

Frequency higher than 20 000Hz (20kHz)

Propagation of sound waves longitudinal, the mechanical displacement being in the same direction as propagation.

A medium is needed for sound waves to go through, no medium = no soundwaves

This propagation is whereby the particles of the medium which the sounds is going through oscillate (move) back and forth from their original rest positions, in the same line as the wave. This is also know as Simple Harmonic Motion

The motion of the these particles is cause by 2 factors; the pressure of the wave (which forces them to move in the beginning) and the forces of the restoring molecules (also known as the elasticity of the medium)

The soundwaves are transmitted as an alternation series of compressions (zones of high pressure) and rarefractions (zones of low pressure).

The physical disturbance can be shown in a diagram (the dot diagram), and the individual movement of each particle in the diagram is/ can be described mathematically by the wave equation

Also the amount of particle movement is dependent on the pressure change associated with the wave, therefore the increased pressure change equals the increased particle movement, and therefore louder sound

Interactions of ultrasound with soft tissues

When an ultrasound wave passes through tissues

Attenuation: Reduction in amplitude and intensity of wave

Refraction: Change in direction & velocity of wave

Attenuation is the rate at which intensity wave diminishes with the depth it covers or its penetration.

3 Types:

Reflection.

Scattering

Absorption

Affecting attenuation:

Frequency of wave - Higher the frequency, higher the attenuation and less penetration of the wave

Type of tissue the wave is traveling

Depth the wave travels - more distance wave has to travel the more energy is lost.

Reflection

When a sound wave is incident on a interface between two tissues, part of it is reflected back into the original medium. The amount of energy reflected back depends on impedance.

The greater the difference in impedance between the tissues forming the interface the greater the amount of energy that is reflected back.

Impedance is a property of a tissue defined as density of tissue and velocity of sound in that tissue.

Reflection co-efficient ( R) is the ratio of the intensity of the reflected wave to the incident wave.

R = (Z2 –Z1) ²

( Z2+Z1) 2

The greater R, the greater the degree of reflection. i.e. R for a soft tissue interface such as liver and kidney is 0.01, i.e. only 1% of the sound is reflected. Muscle/bone interface 40% is reflected and for a soft tissue/air interface 99% is reflected.

This is the basis of ultrasound as different organs in the body have different densities and acoustic impedance and this creates different reflectors. In some cases the acoustic impedance can be so great that all the sound waves energy can be reflected, this happens when sound comes in contact with bone and air. This is the reason why ultrasound is not used as a primary imaging modality for bone, digestive tract and lungs.

Absorption

Absorption is the main form of attenuation. Absorption happens as sound travels through soft tissue, the particles that transmit the waves vibrate and cause friction and a loss of sound energy occurs and heat is produced. In soft tissue sound intensity decreases exponentially with depth.

Diffuse Scatter

Diffuse scatter when an objects size relative to the wave length becomes normaler. Imagine placing a thin stick upright in large rippling puddle or lake shore. The waves striking the stick will barely change course. The same applies to sound when the wave length of the sound waves are much larger than the object they are striking little or no sound waves will be reflected back. Because of this no strong reflections are seen as the sound, if reflected at all does not go directly back to the transducer. An example of this can be seen as speculation of an ultrasound image.

Echo Ranging

Echo ranging is a technique used to determine the distance of an object from the transducer. This technique relies on reflection.
The echo ranging equation is z=ct.
z = distance c = speed of ultrasound in tissue t = time

A sound beam is transmitted into a medium and is reflected back from an object. The elapsed time between the transmitted pulse and the received echo is converted into the total distance traveled. (The z value is only half of the distance traveled away and back to the transducer. )

Sound speed (c) is equal to one over the square root of the density times compressibility.OR c= square root compressibility / square root density.This indicates that if the density of a material is increased the speed of sound in that material will also be increased.Sound travels faster in media that are denser than air because of reduced compressibility.The velocity of ultrasound remains constant for a particular medium.Where c=frequency X wavelength.Indicating that for a constant velocity as the frequency is increased the wavelength is reduced.Ultrasonic waves are reflected at boundaries where there is a difference in acoustic impedance (Z) of the materials on each side of the boundary.

Worthy of Noting: Light will travel through a vacuum, sound never will regardless of its frequency.

When ultrasound waves reach a boundary between two media (substances) with different densities, they are partly reflected back. The remainder of the ultrasound waves continue to pass through. What effects can higher Ultrasound waves have on an object, or a human when they pass through? Food for thought.

Southern SASquatch Expeditions
Author: Angela Ashton, Founder
#southernsasquatchexpeditions #bigfoot #sasquatch
https://www.facebook.com/southernsasquatchexpeditions/

The Winter Solstice and Animal Behavior

2018-01-14T10:40:00.002-06:00

The winter solstice is once again upon the Northern Hemisphere. Astronomical events were often used to guide activities such as the mating of animals, the sowing of crops and the monitoring of winter reserves of food. What is the solstice? It is an astronomical event caused by the tilt of the earth on its axis and its orbit around the sun. The result in the Northern Hemisphere is the longest night and the shortest day. It also is the first day of winter. As we welcome the shortest day of the year, let’s spend some time learning about how our ancestors honored the first day of winter.

Astronomical events were often used to guide activities such as the mating of animals, the sowing of crops and the monitoring of winter reserves of food.

A cause for celebration

It’s no coincidence that there are so many holidays around the time of this astronomical event. Since ancient times, people have celebrated the solstice and observed it with a variety of different cultural and religious traditions. Some of these traditions survive even to the present day.

The holiday timing surrounding the winter solstice is rooted in ancient religions. Throughout history, humans have observed this annual milestone and created both spiritual and cultural traditions to honor the “turning of the Sun” after the darkest period of the year.

No matter what our spiritual beliefs, or what part of the world we live, we all share the turning of the sun on the solstices. Winter Solstice on December 21 is the shortest day of the year for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. After the Winter Solstice, each day becomes longer until the longest day of the year arrives around June 21st.

Unlike the equinoxes (equal length of day and night), which last only a single day, the solstices last for 3 days! The winter solstice lasts from December 22nd until December 24th; three days of the shortest daylight, longest night. Then on December 25th, the Earth begins to wobble back the other direction, making it appear that the sun gets higher and higher in the sky.

That's why the ancients of the Northern Hemisphere considered December 25th as the birthday of the sun! The sun "died" on December 22nd and "raised" from the dead or was reborn 3 days later every year on December 25th! (That is why the Christians chose to celebrate the birth of their god on that day! No one really knows for sure when Jesus was born, except the Mormons, who say it was April 6th, but there is no actual physical evidence for that).

Hence the traditions that we so often associate with Christmas are actually winter solstice traditions. Take the example of the Christmas tree. Where did that come from? Well, after many years of searching, I came upon the origin of the Christmas tree completely by accident, and in the most unlikely place: MONGOLIA!

In ancient Egypt, there was the Feast of Aset (Isis), celebrated around the winter solstice. Asar (Osiris) was killed by his jealous brother Set and resurrected by his wife Aset (Isis). Osiris and Isis gave birth to Horus (the younger), who is the personification of the SUN!!!!

Honoring the solstice is something lost to most of us, and it feels deeply meaningful, in a mystical sort of way, to choose to make a glimmer of connection. Here is a winter solstice rite observed by many Native American tribes, and this is where I focus my research. It is a ritual that honors your ancestors, belief system, and a way of offering prayer and gratitude:

Prayer sticks are made by everyone in a family for four days before the solstice. On the day named as the solstice, the prayer sticks are planted-at least one by each person-in normal holes dug by the head of the household. Each prayer stick is named for an ancestor or deity.

Traditional prayer sticks are usually made out of cedar and are forked; Are equivalent to the measurement from the maker’s elbow to the tips of their fingers; and are taken from a tree that the maker feels connected to. Tobacco is offered to the largest tree of the same species in the area and permission is asked to take a part of its relative. The bark can be stripped. The bark can be carved on the stick. One feather should be added to the prayer stick; traditionally this is a wild turkey feather. A bit of tobacco is placed in a red cloth and tied onto one of the forks. Fur or bone from an animal that the maker wishes to honor is tied onto the stick. Metal or stones should not be tied to the stick. It is also customary to say prayers silently as one makes the prayer stick.

It is the time for the Holly King (the king of darkness) to do battle with the Oak King (king of lightness) once again. This happens twice every year. At the summer solstice (around June 21—the longest day and the shortest night) the days begin to shorten and the Holly King defeats the Oak King and reigns supreme in the dark times (or days getting shorter). But in December, following the winter solstice, the days begin to lengthen and the Oak King conquers the Holly King and reigns during the light times.

Wild Foods

To honor the Oak King, some of our ancestors would include acorn muffins, cakes, or breads in the evening feasts. (The process of making acorn flour is long, but rewarding.)

Fresh Greenery

Holly was the sacred plant of the Romans and their god Saturn. Holly was celebrated in by the week long Roman holiday of Saturnalia (which ended on December 23). The Romans made normal wreaths of holly and exchanged them as tokens of friendship.

Evergreen boughs (and trees), symbolizing the rebirth of nature and vegetation, were brought into the home; it was felt they had some special gift that they could remain green during the cold winter months.

Pine needles (check for edible varieties in your area) can be dried, and then crushed and added to teas, honeys, and breads for the evening, and the season.

Bonfires

Many traditions included a bonfire as an offering of light and fire and an appeal to the sun to warm the earth once again. Some traditions lead to contemplation of the past year, and throwing something into the fire that symbolized a habit one wanted to rid themselves of. (A modern version would be throwing in a cookie and asking to lose a few pounds!) One might throw something into the fire they would like to improve on during the upcoming year. (Now, perhaps you could throw in a single seed of plants you would like to grow or see flourish in 2017.)

Yule Logs

What we refer to now as the Yule log was traditionally a log made preferably of oak (for the Oak King), but ash, pine or birch were also acceptable. They were decorated with evergreen boughs, berries, or seeds. During the evening, the Yule log was burned. Believing the ashes were mystical, people spread them on fields, in the hopes of encouraging magical fertilization in the spring. A normal piece of the log was always saved and used to start the fire the following year.

It was the French who made the delightful confectionery version of the Yule log we know and cherish today!

In meteorology, winter in the Northern Hemisphere spans the entire period of December through February. The seasonal significance of the winter solstice is in the reversal of the gradual lengthening of nights and shortening of days. The earliest sunset and latest sunrise dates differ from winter solstice, however, and these depend on latitude, due to the variation in the solar day throughout the year caused by the Earth's elliptical orbit (see earliest and latest sunrise and sunset).

Worldwide, interpretation of the event has varied across cultures, but many have held a recognition of rebirth, involving holidays, festivals, gatherings, rituals or other celebrations around that time.

In astronomy, the winter solstice is the moment when the earth is at a point in its orbit where one hemisphere is most inclined away from the sun. This causes the sun to appear at its farthest below the celestial equator when viewed from earth. Solstice is a Latin borrowing and means "sun stand", referring to the appearance that the sun's noontime elevation change stops its progress, either northerly or southerly. The day of the winter solstice is the shortest day and the longest night of the year.

In the northern hemisphere, the winter solstice usually falls on December 21/December 22, which is the southern hemisphere's summer solstice. At this time, the sun appears over the Tropic of Capricorn, roughly 23.5 degrees South of the earth's equator. In the southern hemisphere, winter solstice falls on June 21/June 22, which is the northern hemisphere's summer solstice. At this time, the sun appears over the Tropic of Cancer.

Since the winter solstice, summer solstice, vernal equinox, and autumnal equinox were probably observed for the first time by people in the northern hemisphere, these naming conventions originally corresponded to the northern hemisphere's seasons. In most reckonings, the winter solstice is midwinter. In Ireland's calendar, the solstices and equinoxes all occur at about midpoint in each season. For example, winter begins on November 1, and ends on January 31.

No one is really sure how long ago humans recognized the winter solstice and began heralding it as a turning point -- the day that marks the return of the sun to the northern hemisphere.

Many cultures the world over perform solstice ceremonies. At their root -- an ancient fear that the failing light would never return unless humans intervened with anxious vigil or antic celebration. Most ancient cultures built Astronomical Observatories - tombs, temples, cairns among others, to align with the solstices and equinoxes.

The winter solstice was immensely important because the people were economically dependent on monitoring the progress of the seasons. Starvation was common during the first months of the winter, January to April (northern hemisphere) or July to October (southern hemisphere), also known as "the famine months". In temperate climates, the midwinter festival was the last feast celebration, before deep winter began.

Most cattle were slaughtered so they would not have to be fed during the winter, so it was almost the only time of year when a plentiful supply of fresh meat was available. The majority of wine and beer made during the year was finally fermented and ready for drinking at this time. The concentration of the observances were not always on the day commencing at midnight or at dawn, but at the beginning of the pagan day, which in many cultures fell on the previous eve.

Because the event was seen as the reversal of the Sun's ebbing presence in the sky, concepts of the birth or rebirth of sun gods have been common and, in cultures which used cyclic calendars based on the winter solstice, the "year as reborn" was celebrated with reference to life-death-rebirth deities or "new beginnings" such as Hogmanay's Redding, a New Year cleaning tradition. Also "reversal" is yet another frequent theme, as in Saturnalia's slave and master reversals.

There's much new scholarship about Neolithic peoples and their amazing culture. For example, it now looks as though writing is much more ancient than we earlier thought -- as much as 10,000 years old. Neolithic peoples were the first farmers. Their lives were intimately tied to the seasons and the cycle of harvest - which would mean that they were attuned to the movement of celestial objects and seasons. Scholars have not as yet found proof, though, that these peoples had the skill to pinpoint a celestial event like a solstice. Earliest markers of time, found from these ancient peoples are notches carved into bone that appear to count the cycles of the moon. But perhaps they watched the movement of the sun as well as the moon, and perhaps they celebrated it -- with fertility rites, with fire festivals, with offerings and prayers to their gods and goddesses. Many Native American Tribes, such as the Cherokee, would build offerings in the forests to the Sun God, for example, during Winter Solstice. Many of these gifts or offerings, were built out of rocks & stones and/or trees and branches.

So my question is, what if animals observe these events in some sort of ritualistic way as well? I have been conducting my own studies and mapping out when different Bigfoot structures or markings appear, how long they are present, and when they have been removed. I have noticed that structures are being built (including stick structures as well as rock structures) around the different seasonal events. For example a week to two weeks prior to the Winter Solstice, you will notice stick structures, and often rock structures are being erected. Could this be something that the Bigfoot creatures learned from their ancient Native American Friends? I have also started mapping out the alignment of these various structures to the different constellations in the sky. It is also worthy of mention that the animal species are affected by the different changes of seasons. For example, did you know that primates are more fertile and produce more sex hormones during the Winter Solstice? It was not uncommon for a primate to expand his home boundaries a great distance, as he mated with various females in the area during Winter Solstice.

Humans also experiences changes during these different seasonal events. Our ancient ancestors mapped out the constellations and held the change of seasons as sacred events, which are still celebrated by many cultures today.

Could these Bigfoot creatures actually be more intelligent than we give them credit for? I think so...by a long shot! I think every species of animal has far progressed beyond the caveman mentality....why would these creatures have not? Do they hold ancient secrets from our ancient ancestors relating to the sky, and the different changes of the seasons? Their behavioral patterns, according to my research, aligns with many ancient traditions and sacred structures built by our ancestors that we still see today.

Lets take a look at Primates, for example. You may well remember that in 2015, Chimps were observed conducting some sort of ritualistic behavior during the Spring Equinox. The media outlets, such as The New Scientist, Daily Mail in the U.K. and The Independent, ran with different theories about this observation, as outlined in the below text.

Mysterious chimpanzee behavior could be 'sacred rituals'

Scientists baffled by footage of primates throwing rocks and 'building shrines at sacred tree' for no reason. The ritual has similarities with the building of shrines or cairns, a human ritual that has been happening for thousands of years and across civilizations.

Biologists working in the Republic of Guinea found evidence for what seemed to be a “sacred tree” used by chimps, perhaps for some sort of ritual.

The discovery defied explanation. A researcher studying chimpanzees in the Savannahs of the Republic of Guinea was baffled by a strangely scarred tree she had found.

Laura Kehoe, a PhD student at Humboldt University in Berlin, wondered whether it was the work of the chimps.

So she set up a remote camera and it showed that chimpanzees were indeed behind it. What she found gave her goosebumps: chimps were placing stones in the hollow of trees, and bashing trees with rocks.A group had approached the tree and behaved in a highly unusual way.

Some of them threw stones at the tree for no apparent reason, which explained the scars. Others gathered stones and laid them at the foot of the tree, creating a rough cairn. This was no idle play.

Sign or symbol?

The behavior could be a means of communication, since rocks make a loud bang when they hit hollow trees. Or it could be more symbolic.

“Maybe we found the first evidence of chimpanzees creating a kind of shrine that could indicate sacred trees,” Kehoe wrote on her blog.

Of course it’s not proof that chimps believe in any kind of god, as the Daily Mail would have it, but it is the latest evidence of their extraordinarily rich behavior.

In recent years we’ve seen chimps using spears to hunt bushbabies, going to war, and seemingly using doll-shaped sticks as toys.

I especially liked this last study, which found that juvenile wild chimps – more commonly females – played with sticks as children play with dolls, cradling them and even making nests for them to sleep in.

The footage shows chimpanzees engaging in bizarre behavior — which might be a form of sacred ritual that could show the beginnings of a kind of religious belief.

Chimpanzees in West Africa have been spotted banging and throwing rocks against trees and throwing them into gaps inside, leading to piles of rocks. Those rocks do not appear to be for any functional purpose — and might be an example of an early version of ritual behavior.

The discovery might help researchers learn more about the basis of human religion and rituals, and how such activities formed in our own history.

The scientist described seeing the behavior through cameras that were set up to watch the chimpanzees. They saw them assembling piles of stones — of a similar kind of the ritual cairns that have been found throughout human history.

Chimpanzees and other apes have long been known to use stones and other materials as tools, including their use as nutcrackers to get into food that is cased in a hard shell. But the new behavior doesn’t seem to have the same functional purpose.

“This represents the first record of repeated observations of individual chimpanzees exhibiting stone tool use for a purpose other than extractive foraging at what appear to be targeted trees,” the researchers write in their abstract.

“The ritualized behavioral display and collection of artifacts at particular locations observed in chimpanzee accumulative stone throwing may have implications for the inferences that can be drawn from archaeological stone assemblages and the origins of ritual sites.”

For humans, stone buildings and piles have symbolized a wide variety of things, which have seen them used in burials and shrines. Those examples are often among the earliest examples of religious behavior in human history, and so the chimpanzee behavior could represent a similar instinct.

The chimpanzee behavior could also represent a direct connection with human religious rituals. Indigenous West African people also collect stones at sacred trees — and similar behavior is seen elsewhere — in a way that looks “eerily similar to what we have discovered here”, one of the researchers wrote.

In a piece written around the findings, researcher Laura Kehoe described the experience of watching the chimp look around and then fling a rock at the tree trunk.

“Nothing like this had been seen before and it gave me goose bumps,” she wrote.

The discovery could offer insights into the way that humanity’s sacred rituals began, she wrote.

“Marking pathways and territories with signposts such as piles of rocks is an important step in human history,” wrote Ms Kehoe. “Figuring out where chimps' territories are in relation to rock throwing sites could give us insights into whether this is the case here.”

Rain dance

But most pertinent to the discovery of the “shrine trees”, we’ve seen evidence of chimps displaying strange ritual-like behaviour in the last few years. First, a “ritual” dance performed during rainfall. Then a peculiar slow-motion display in the face of a bush fire in Senegal.

Jill Pruetz of Iowa State University, who observed the “fire dance” in 2006, said that the behavior seems to suggest that chimps have a conceptual understanding of fire. Perhaps they are paying respect to it, in some way. I’ve also heard stories of chimps performing dances in front of waterfalls.

Maybe chimps have some understanding of impressive natural phenomena such as rain storms, wild fires and waterfalls and are paying “respect” to them. So I always hoped that we’d find evidence of a “temple” in the forest.

Pruetz, who is involved in the new study, thinks the chimps bang stones to communicate. Many males drum on root buttresses as the noise carries further than the standard chimp cry, the pant-hoot, she says. But often there aren’t any trees with buttress roots, so perhaps they bang stones instead.

Bang if you can hear me

What about chimps storing stones in hollow trees, though?

“It does seem to be a tradition found in some groups,” she says. “If that fits the definition of proto-ritualistic, I have no problem with it.”

“It’s such a cool observation,” says primate cognitive psychologist Laurie Santos of Yale University.

See this stone? I’m going to make a really loud noise with it

MPI-EVA PanAf/Chimbo Foundation

“But I worry that we don’t yet know how to interpret it.”

“In my monkey behavior experience, low noises often serve a communicative function – males trying to act dominant, etc. – so my instinct is that this behavior might work a lot like that,” she says.

Naturally, it’s way too soon to conclude that this is proto-religious behavior. For one thing, even pigeons have been described as showing “superstitious” behavior. “We’d need more observation – and perhaps actual experiments – to know if chimpanzees are using the behavior as anything like a ritual,” Santos says.

Incidentally, I used to think of stories like these as chipping away at the various claims to uniqueness that we erected to separate us from other animals. For example the creation of musical instruments by wild apes, evidence that chimps show empathy, and intimations of mortality in a range of animals.

I don’t see it quite like that anymore. It’s hard to argue that we’re not unique when asked if chimps could build their own LHC, as one primatologist once asked me.

MPI-EVA PanAf/Chimbo Foundation

But I do see these stories as vital for the way they spectacularly illuminate our own roots. The evolutionary origin of religion is profoundly important to understanding human culture, for example. So it’s essential to examine any possible roots of this in other animals. And for their own sake, with all the conservation pressures chimps face, a deeper understanding of our closest relatives can only be a good thing.

Journal reference: Scientific Reports, DOI: 10.1038/srep22219

Chimps may not stage operas, but they do have “culture”, says an international team of chimpanzee researchers. They have found 39 different behaviors, including courting rituals and foraging techniques, that seem to have been passed down in only some chimp societies.

Many behaviors are instinctive because they are programmed into the genes and do not need to be learned. Others are cultural and are passed on through some kind of observational learning or imitation. There have been scattered reports of such learning in a few species, such as a unique song shared by a bird community, but scientists are still divided on whether any animals have a broad enough repertoire of learned behaviors to constitute a culture.

Andrew Whiten, a baboon specialist at the University of St Andrews in Fife, hoped to shed some light on this. He got together with the directors of seven Chimp research stations, including Jane Goodall of the Gombe Stream Research Center in Tanzania. Together, they drew up a list of 65 separate activities that chimps had indulged in during a combined total of more than 150 years of observations.The most interesting thing turned out to be the behaviors that were absent in some groups. In some cases, there was a good ecological explanation. Chimps had not learned to crack open nuts, for instance, in regions where nuts are not available.

But often missing behaviors could not simply be explained away. In Mahale, Tanzania, for example, chimps in one group all fished for termites with leaves. But a second group in Mahale and one in Gombe, where both termites and leaves were plentiful, did not do this.

Only chimps from the Taï forest site in the Ivory Coast regularly poked sticks into hives to kill bees and flick them out. And only the Gombe chimps tickled themselves with twigs.

The team also found that four of the study populations did a ritual dance when rain began to fall, two others sometimes began to dance, while another group did nothing at all at the start of a downpour. Even ways of attracting attention varied. Three of the populations always snapped branches; one of these also knocked their knuckles loudly on trees, as did two other groups that hadn’t discovered the potential of branch-snapping.

In all, the researchers ended up with a list of 39 separate examples of behaviors that were present in some populations but inexplicably absent from others. “All these behaviors were passed on by observation,” Whiten concludes.

Frans De Waal, a primate researcher at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, says chimps have an impressive record: “The evidence is overwhelming that chimpanzees have a remarkable ability to invent new customs and technologies, and they pass these on socially rather than genetically.”

Chimp’s dance suggests a mental grasp of fire & Other Ritualistic Behavior

Source: New Scientist

Chimps have been reported dancing in rainstorms – and now it seems our closest relation has a “fire dance”, too. A dominant male chimp performed such a dance in the face of a raging Savannah fire in Senegal.

Anthropologist Jill Pruetz of Iowa State University in Ames recounts that the male faced the fire with “a really exaggerated slow-motion display” before redirecting his display at chimps sheltering in a nearby baobab tree. Barking vocalizations from the male, never heard in more than 2000 hours of monitoring the group, were also heard.

Pruetz and co-author Thomas LaDuke at the East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania suggest that the chimps were cognizant enough to predict the fire’s movement, retreating short distances at a time while staying calm. Other animals, in contrast, panic when fire approaches.

“If chimps with their normal brain size can conceptually deal with fire, then maybe we should rethink some of the earliest evidence for fire usage,” Pruetz says. The earliest confirmed evidence of controlled fire use dates to several thousand years ago but some palaeoanthropologists argue control began as far back as 1 to 2 million years ago. The chimps’ responses to two fires – set for land clearance – were seen in 2006.

Primatologist William McGrew at the University of Cambridge is wary of granting chimps a “conceptualization of fire”, but further work could yield interesting results, he says.

In this clip, for example, the Chimps appear to be doing some sort of ritual to the Sun, similar to Native American Ritual dances and chants to the Sun during events such as the Winter Solstice.

Journal reference: American Journal of Physical Anthropology, DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.21245

Are Wild Chimpanzees Building Shrines?

I trampled clumsily through the dense undergrowth, attempting in vain to go a full five minutes without getting snarled in the thorns that threatened my every move. It was my first field mission in the Savannahs of the Republic of Guinea. The aim was to record and understand a group of wild chimpanzees that had never been studied before. These chimps are not lucky enough to enjoy the comforts of a protected area, but instead carve out their existence in the patches of forests between farms and villages.

We paused at a clearing in the bush. I let out a sigh of relief that no thorns appeared to be within reach, but why had we stopped? I made my way to the front of the group to ask the chief of the village and our legendary guide, Mamadou Alioh Bah. He told me he had found something interesting—a few markings on a tree trunk. Some in our group of six suggested that wild pigs had made these marks while scratching up against the tree trunk; others suggested it was teenagers messing around.

But Alioh had a hunch. This man can find a single fallen chimp hair on the forest floor, and he can spot chimps kilometers away with his naked eye better than I can with expensive binoculars. So when he has a hunch, you listen to that hunch. We set up a camera trap in the hope that whatever made these marks would come back and do it again, so we could catch it all on film.

Camera traps automatically start recording when any movement occurs in front of them. For this reason they are an ideal tool for recording animals doing their own thing without any disturbance. I made notes to return to the same spot in two weeks (as that’s roughly how long the batteries last) and we moved on, back into the wilderness.

Whenever you return to a camera trap there is always a sense of excitement in the air of the mysteries that it could hold. Most of our videos consist of branches swaying in strong winds or wandering farmers’ cows enthusiastically licking the camera lens, but still there is an uncontrollable anticipation that maybe something amazing has been captured.

What we saw on this camera was exhilarating—a large male chimp approaches our mystery tree and pauses for a second. He then quickly glances around, grabs a huge rock and flings it full force at the tree trunk.

Nothing like this had been seen before and it gave me goose bumps. Jane Goodall first discovered wild chimps using tools in the 1960s. Chimps use twigs, leaves, sticks, and some groups even use spears in order to get food. Stones have also been used by chimps to crack open nuts and cut open large fruit. Occasionally, chimps throw rocks in displays of strength to establish their position in a community.

But what they discovered during their now-published study wasn’t a random, one-off event, it was a repeated activity with no clear link to gaining food or status. In other words, it could be a ritual. We searched the area and found many more sites where trees had similar markings and in many places piles of rocks had accumulated inside hollow tree trunks—reminiscent of the piles of rocks archaeologists have uncovered while studying early human history.

Videos poured in. Other groups working on the project began searching for trees with telltale markings. We found the same mysterious behavior in normal pockets of Guinea Bissau, Liberia, and Côte d’Ivoire but nothing east of this, despite searching across the entire chimp range from the western coasts of Guinea all the way to Tanzania.

I spent many months in the field, along with many other researchers, trying to figure out what these chimps are up to. So far we have two main theories. The behavior could be part of a male display, to which the loud bang made when a rock hits a hollow tree adds emphasis. This could be important in areas where there are not many trees with large roots on which chimps would normally drum their powerful hands and feet. Trees that produce an impressive bang could accompany or replace feet drumming, and thus become popular spots for revisits.

On the other hand, the behavior could be more symbolic—and more reminiscent of our own past. Marking pathways and territories with signposts such as piles of rocks is an important step in human history. Figuring out where chimps’ territories are in relation to rock throwing sites could give us insights into whether the same idea applies to them.

Even more intriguing than this, we may have found the first evidence of chimpanzees’ creating a kind of shrine or “sacred” trees. Indigenous West African people have stone collections at sacred trees and such man-made stone collections, commonly observed across the world, look eerily similar to what we have discovered here.

To unravel this distinction, and other mysteries of our closest living relatives, we must make space for them in the wild. In the Ivory Coast alone, chimpanzee populations have decreased by more than 90 percent in the last 17 years.

A combination of increasing human populations, habitat destruction, poaching, and infectious disease now endangers chimpanzees. Leading scientists warn us that, if nothing changes, chimps and other great apes will have only 30 years left in the wild. In the unprotected forests of Guinea, where we first discovered this enigmatic behavior, rapid deforestation is rendering the area close to uninhabitable for the chimps that once thrived there. Allowing chimpanzees in the wild to continue spiraling toward extinction will not only be a critical loss to biodiversity, but a tragic loss to our own heritage, too.

You can support chimps with your time, by becoming a citizen scientist and helping spy on their behavior at www.chimpandsee.org, and with your wallet by donating to the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation. Who knows what we might find next that could forever change our understanding of our closest relatives. Now let's look at ape intelligence and other normal ape behaviors.

Incredible footage shows monkeys using saw to cut tree branches and hunt bush babies with handmade spears

The orangutans and chimps are caught on camera making tools, using soap and hunting like humans.

When it comes to using tools, our closest animal relatives are kings of the jungle. Incredible new footage reveals that monkeys are a dab hand at hunting and woodwork. Scientists used to think that only humans could make weapons for killing other mammals. But the footage shows our primate cousins sharpening sticks to create spears to use to hunt bush babies.

Completely wild orangutan knows what to do with a saw

It also captures an orangutan using a saw to enthusiastically chop branches - with great precision.

The remarkable scenes were filmed for the BBC One series 'Spy in the Wild', which features 'spy-bots' - lifelike robots disguised as different animals.

In the footage, due to air tomorrow night, a troop of chimps in Senegal, Africa, are seen going on the hunt for dinner using spears.

It can take five years for a monkey to master this skill, says former Doctor Who star David Tennant, who narrates the program.

The chimps start by hunting termites. But soon, things turn more sinister as the monkeys go on the hunt for adorable bush babies.

The footage is captured using an ingenious bush baby 'spy' - a cuddly robot replica with a camera for eyes.

But it's the females of the troop that are the real pros.

They use well-crafted weapons, while the males tend to end up with weaker, more flexible branches.

Making a spear that is long and strong enough is a challenge, but our evolutionary cousins rise to the challenge.

One amusing clip shows a bemused male trying to spear his lunch before giving up and deciding to go for a nap.

Another clip reveals orangutans from Borneo, Asia, acting exactly like humans.

The amazing footage was captured using a 'spy-rock' and shows why scientists think monkeys are one of the brainiest species in the animal kingdom.

'Spy-Orangutan' is one of over 30 different robot animals

designed for the program (Image: BBC)

In the clip, one female orangutan is seen using tree bark as soap by rubbing it all over her arms.

Astonishingly, the monkey finds a saw and begins cutting up branches despite being totally wild.

Her opposable thumbs come to good use as she saws at the wood.

She is being watched by 'Spy-Orangutan' - a robot monkey camera who decides to join in with its own saw.

She even clears away the sawdust as she hacks through the branch, using her feet like a vice to hold it still.

But the monkeys aren't used to hard work and are soon exhausted. Yawning, the female decides to call it a day.

Chimp nest architecture has lasting foundations

WHEN a chimpanzee builds a tree house, it goes for the lazy option: prefab. Although they make a new nest every night, chimps often build them on branches that have previously been shaped into the perfect foundation.

While animals like beavers and birds are famous for their nest-building, the great apes – including chimpanzees – are the only primates to build such structures. Chimps start by climbing high into the trees, often tens of meters above ground. There they bend and break branches to form a circular platform, which they top off with a soft mattress of twigs and leaves.

Fiona Stewart of the University of Cambridge and colleagues spent three years studying chimp nests in the Issa region of west Tanzania. Of 275 nest sites, a quarter were re-used within nine months of being built and nearly half within 18 months. The main bulk of the nests tend to decay within six months, so the chimps often returned long after the materials had rotted away (Journal of Human Evolution, DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.05.005).

Closer examination revealed that the chimps left scars at 79 per cent of sites: some branches were broken or ripped off, while others had been bent, forcing them to grow in a new direction. Branches were also often arranged in a horizontal triangle that acted as a nest support. In effect, the chimps left foundations in place to build on when they returned. This is further evidence that chimps can plan ahead, says Jill Pruetz of Iowa State University in Ames.

The findings may open a new avenue for studies into chimp archaeology, says Michael Haslam of the University of Oxford. Haslam studies the evolution of behaviour and culture and thinks archaeology has focused too much on the highly unusual human animal.

He is excavating stone tools used by Brazilian capuchin monkeys, and wonders if ancient trees may retain a record of evolving chimp architecture.

Apes' Simple Nests Are Feats of Engineering

When they are ready to snuggle up at the tops of trees, great apes make themselves cozy "nests" in which to rest for the night. New studies of these one-night nests reveal their incredible complexity.

"They are almost as complex as a man-made shelter you might make," study researcher A. Roland

Ennos of the University of Manchester, in the United Kingdom, told LiveScience. "They know how the wood is going to break, and they have a feel for how strong they have to make it [the nest]. That shows the apes have intelligence and have a feel for the physics of their environment."

These nests are about 4 to 5 feet long and about 3 feet wide (1.2 to 1.5 meters long, and slightly less

that 1 meter wide). The apes make them in the forest canopy, which can be between 30 and 60 feet (10 and 20 m) up, and it takes them only about 10 minutes to build. They use the nests only once, and then move on. The nests keep them warmer, away from insects and keep them safe, up off the forest floor.

Nests for napping

In the new study, published today (April 16) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers studied fresh nests left by wild orangutans in Indonesia. They studied the size, shape and composition of the nests, which are made in the crooks of large branches; living branches about an inch (3 centimeters) wide, are bent and interwoven to form the nest.

"They are just bent. They can actually stay living and later on you can go back to them and see they are like an archeological artifact of all these strangely bent items," Ennos said. "It's very similar to weaving a basket, they have to break the branches, weave them together and form a nice, strong, rigid structure." [Sleep Soundly: Images of Primate Nests]

They even use the Normalest branches to line the nest, building a mattress and pillow of sorts.

These complicated nests are a sort of tool for the apes. "In order to build these nests they must have some sort of picture and feel for the world and the strength of branches and how they behave," Ennos said. "People talk about man as the tool user and tool master, but the nest of the orangutan is really a complicated tool for sleeping."

Chimp nests

Other great apes make complex nests as well, including chimpanzees and bonobos. Another recent study, published March 28 in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, analyzed the nest-building habits of West African chimpanzees.

The researchers saw the chimps built nests very similar to those of the orangutans, except sometimes the chimps chose to nest on the ground. To find out what caused the chimps to sleep on the ground versus way up in the trees, where it's seemingly safer from predators, the researchers gathered information about the areas where they found either ground or tree nests.

Chimpanzee nest-building habits could provide clues to what drove humans from the trees.

Researchers have suggested that perhaps a lack of trees in different habitats could have caused humans to nest on the ground. The new study didn't find evidence that ground-nesting chimpanzees do so because of a lack of trees. (Past research published in 2011 in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology found that chimp nests in trees were better at keeping away insects and were also warmer than sleeping on the ground.)

"This suggests that our direct ancestors were neither the only, nor the first, species to come down from the trees," study researcher Katherlijne Koops, of the University of Cambridge, said in a statement. "This is intriguing as it has long been believed that coming down from the trees was a crucial evolutionary shift." Resource: Live Science

Ape Sounds:

When Do the Seasons of the Year Begin?

Listed below are the equinox and solstice dates and times, based on the Eastern Time Zone (ET). Adjust to your time zone. Note that an almanac is an astronomical “calendar of the heavens;” these dates are not based on local meteorology.

For readers of The Old Farmer’s Almanac, these dates mark the start of the spring, summer, autumn, and winter seasons in the Northern Hemisphere.

Note: The times are based on Eastern time. Subtract 3 hours for Pacific time, 2 hours for Mountain time, 1 hour for Central time, or whatever is relevant to your time zone. In the case of Summer Solstice 2017, the date will shift back to June 20 for some time zones.

Seasons of 2017:
SPRING EQUINOX	March 20, 6:29 A.M. EDT
SUMMER SOLSTICE	June 21, 12:24 A.M. EDT
FALL EQUINOX	September 22, 4:02 P.M. EDT
WINTER SOLSTICE	December 21, 11:28 A.M. EST

Seasons of 2018:
SPRING EQUINOX	March 20, 12:15 P.M. EDT
SUMMER SOLSTICE	June 21, 6:07 A.M. EDT
FALL EQUINOX	September 22, 9:54 P.M. EDT
WINTER SOLSTICE	December 21, 5:23 P.M. EST

Southern SASquatch Expeditions
Author: Angela Ashton, Founder
#southernsasquatchexpeditions #bigfoot #sasquatch
https://www.facebook.com/southernsasquatchexpeditions/https://www.facebook.com/southernsasquatchexpeditions/

2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

2017-12-13T21:01:00.000-06:00

National Geographic judges have named the 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year!

An orangutan peers from behind a tree in the grand prize winning image from Nature Photographer of the Year Jayaprakash Joghee Bojan. See All the National Geographic Nature Photography Winners Here.

"While looking for wild orang-utans in Tanjung putting national park, Indonesia, we witnessed this amazing sight of this huge male crossing a river despite the fact there were crocodiles in the river. Rapid palm oil farming has depleted their habitat and when pushed to the edge these intelligent creatures have learnt to adapt to the changing landscape, This is proof considering orang-utans hate water and never venture into a river. I got into the 5 feet deep river to get this perspective." -Jayaprakash Joghee Bojan

Here are more photos from Bojan's Orangutan photo shoot:

Angela Ashton, Founder
Southern SASquatch Expeditions

See more of National Geographic's Favorites Here.

'Ancient Animal Communications' Does it Work?

2017-12-11T00:30:00.000-06:00

I, personally as a researcher, have always tried to mix in various other unconventional, yet scientific techniques with my research. I use things like Plasma Paper in front of Camcorders when in a fixed position to see if any heat signatures from any unseen prints appear on the paper before the camera. As with anything in this field of research, I can't say for certain if Cloaking is real or not, but I thought it was worth a try to attempt to capture something. I have checked into using other research equipment, such as GPR (ground penetrating radar)/Sonar to test the ground underneath stick structures and markings. I am curious to know if under those structures or markings, there could be tunnels, spring water, or even some sort of unusual energy field. Maybe the answers are much deeper than the surface of what we know and presume in this field of research. Technology is always advancing, and we, as researchers, should explore other opportunities and ideas. I remember once on a trip in KY that had nothing to do with Bigfoot research, we were out in a Civil War area one night discussing it's history. I happened to have a FLIR T640 on me at the time when we started getting howls, tree breaks and rocks thrown. We were down in the trenches when it started, and the sounds were extremely close. I came up out of the trenches and ran around the corner, FLIR in hand. It was my first time to see heat signatures from actual footprints. Everyone was in awe! There was a large track of prints with very vivid toes in view, prints approximately 16' in length, with a trail of them leading to the edge of a cliff, where it appeared to have jumped off the cliff. We couldn't tell how far the drop was in the darkness. My point being, before FLIR, we were working with very little technology, so I am always looking at new ideas for using different technology in my research.

During my animal communications research, I was blown away the first time I heard kulning, the unique Scandinavian herding call that's also a song. You may be asking, "why is she talking about kulning in a Bigfoot Blog?" Bear with me...I'm about to share with you an ancient secret that works rather well in this field of research. Maybe it's my Cherokee heritage coming out in a spiritual sort of form and connecting to the ancient tone, I don't know for sure what draws me in; but I can only imagine that it may have the same effect on other living creatures. Years ago in the midst of my research, it occurred to me that if we were dealing with a highly intelligent creature, we had to find a way to communicate....a way that speaks to them on another level. The usual gifting is great, but it's not really the communication I was looking for. I wanted to reach them on some other level of intelligence....and what one thing speaks to people across all barriers? Music. I have an American Eskimo Spitz that is 14 years old, but when I got him at 4 weeks, there was only one thing that would calm him and make him sleep....yes, music. But not just any music wood do. It took me awhile to find what worked best, but he would sleep through the night to Native American Flute music (another sound I often play when I'm out in the Forest). Not only was this animal completely drawn to music, but he would insist you turn off a song he did not like, by barking continuously. Of course that put the wheels in motion for me and I started researching animals and music, when I stumbled upon Kulning.

This technique seems to put cattle in a trance when done properly. The video footage shows artist and

photographer Jonna Jinton, 26, making full use of an ancient Swedish herding call for her first time trying it, to request the presence of the cows. Grazing off in the distance the herd immediately prick up their ears at the sound of Jonna's voice. She wrote: 'The cows came running and I loved the feeling… although they also brought with them millions of tiny gnats and mosquitoes. 'But the feeling of getting to stand there and share a moment with the cows was unbeatable. Not to mention the finish.'

Kulning is an ancient herding call often used to call livestock (cows, goats, etc.) down from high mountain pastures where they have been grazing during the day. It is believed that the sound may also serve to scare away predators (wolves, bears, etc.), but this is not the main purpose of the call. It's not just a dramatic melody. Kulning developed as a way for (mostly female) herders to call sheep, cows and goats down from the hills where they were grazing. Its use can be traced back to mountainous Swedish and Norwegian areas (where it's called kauking) when animals were domesticated in medieval times. It has some similarities to yodeling, which was also a communication form that echoes against mountains and down into valleys — maintaining as much of the sound as possible over great distances and varied terrain. It's meant to be a loud, strong sound, because the most important purpose is for communication. We often ask "What did people do before modern communications technology?" At least in this case, the answer is they developed incredibly beautiful musical calls that sing through the mountains.

The song has a high-pitched vocal technique, i.e. a loud call using head tones, so that it can be heard

or be used to communicate over long distances. It has a fascinating and haunting tone, often conveying a feeling of sadness, in large part because the lokks often include typical half-tones and quarter-tones (also known as "blue tones") found in the music of the region. Linguist/phonetician Robert Eklund, speech therapist Anita McAllister and kulning singer/speech therapist Fanny Pehrson studied the difference between kulning voice production and head-voice (sometimes also somewhat erroneously referred to as falsetto voice) production in both indoors (normal and anechoic rooms) and in an ecologically valid outdoor setting near Dalarna, Sweden. The song analyzed was the same in all cases, and was performed by the same kulning singer (Pehrson). Comparing kulning to head-voice, they found that partials were visible in far higher registers in kulning than in head-voice (easily observed up to 16 kHz) and that they were also less affected by an increased distance from the source than head-voice, with more or less unaffected partial patterns when comparing a distance of 11 meters from the source, compared to 1 meter from the source. In the outdoor setting, they also found that head-voice production exhibited a 25.2 dB decrease at 11 meters from the source, compared to 1 meter from the source, while the corresponding amplitude decrease in kulning was only 9.4 dB, which is a clear indication that kulning is well-suited to carry over long distances in an outdoor setting. Or, as the authors summarize these findings:

"it was shown that kulning fell off less with distance from an intensity point of view, and also that partials in kulning – but not in head voice – remained more or less unperturbed 11 meters from the singer, as compared to 1 meter from the singer. Both results help explain why kulning as a singing mode was developed for calling cattle that might be at considerable distance from the singer" (Eklund & McAllister, 2015).

When a call is made in a valley, it rings and echoes against the mountains. The animals, a number of whom wear bells tuned so that the livestock's location can be heard, begin to respond to the call, answering back and the sound of the bells indicates that they are moving down the mountain towards their home farm. The kulokks can belong to an individual, but are sometimes family-based and are handed down so that a family's cows know they are being called and thus respond. A number of calls contain names of individual (sometimes the "lead") animals, as herds are not very large.

Although when I am out in the woods by myself, I have my own way of doing this, but not everyone wants to try Kulning. I have downloaded the above track and play it often when I am out in the field conducting research. It is such a beautifully haunting sound that echoes through the forest, and seems to affect all the wildlife around me, including the birds. I have to say that there has not been even one time that I did not get a response from the audio, and I have been using this technique for about 14 years now. But let me warn you...you will need a parabolic and some good earphones.....this sounds travels a long distance, so your responses often come from far, far away and are either barely heard, or not heard by the human ear. With the parabolic, the responses come in loud and clear. I have heard various different responses, ranging from haunting howls, to a sort of Yodeling or song response, grunts and grumbles, whoops, Native American sounding chants, to a sort of ancient Syrian type chatter. Go ahead and give it a try next time you are out in the forest alone...nobody has to know. You can thank me later. 😊

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The Eaglecam Footage - but What if it is Real?

2017-12-10T19:34:00.001-06:00

The camera nestled in the branches of a Michigan forest treetop, and 85' off the ground, was meant to give us an intimate look into the domestic life of a newly expanded eagle family. Instead, we caught a glimpse of a dark figure stalking the forest floor, starting rumors of Bigfoot. But the dark, stooped figure could simply be a starving bipedal bear according to some experts. The sighting occurred on the Platte River State Fish Hatchery near Beulah, Michigan and was caught on the “Eagle Cam” streaming on CarbonTV, which broadcasts live streams of cameras in natural areas. The camera that caught the mysterious hulking figure was placed above a bald eagle nest in order to record a family of recently-hatched eaglets.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources runs the hatchery on whose land the sighting occurred. Ed Eisch, manager of Fish Production for Michigan DNR, told the Detroit Free Press that while some are speculating like mad about what the shadowy hulk in the video might be, the footage is ultimately inconclusive. "Like most videos purported to be Bigfoot, it's grainy and out of focus — of course, the camera wasn't set up to be focused on the ground; it was focused on the nest," Ed Eisch, DNR Fish Production manager of Michigan, told USA Today. The footage was not noticed for quite some time after the recording...not until CarbonTV’s editors began reviewing their archives.

I still find this footage very interesting. Assuming that most, if not all of the best videos today happen by accident, this video would fall into that category. The subject doesn't appear to know that the camera is there. It seems to be just passing through. I'm wondering what is going on with the movement in the trees to the left. It doesn't appear to be wind as it is only those trees moving...as if something very large is thrashing about or shaking trees, or a pack of something went barrelling through there in fear running for their lives.

The first thing I noticed about the subject, was the manner of walking...as a human would walk if trying not to leave footsteps in the mud, or get mud on their feet. This would be typical behavior for something not wanting to leave impressions in the open trail, but not likely behavior for a hoaxer. What I find most intriguing is the part where it appears to gather it's composure and steady itself to make a jump up on what appears to be a rather large fallen tree. Considering the distance from the camera to the subject, this appears to be a pretty high jump. Once the subject jumps up, it gathers its balance with the help of a nearby tree, and then jumps down from the fallen log, proceeding down a rather steep embankment at a pretty good rate of speed....an embankment that takes a sharp decline down hill. If it's a hoax, that's a pretty risky move to leap up onto a log on the edge of a steep embankment like that out in the wilderness, and then run down the steep and treacherous slope. I think what has my attention is how it looks even from that distance. The subject uses its arms to maneuver, and I have witnessed this move myself in one of my encounters. Another thing we have to consider with this footage is size of the subject. This footage was shot 85 feet off the ground, so something that may appear small on the ground from this viewpoint, could in fact be extremely large. So keep in mind the distance of the camera, and the slope distance when determining the size of the subject. I think the truth here is in the little signs...how it appears to think through it's movements, has patience, calculates and plans, and then the movements just make sense. Notice when it jumps onto the fallen tree, it places one hand on the log briefly and comes up with both feet planted at the same time on the tree as it manages to stay balanced and fully extended in a standing position instantly, and appears to do all that with substantial size. A human does not jump upwards onto objects at a substantial height distance, with both feet planting on the log at the same time & maintain balance that way. Especially if they are wearing a bulky fur suit and maneuvering a move like that. Well unless you are a pretty damn good gymnast, that is. And let's face it, a gymnast is usually lean and not bulked up. As with any footage, it could indeed be a hoax, but we owe it to the field to evaluate the footage on a scientific level, based on what we have gathered over the years in research. I know I speak for everyone when I say the number of hoax videos circulating are exhausting, so it makes it a chore to even view and evaluate for validity the number of alleged captures being circulated. I know I myself have even been guilty of automatically assuming "hoax" and not even looking. However, that is not what we are here for...we as researchers, owe it to the field to take an objective and scientific look at footage that at least warrants a second look.

Obviously an Eagle Cam is too far away to pickup much detail, but the footage is interesting to say the least. That doesn't stop all the theories from circulating though. Comments on various outlets covering the sighting have spiraled out of control. Some stand firmly behind their belief that this is a true Bigfoot sighting, while others are not convinced and believe it is a bear or a hoaxer in a suit. I'm not sure how many people would even know that camera was there 85 feet above the terrain below, but anything is possible.

Barring the possibility that it is, indeed, the legendary Bigfoot Creature, could it be … a bear? Well, sure: According to Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources, the state home to roughly 15,000 to 19,000 black bears — 90 percent of which are in the state’s northern reaches — where Platte River State Fish Hatchery is located. Black bears normally walk on all fours, but they have been known to walk upright to get a better look at things. Is this maybe-bear scoping out its next snack? The amount of time it spends on its hind legs seems extraordinarily long, but malnourished bears have been known to go bipedal for longer. So let's take a look at the possibility of a malnourished bear.

In 2015, footage of a black bear that walked like a human went viral, but later shown to be evidence of malnourishment. As The Dodo reported, it’s likely that the bear — which is thought to have been rescued by Laotian wildlife rangers from an illegal, inhumane “bile farm” — was so malnourished (you can tell by its short legs, small body, and large head) that it was easier for it to walk on its hind legs. Indeed, the starved Laos bear walked fairly comfortably, not unlike Michigan’s maybe-bear, although it strode with far less confidence, as we can see below. Notice how short the arms and legs are, and how awkward the movement is....I can't see this malnourished, short limbed bear making that leap up onto that tree, and then jumping down and running down an embankment on two feet. It just my opinion, but malnourished bears look entirely different than what we are seeing in this video footage.

Ok, so now let's address the hoax. I know there is a guy who claims he lives in Michigan, and claims it was him in a suit. I have included a screen shot image below which shows him wearing his alleged hoax suit. Although I find this idea ridiculous, I am laying out the facts for everyone to form their own opinion. I think it is also worthy of mention that this same man has claimed responsibility for several Bigfoot captures that have been released to the public, ranging from Michigan to North Carolina, as I outline in the stories below.

Here is another article where the same man claims he is responsible for a sighting in North Carolina and claims he lives in Minnesota rather than Michigan.

'That was me': Minnesota shaman who was wearing hair-covered animal skins says he is the SASQUATCH spotted by the Bigfoot 911 team

A group called Bigfoot 911 claimed to have encountered the creature on Friday
Gawain MacGregor, 36, claims that it was him that the group saw in the woods
He was performing a shamanistic ritual in North Carolina when he saw the group
He wears a special garment made of raccoon skins in an attempt to connect with an ancient character called Enkidu, which is similar to Bigfoot, during his rituals

"A Minnesota man says that cryptozoology enthusiasts have mistaken him for Bigfoot after reports surfaced about an alleged sighting in North Carolina last week." What, again?? This guy sure does get around the U.S. alot showing up in Bigfoot videos and sightings!

Gawain MacGregor, 36, claims he was performing a shamanistic ritual in the woods of Pisgah in western North Carolina on Friday night when people claimed to encounter Bigfoot in the same area.

As part of his ritual, MacGregor was wearing a special garment made of raccoon skins in an attempt to connect with an ancient character called Enkidu, which is similar to Bigfoot.

He said he was in the woods performing his ritual while traveling through North Carolina when researchers from Bigfoot 911 encountered him believing he was the creature they were looking for.

According to Gawain MacGregor, 36, he was performing a shamanistic ritual in the woods of Pisgah in western North Carolina on Friday night when people claimed to encounter Bigfoot in the same area. As part of his ritual, MacGregor was wearing a special garment made of raccoon skins.

'That was me,' he told The McDowell News . 'It's not a coincidence.'

The Charlotte Observer revealed earlier this week that a member of the Bigfoot-watching group claimed to have had an encounter with a 'large bipedal animal covered in hair,' on Friday night at about 11pm, in a wooded area in North Carolina's McDowell County.

John Bruner, of Bigfoot 911, reported that at the time of the apparent sighting, he and six others were in the woods, spreading out glow sticks in hopes of attracting Bigfoot's attention.

Greenville, South Carolina police warned its community against shooting during a close encounter with Bigfoot. In the post, police exhorted: 'If you see Bigfoot, please do not shoot at him/her, as you'll most likely be wounding a fun-loving and well-intentioned person, sweating in a gorilla costume.'

MacGregor said that it wasn't Bigfoot that the group saw on Friday - it was him.

He claimed that he walked away from the group quickly and did not throw rocks at anyone, as Bruner had previously claimed.

He says that he is a Christian who incorporates the ancient Assryo-Bablyonian religions predating Christianity into his faith.

'Shamanistic traditions are the oldest in the world so to me it's not that out of the ordinary,' he told The

McDowell News. 'For me, it's no different than going to church on Sunday.'

He said that wearing the raccoon skins and wandering the forest is part of practicing Enkinduism.

'The foremost sacrament I practice is the wearing of hair-covered animal skins and wandering in the forest, the same way Gilgamesh honored him thousands of years ago,' he said.

See Full story from U.K.'s Daily Mail Here.

I'm just going to go ahead and throw this out there...this guy appears to be a hoaxer himself...not to mention, he is obviously not what we are looking at in this Eaglecam footage. What are your thoughts on the video footage?

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Mysterious stick structures in Santa Fe National Forest in NM pose safety risk, Forest Service says

2017-12-07T10:25:00.002-06:00

NORTH NEW MEXICO – Quoted from KOB News: "It looks like something out of a horror movie, and officials say it's illegal and dangerous." Seriously? This should be an interesting story to follow...

Mysterious stick structures have been popping up in the Santa Fe National Forest, and people are stumbling upon them. Jake Matthews, who mountain bikes in the area, said he's always noticed them all over the area.

"I've seen them as long as I've probably been riding these trails, for 10 or 12 years now. I've seen them that whole time," Matthew said.

But forest officials say they've become more common, especially around Tesuque Peak Road at Aspen Vista.

"I don't think they're necessarily a nuisance, but I understand the rules are definitely the rules here," Matthew said.

And the rules say the mysterious structures are being illegally constructed. In fact, a fine of as much as $5,000 could await the person building them. A group of people would be looking at even bigger consequences.

Forest Service officials say the structures pose a health and safety hazard; one of them could collapse or could even spark a big fire, especially as some of the structures are built around fire rings.

"I guess if it's something they're trying to do and they're being proactive about it, that's a good thing," said Robert Matthews, Jake's brother. "As far as trail work and stuff like that, I think it's also a good thing. The more everyone works together (the more) it's going to be a better experience for everybody."

One stick structure that KOB crews were able to find on Sunday was relatively small compared to some that Forest Service officials say they've seen in the area. Some stand two stories tall, measuring 20 feet in diameter.

Now they're working to dismantle them.

"They're typically removed from the trails, so you kind of see them through the trees," Jake Matthews said. "But they don't really impact anything I do up here, personally."

For now, officials are asking people who come upon the structures to report them to any nearby Ranger District office, so that the forest can continue to be explored without risk.

"It's great that we have access to all these trails," Jake Matthews said. "Anything we can do to continue promoting that access (and) continue building trails out here I think is great for our economy, and for the city as a whole."

Source: KOB News, December 03, 2017 10:39 PM, See Story Here

Another Source: SFNF News

Stick Structures Pose Hazards On Santa Fe National Forest ... So Who’s Building Them And Why?

SANTA FE – The number of human-built conical stick structures – some as tall as two stories and 20 feet or more in diameter – popping up on the Santa Fe National Forest (SFNF) seems to be on the rise, and Forest Service officials are wondering why.

They also are concerned about the significant health and safety hazards posed by these structures.

This week, employees from the Española Ranger District went into the field with a volunteer who showed them seven or eight of these stick structures off Tesuque Peak Road at Aspen Vista. At least 10 more have been reported below the Aspen Vista picnic area, and they have also been spotted on the Winsor Trail and in the Big Tesuque drainage.

SFNF staff said the structures are elaborately constructed out of 1,000 or more individual sticks or


Found near Aspen Vista. Courtesy/USDA Forest Service

logs. The wood is seasoned and dry, and the design is similar to a classic kindling pyramid but on a much larger scale. And to exacerbate the obvious fire danger, people appear to be using fire rings inside many of the structures.

Citing the high risk of these structures collapsing or catching on fire, Española District Ranger Sandy Hurlocker said, “We are concerned about the safety of our visitors, and we are extremely worried about the fire danger to forest resources and other values at risk. A high-severity fire in this popular recreation corridor would have catastrophic consequences not only for the Santa Fe National Forest, but for the Pueblo of Tesuque, the Santa Fe Municipal Watershed and residents in nearby neighborhoods.”

The Forest Service is not sure who is building these structures and what their motives may be. “But our response is to dismantle them, and we are asking the responsible individuals not to reconstruct them,” Hurlocker said. The SFNF is also asking members of the public to report these structures and their approximate location to Forest Headquarters at 505.438.5300 or any of the Ranger District offices.

The construction of these structures on National Forest System lands is prohibited under Title 36 of the Code of Federal Regulations (36 CFR 261.10(a)). Violators are punishable by a fine of not more than $5,000 for individuals and $10,000 for organizations, imprisonment of not more than six months, or both.

I also felt this story in New Mexico a few months backwas at least worthy of mention :

Storm flattens trees in Santa Fe National Forest

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- The vantage point from Chopper 4 shows the result of nature's raw power. The Santa Fe National Forest reports a massive tree blow-down on Windsor Trail near Stewart Lake.

According to witness reports, the damage was found shortly after May 5. Still, the forest service says that down trees pose a major hazard. Even standing trees in the area could be damaged and susceptible to collapse.

The damage was most likely not caused by a tornado. From the looks of it, this result could be from a dry microburst.

Exactly how does a dry microburst work? In many cases, dry thunderstorms will actually evaporate the rain before it hits the ground. This causes the air to become cold, dense and heavy and it comes rushing to the ground.

That's a likely culprit for the tree-flattening we saw in the Santa Fe National Forest.

Microbursts happen all the time in New Mexico, during severe weather season and throughout the monsoon. The damage can be devastating, even destroying structures and overturning vehicles.

Source: KOB News, May 11, 2017 05:25 PM, See Story Here

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Know your "Creatures" (Cryptozoology's Cryptids)

2017-12-06T18:16:00.000-06:00

What is the Difference Between the Yeti, the Abominable Snowman, and Bigfoot, etc.?

Awesome Image Credit: Mattfields

Whether they're said to trod through snow or skulk in swamps, stories of mysterious ape men are a common theme throughout the world. Hairy humanoid cryptids go by dozens of monikers—many have remained local legends (Skunk Ape, Yowie, Moehau aren’t exactly household names) while others have incited curiosity far beyond their supposed territories. A few mythical creatures that should sound familiar to skeptics and believers alike are the Yeti, Bigfoot, and the Abominable Snowman. While these beasts share plenty of similarities, each has a unique origin story.

Let’s start with the Yeti, the oldest legend of the bunch. Lore of a man-like beast in the Himalayas has its roots in pre-Buddhist religion. The Lepcha people recognized a supernatural “Glacier Being” as one of their hunting gods and the ruler of all the forest’s creatures. It wasn’t until later that an early version of the term “Yeti” emerged. Most experts believe it derives from a Sherpa word, possibly yeh-teh meaning “small, man-like animal” or meti meaning “bear.” The Yeti starred as the antagonist of many cautionary folk tales shared by the Sherpa people. In their legends, the creature was depicted as an apelike man who left large tracks in the snow.

The phrase Abominable Snowman appeared relatively recently, and was born out of a messy mistranslation. In 1921, a contributor to an Indian English-language newspaper interviewed explorers returning from the British Mount Everest Reconnaissance Expedition. They spoke of seeing large footprints on the mountain their guides attributed to Metoh-Kangmi. Kangmi translates to “Snowman” and Metoh to “Man-Bear”— the writer got the half of that equation right but misinterpreted metoh as “filthy.” Instead of writing “Filthy Snowman” he decided he liked the sound of “Abominable” better and the nickname stuck.

“Abominable Snowman” and “Yeti” are basically different names for the same legend, but Bigfoot is a different beast altogether. Like the Yeti, Sasquatch, later dubbed “Bigfoot,” is believed to be a large, shaggy primate that walks upright like a man. The main difference between the two mythical animals is their location. While the Yeti belongs to Asia, Bigfoot is thought to be native to North America, specifically the Pacific Northwest. Tales of ape-like wild men inhabiting that region can be traced back to indigenous communities—“Sasquatch” is derived from sésquac, a Halkomelem word meaning “wild man”—but the name “Bigfoot” is a 20th century original invention.

Once again we have a creative journalist to thank for the popular title. In 1958, a man discovered large, unidentifiable footprints left near his bulldozer in Bluff Creek, California. He made a cast of the prints and got himself featured in the local paper. By this time people in the community were referring to the mysterious owner of the massive tracks as “Big Foot.” The writer of the article spelled it “Bigfoot” and the rest was history.

Despite originating thousands of miles apart, some modern-day believers suspect that the creatures belong to one species. One popular theory is that Bigfoot and the Abominable Snowman/Yeti are both Gigantopithecus, a polar bear-sized ape native to southern Asia believed to have gone extinct 300,000 years ago. While chances are slim that the species migrated to North America with its homo sapiens relatives, that hasn’t stopped many cryptozoology enthusiasts from wanting to believe. Source: mentalfloss.com

Canada's Sasquatch

The Canadian Sasquatch is essentially the same creature as the American Bigfoot, though it is claimed to be primarily nocturnal and a fast runner. Some say it steals food and abducts women — and men: A logger named Albert Ostman claimed that in 1924 while camping in British Columbia he was kidnapped by a Bigfoot family and held for nearly a week. Ostman suspected that he had been captured as a potential breeding mate for the young female Sasquatch of the family, but before he could do the dirty deed he escaped when the male elder choked on Ostman's snuff tobacco. Needless to say, Ostman offered no evidence of his experience.

Canada's Windigo/Wendigo

Hailing from the woods of Canada, the Windigo (or Wendigo) is a big, hairy man-like creature from Native American legend. But legends don’t always think of it as an animal; Windigo can be a creature that transforms from a human, and has very bad intentions.

Some interesting hypotheses concerning Bigfoot have been borne from the Wendigo legends. On one hand, perhaps the wild stories of the supernatural Wendigo stem from sightings of a real creature like Bigfoot, and maybe Native Americans have expanded on the abilities of the creature, making it into some kind of spirit being. I have to wonder sometimes, why do so many legends of these creatures talk of some sort of supernatural or spiritual qualities to these beings?

On the other hand, perhaps the legend of the Wendigo raises the question to some, as to whether or not Bigfoot really only exists in the spirit realm, and not in the real world at all.

North America's Sasquatch / Bigfoot

We all know this one. Maybe viewed by some as more representative of the Pacific Northwest, really it’s pretty much interchangeable with “Bigfoot”. These days the Sasquatch is spotted all over North America, from the thick forests of New England, to the mountains of the Pacific Northwest and everywhere in between. The current Bigfoot craze took off in the 1950s, but Native Americans knew about the Sasquatch long before Europeans arrived. Some tribes saw it as a forest spirit, and others as just another being that shared the land with them.

Nepal's Yeti

Stalking the regions around the Himalayas, and sometimes called the Abominable Snowman, the Yeti is probably the next best-known cousin of Bigfoot. Sightings of this creature have it pegged as a dead-ringer for the North American Sasquatch. Are these two beasts related?

Maybe. The Bigfoot-Giganto Theory may explain how both the Sasquatch and the Yeti came into existence in Asia, long ago. It's possible they may trace their lineage back to a massive ape called Gigantopithecus Blacki. It was a 10-foot tall monster, and some researchers believe it may have evolved into what we call today Bigfoot, or the Yeti.

It's an interesting idea, but however it happened there seems to be the same creature running around the Himalayas as there is in North America.

The Yeti, formerly known as the Abominable Snowman, is said to live in the forest below the Himalaya Mountains' snow line, though its tracks are occasionally found in snow. It is said to be muscular, covered with dark grayish or reddish-brown hair, and weigh between 200 and 400 pounds (90 to 180 kilograms). The Yeti is relatively short compared with Bigfoot, averaging about 6 feet (1.8 meters) in height. Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to scale Everest, found no evidence of the creature. Mountaineer Reinhold Messner, who spent months in Nepal and Tibet researching the Yeti found that large native bears were mistaken for Yeti sightings and tracks. The Yeti made news in 2007 when Josh Gates, host of the TV series "Destination Truth," claimed that he found large, mysterious footprints that might be from the Yeti. Despite extensive media publicity nothing more was learned about the tracks; they are now on display at Disney World.

Australia's Yowie

From the outback of Australia, by many accounts this guy is yet another version of Bigfoot. In some stories the Yowie is an apelike hominid. In others it is more like a primitive human living in the outback. Aboriginal legend doesn't clear things up much, but like Native Americans in North America they do have a history of the creature dating back hundreds, even thousands of years.

One problem with the Yowie is that Australia has been isolated for thousands of years. This means whatever factor may have driven the Yeti or Sasquatch to evolve and migrate across Europe and North America can't be responsible for the Yowie. So where did this beast come from? It's an interesting question, with some equally intriguing theories.

Yowie, the wildman from Down Under, reportedly stands anywhere from 5 to 11 feet (1.5 to 3.4 meters) tall, and has yellow or red eyes deeply set inside a dome-shaped head. Yowies are said to have tan, black, gray, or white hair covering black skin, with arms so long they nearly reach the ground. According to George Eberhart's encyclopedia "Mysterious Creatures" (ABC-CLIO, 2002), the name Yowie comes from the Aboriginal word "yuwi," which means "dream spirit."

China's Yeren

This creature lives in the forests of China, and is described as something very close to Bigfoot in size and appearance. What’s interesting is that the Yeren hails from the general area of the world where Gigantopithecus, the ancient giant ape, is believed to have gone extinct. Equally interesting is that this beast shares a lot in common with the Mongolian Almas.

Also called the Chinese Wildman, reports of this creature go back for generations. Again, like the Sasquatch in North America and the Yowie in Australia, stories often contain a touch of mysticism, making it tough to discern if the Yeren is a flesh-and-blood creature or some kind of spiritual being dreamed up by local cultures.

Indonesia's Orang Pendek

From Sumatra, and only a few feet tall, so not really similar to Bigfoot in stature. But Orang Pendek is definitely an example of a bizarre Bigfoot-like critter from an unexpected place. And there may be more similarities than we'd think.

For one thing, if Orang Pendek is real it raises the question of Bigfoot's origins. Could it be a kind of pygmy version of Bigfoot, or perhaps a related species that went down some different evolutionary path? source:

Even more intriguing is the idea that Orang Pendek could actually be some kind of human ancestor, perhaps a relic population of the tiny "Hobbit" humans found on the island of Flores. Whatever it is, Sumatran native are seeing something strange in the jungles, and it appears to be a bipedal ape.

According to "The Field Guide to Bigfoot, Yeti, and Other Mystery Primates Worldwide" (Avon Books, 1999), "The natives of Sumatra have long believed in the orang-pendek, which means 'little man.' The orang-pendek seems to have a large pot belly and may be dark gray, dark black, yellow, or tan in color." It is also said to have very long head hair, and stand anywhere from 2.5 to 5 feet (0.8 to 1.5 m) tall. One of the first alleged sightings of the orang pendek occurred in 1923, when a Dutch settler in Sumatra saw one in a tree; though he was armed he refused to shoot it, because it resembled a human.

Mongolia's Alma

The Almas are known in Mongolia as hairy, bipedal humanoids. Unlike the neighboring Yeti, they are believed to be more human than ape, but they are just as elusive. This is not unlike many tales of wildmen in Asia and Eastern Europe.

Theories abound as to the origin of the Almas, but some researchers believe they may be a living population of an earlier human ancestor that may have somehow survived extinction.

The story of the Almas opens up an interesting discussion in the Bigfoot debate, as some researchers believe Sasquatch is actually a species of primitive human, not an ape. So, rather than an ancient Asian ape surviving extinction and populating the world, could it be that an unclassified species of human exists out there undetected?

South America's Mapinguari

The Mapinguari is one of the most debated of Bigfoot’s cousins from around the world. Hailing from the jungles of South American, many accounts of the Mapinguari describe it as something similar to a Sasquatch. It would make sense, as any Bigfoot population in North American certainly could matriculate down to South America.

However, other versions of the Mapinguari tale paint it as a far stranger creature with massive claws, backward facing feet, a repugnant stench and a mouth on its stomach. Some researchers who have dared to attempt to wade through the folklore say this is an odd but plausible description of a giant ground sloth.

The giant ground sloth is believed to have gone extinct long ago, but is it possible there is still a population deep in the jungle? More interesting still, does these different eyewitness accounts represent two separate creatures?

Florida's Skunk Ape
The Bigfoot of Florida and the Southern United States. He’s just as big and scary, but ups the bar with the added benefit of a horrific stench. It’s claimed he gets his illustrious odor by hanging out in methane-packed bogs, but really its anyone's guess.

With dense and dangerous swamps, parts of Florida and other southern swamps are ideal habitat for a large creature that doesn't want to be spotted. Bigfoot seems to have made his home here, and who can blame him?

There has been some interesting evidence for the Skunk Ape over the years. Perhaps most notably, a decade or so a go a woman claimed a large animal had been stealing apples from her porch. She set up a camera and snapped a few pictures, and the result was the Myakka Skunk Ape photo.

Ohio's Grassman

The Ohio Grassman is a believed to be a Bigfoot existing in a specific niche, and surviving in the rich farmland of Ohio. Ohio may not seem like ideal Bigfoot habitat if you are fixated on the idea that the only place Sasquatch can exist in America is the Pacific Northwest or Florida, but in fact the beast has been spotted in every state in the continental US.
Ohio and Western Pennsylvania in particular are excellent Bigfoot habitat, with plenty of farms, water sources, game and easy access to the Appalachian Mountain range. Sightings and stories of the Grassman go back hundreds of years and continue to this day. source: exemplore.com, user: cryptid

So in summary, the term "Bigfoot" is a relatively new term, and the elusive creatures have various names around the world, and in different cultures. There's one thing about it though, this creature has been around for at least as long as there have been campfires.Everywhere there are humans there are stories and legends of Bigfoot. The creature has always been among us it seems, out in the darkened forest, just beyond our line of sight. From the dawn of man, until current modern times, perhaps Bigfoot has always been around, and our ancestors have always known. The creature is known by as many different names as there are cultures. So in addition to those mentioned above, I have included a list of a few of the historical names given to the Bigfoot Creature at the end of this article. You can also check our blog page for the Bigfoot World Map.

So intense is this fascination that some Bigfoot enthusiasts seem to have labeled just about every mythological creature ever known in the western hemisphere as another name for Sasquatch. There are amusing collections of "Native American names for Bigfoot" online that include the names of giants, dwarves, ghosts, gods, underwater monsters, four-legged predators, an enormous bird, and a disembodied flying head. If you'd like to learn more about some of the mythical creatures to be found on those lists, please feel free to look them up on our Native American monsters page or our broader Native American mythological characters website.

If we interpret the English word "Bigfoot" to refer only to creatures like Sasquatch-- wild, hairy men of the forest that are human-sized or slightly taller-- then here is our list of Native American bigfeet. Note that most of these legends are told by tribes of the Pacific Northwest region: Northern California, western Oregon and Washington State, British Columbia, Alaska and the Yukon. There are also many stories involving wild, hairy men of the forest in the Plains and Woodland tribes of the US, but most of those are forest dwarves, no taller than a human toddler. You can find some stories about them on our Native American Little People page. They have many similarities to the Bigfoot creatures, except for their size.

'Bigfoot' Creatures in Various Tribes

The Bigfoot figure is common to the folklore of most Northwest Native American tribes. Native American Bigfoot legends usually describe the creatures as around 6-9 feet tall, very strong, hairy, uncivilized, and often foul-smelling, usually living in the woods and often foraging at night. Native American Bigfoot creatures are almost always said to be unable to speak human languages, using whistles, grunts, and gestures to communicate with each other. In some stories, male Bigfoots are said to be able to mate with human women. In some Native stories, Bigfoot may have minor supernatural powers-- the ability to turn invisible, for example-- but they are always considered physical creatures of the forest, not spirits or ghosts.

That is where the intertribal Bigfoot similarities end, however. In the Bigfoot myths of some tribes, Sasquatch and his relatives are generally shy and benign figures-- they may take things that do not belong to them or even kidnap a human wife, but do not harm people and may even come to their aid. Sometimes Bigfoot is considered a guardian of nature in these tribes. These more benevolent Bigfeet usually appear alone or in a small family unit, and may exchange gifts or use sign language to communicate with Native American communities. But Bigfoot legends from other tribes describe them as malevolent creatures who attack humans, play dangerous tricks on them, or steal children; they may even eat people. These more dangerous Bigfoot monsters, known as Stick Indians or Bush Indians, are sometimes found in large groups or even villages, which engage in warfare with neighboring Indian tribes.

Ba'wis (Tsimshian Indian Bigfoot)
Boqs (Bella Coola Bigfoot)
Bush Indians (Alaskan Athabaskan Bigfoot)
Chiye-Tanka (Sioux Indian Bigfoot)
Choanito/Night People (Wenatchi Indian Bigfoot)
Hairy Man (Yokuts Indian Bigfoot)
Kohuneje (Maidu Indian Bigfoot)
Lariyin (Dogrib Indian Bigfoot)
Lofa (Chickasaw Indian Bigfoot)
Matah Kagmi (Modoc Indian Bigfoot)
Maxemista (Cheyenne Indian Bigfoot)
Na'in (Gwich'in Indian Bigfoot)
Nakani (Dene Indian Bigfoot)
Nant'ina (Tanaina Indian Bigfoot)
Nik'inla'eena' (Koyukon Indian Bigfoot)
Omah (Hupa Indian Bigfoot)
Sasquatch (Coast Salish Indian Bigfoot)
Seeahtlk (Clallam Indian Bigfoot)
Shampe (Choctaw Indian Bigfoot)
Siatco (Chehalis Indian Bigfoot)
Skookum (Chinook Indian Bigfoot)
Ste-ye-hah'mah (Yakama Indian Bigfoot)
Stick Indians (Northwest Coast Bigfeet)
The Woodsman (Athabaskan Indian Bigfoot)

One more mythological creature deserves special mention on this page and that is the Bukwus of the Kwakiutl and other Northwest Coast tribes. Bukwus is not truly a Bigfoot figure, but bears enough resemblance to them (man-sized and covered with tangled hair) that he is often identified this way. The big difference, which is often missed by casual folklorists, is that Bukwus is actually an undead monster. They are the ghosts of drowned people; their bodies are depicted as stylized skeletons and they spend their time trying to trick humans into becoming ghosts by offering them the food of the dead to eat. In this regard, they are significantly different than the other "bigfoot" creatures, who are considered to be real creatures of the forest (not ghosts.)

**Thank you to http://www.native-languages.org for this information.

Native American Bigfoot Names Thank you to: Bigfoot Indian Names for this information.
Tribe	Tribe's Name:	Meaning
Tshimshian Indians	n/a	"Cannibal"
Yup'ik Indian	A hoo la huk	n/a
Zuni Indian	Atahsaia	"The Cannibal Demon"
Chinookan Indian	At'at'ahila	n/a
Bella Coola Indian	Boqs	"Bush Man"
Kwakwaka'wakw Indian	Bukwas	"Wildman of the Woods"
Dakota (East)/Sioux Indian	Chiha tanka	"Big Elder Brother"
Lakota (West)/Sioux Indian	Chiye tanka	"Big Elder Brother"
Wenatchee Indian	Choanito	"Night People"
Makah Indians	El-Ish-kas	"n/a"
Seminole Indian	Esti Capcaki	"Tall Man"
Iroquois/Seneca Indian	Ge no sqwa	"Stone Giants"
Seneca Indian	Ge no'sgwa	"Stone Coats"
Lake Lliamna Indian	Get'qun	n/a
Nelchina Plateau Indian	Gilyuk	"Big Man with little hat"
Haida Indians	Gogit	"n/a"
Chilkat Indian	Goo tee khl	n/a
Quinault Indians	Hecaitomixw	"Dangerous Being"
Plains Indians	Iktomi	"The Trickster "
Skagit Valley Indian	Kala'litabiqw	n/a
Cherokee Indian	Kecleh-Kudleh	"Hairy Savage"
Tlingit Indian	Kushtaka	"Otter Man"
Hare Indian	lariyin	"Bushman"
Miwuk Indian	Loo poo oi'yes	n/a
Karok Indian	Madukarahat	"Giant"
Menomini Indian	Manabai'wok	"The Giants"
Nootka Indian	Matlose	n/a
Lenni Lenape Indian	Mesingw	"The Mask Being"
Kawaiisu Indian	Miitiipi	"Bad luck or disaster"
Lenni Lenape Indian	Misinghalikun	"Living Solid Face"
Gwich'in Indians	Na'in	"Brushman"
Kenai Peninsula Indian	Nantiinaq	n/a
Dena'ina Indian	Nant'ina	n/a
Alutiiq/Yukon Indian	Neginla eh	"Wood Man"
Oglala Lakota Sioux Indian	n/a	"The Big Man"
Twana Indians	n/a	"Stick Indians"
Coeur d'Alene/Spokane Indian	n/a	"The Tree Men"
Cherokee Indian	Nun Yunu Wi	"The Stone Man"
Owens Valley Paiute	Nu'numic	"The Giant"
Hoopa Indian	Oh Mah	"Boss of the Woods"
Yurok Indian	Omah	n/a
Iroquois Indian	Ot ne yar heh	"Stonish Giant"
Yakama/Klickitat Indian	Qah lin me	n/a
Yakama/Klickitat Indian	Qui yihahs	"The Five Brothers"
Turtle Mt Ojibway	Rugaru	n/a
Halkomelem Language	Sasahevas	"Sasquatch"
Salish Indian	Sasahevas	"Wild Man of the Woods"
Salishan/Sahaptin Indian	Saskets	"The Giant"
Spokane Indian	Sc'wen'ey'ti	"Tall Burnt Hair""
Yakama Indian	Seat ka	n/a
Yakama/Klickitat/Puyallup	Seatco	"Stick Indian"
Clallam Indian	Seeahtkch	n/a
Coast Salish Indian	See'atco	"One who runs and hides"
Colville Indians	Skanicum	"Stick Indians"
Chinook Indian	Skookum	"Evil God of the Woods"
Quinault Indians	Skukum	"Devil of the Forest"
Upper Stalo Indians	Slalakums	"The Unknown"
Okanogan Indian	Sne nah	"Owl Woman"
Hopi Indian	So'yoko	n/a
Yakama Indian	Ste ye mah	"Spirit hidden by woods"
Puyallup/Nisqually Indian	Steta'l	"Spirt Spear"
Yakama/Shasta Indian	Tah tah kle' ah	"Owl Woman Monster"
Taos Indian	Toylona	"Big Person"
Quinault Indians	Tsadjatko	"Giants"
Mono Lake Paiute	Tse'nahaha	"Giant"
Puyallup/Nisqually Indian	Tsiatko	"Wild Indians"
Shoshone Indian	Tso apittse	"Cannibal Giant"
Kwakwaka'wakw Indian	Tsonaqua	"Wild Woman of the Woods"
SW Alaskan Eskimo	Urayuli	n/a
Cree Indian	Wetiko	n/a
Eastern Athabascan Indian	Windago	"Wicked Cannibal"
Lenni Lenape Indian	Wsinkhoalican	"The Game Keeper"
Nehalem/Tillamook Indian	Xi'lgo	"Wild Woman"
Modoc Indian	Yahyahaas	n/a
Klamath Indian	Yayaya-ash	"The Frightener"
Navajo Indians	Yé'iitsoh	"Big God "
Nehalem/Tillamook Indian	Yi' dyi'tay	"Wild Man"

List of other Bigfoot Names around the world:

A
    Albatwitche, the manlike apple stealers (Susquehannock Native)
    Almas
    Almasty
    American Ape
    Anisau
    Ape-Man

B

    The Bad Smelling Tree Men (USA, ID, Coeur d'Alene, and WA, Spokane)
    Barmanu (northwest Pakistan)
    B'gwas (Haisla, Canada, BC)
    Biabin-Guli
    Big Big Hairy Figure With Eyes Sunk Deep In The Head (n.w. USA, Wakashan, Kwakiutl Tribe)
    big hairy man, the messenger (USA, Hopi Tribe)
    Big Hairy Monster
    the Big Man (USA, western SD, Lakota)
    Big Ones
    Blacki
    Boggy Boon
    Boggy Bill (USA, east TX)
    the Booger
    Booger Man
    Boogie Man
    Boogy Monster
    Boqs (s.w. Canada, Bella Coola Tribe)
    Brenin Llwyd
    Brother Who Comes Back Before The Next Very Big Winter (USA, SD, Ogala, Lakota)

Chinese Wild man

C

    Caddo Critter
    the Cannibal Giant (USA, Native American)
    the Cannibal, who eats dead people (USA, Na-Dene)
    Cave Monster
    Cave Spirit
    Cave Yeller (USA, KY)
    Cer Ra Ca Wa "the turkey eater" (northern Mexico)
    Chi-Chi
    Chinese Wild man
    Chiye-tanka, great elder brother (n.w. USA, Lakota)
    Chuchuna
    Ci-e (USA, SD, Pine Ridge Res.)
    Crying Beast(USA, southern Ohio, 1800s)

Devil Monkey

D

    Devils
    Devil Monkey (USA, s.w. OK)
    Destroyer Who Breaks Up Houses (USA, Na-Dene)
    Doolagahi
    Doolagahl (Aboriginal Australia)
    Doolagarl (Aboriginal Australia)

E

    Engeco

The Fouke Monster is named after
the town of Fouke, Arkansas

F

    Ferla Mohair
    The Fetid Beast
    Forest Devil
    Forest Giants
    Fouke Monster

The Ohio Grassman

G

    Gerendel (Old Danish)
    Giganto
    Gigantopithecines blacki
    Gin-sung
    Grass man
    Gooligah (Aboriginal Australia)
    Gugu (Sumatra)

Honey Island Swamp Monster

H

    Hairy Bill (USA, TX)
    Hairy Giants
    Hairy Ones
    Hairy Man, Hairy Woman, or Hairy People
    "the hairy man (men) who appears as a symptom of disruption" (USA, SD, Lakota)
    The Hairy People (USA, KY, Leslie County)
    the Hairy Stinka Boo (USA, southern OH)
    Hill Monkeys (OK)
    Hokou
    Holla Yella (USA, WV)
    Holayela (USA, WV and east OH)
    Hoodoo
    Hoohoo
    Honey Island Monster

I

    Indin Hair Man (USA, WV)

Jacko

J

    Jacko (Canada, BC)
    Jimbra (Aboriginal Australia)
    Jingera (Aboriginal Australia)
    Jinka
    The Jungle Man (India)

Kikomba

K

    Kakundak (Africa)
    Kaptat
    Kecleh-Kudleh
    Kikomba
    King Kong
    Kushtaka

Loup-garou

L

    Loup-garou (French for wolf-man)
    Long eared Ape

Mande Burung

M

    Matlose (w.Canada, Nootkas Tribe)
    The Man-Beast
    Mande Burung (India)
    Man-Monkey
    Mannimal
    Mapinguari
    Mirygdy
    Monkey Man (USA, OK)
    Momo, Mo Mo (USA, short for 'Missouri Monster')

Ngoloko

N

    Nant'ina
    Narcoonah
    Living Neanderthal
    Nibagon
    Ngoloko
    Nguoi rung (Asia)
    Ngui Rung (Vietnamese)
    Nolem or Dog Eaters (USA, Nadene)
    Noocoonah (Aboriginal Australia)
    Nuk-Luk (North America)
    Nu'numic (Aztec)
    Nun Yunu Wi
    Nyalmo (Asia)

P

    Pongo

Orang Pendek

O

    Oh-mah (USA, NE)
    Old Hairy Bill (TX)
    Old Yellow
    Old Yellow Top (Canada, Ontario)
    Old Ones Who Cry
    Old Ones Who Run At Night
    Old Skunky Bill (USA, east TX)
    Opie (USA, TN and NC)
    Orang Pendek (Oceania, Sumatran)
    Ot-ne-yar-hed, the giants (north eastern USA, Iroquoian)

P

    Pecos Bill (in the original TX legend he was huge and hairy!)

Quinken

Q

    Quinken (Aboriginal Australia)

R

    Red Eyes (Aboriginal Australia)
    Rugaru (USA, ND, Ojibway)

Skunk Ape

S

    Sasquatch, or sε´sq'əč (Halkomelem, A Salishan language, southwest British Columbia)
    Seatco, the Wicked Giant (n.w. USA, native Nusqually)
    S _ _ _ Man, or Men (USA, WV)
    Skunk Ape
    Skunk Demon
    Skunky Bill
    Stinkaboo
    Stink Man
    St' Iyahama (USA, OR, Umatilla)

T

    Tah-tah-kle'-ah or Owl-Woman Monster (n.w. USA, Yakama and Shasta Indians)
    Tsek Etinu's (USA, Na-Dene)
    Tsiatko Giants (n.w.USA, native)
    Stsomu'lamux (USA, Na Dene)
    Taku he (native American, Lakota )
    Tano Giant (Africa)
    Teh-Ima (Asia)
    Tch-lma
    Tree Men (USA, ID, Coeur d'Alene, and WA, Spokane)
    Tjandara (Aboriginal Australia)
    Tha-tha Kla-yah-ma (n.w. USA, Yakama )
    Thoolagal (Aboriginal Australia)
    Tomy Knocker
    Tobi Juan In The Wood (USA, Ark., Tenn.)
    Tsawane'it Emux (USA, Nadene)
    Tse'nahaha (USA, Paiute)
    Tso'apittse (USA, Nevada)

Ucumar

U

    Urayuli
    Ucumar (Latin America)

Witiko

W

    Weendego (USA, central to north-eastern, Ojibwa)
    Wendigo (Algonquian, central to north-eastern USA)
    Windego (northern USA)
    Wetiko (central to north-eastern USA)
    Wihalaid, the Cannibal Beast (USA, Na-Dene)
    Windago (central to north-eastern USA)
    Windikouk (central to north-eastern USA)
    Who-Who
    the Wigidokowok People(n.w. USA, Native)
    Wildman
    Wild Man Uncle (n.w. USA, Nehalem)
    Wild Man Of Borneo
    Witiko
    Woods Child (USA, Ohio, 1800s)
    Woods Booger (southeastern USA)
    Woods Devils (USA, NH, Coos county)
    Wooly Booger

Yowie

Y

    Yahoo (Australia)
    Yakaka
    Yaroma (Aboriginal Australia)
    Yeahoh (USA, KY, Algonkian)
    Yellers
    Yellow Top (Canada, Ontario)
    Yeren (Chinese)
    Yeti
    Yowie (Australia)
    Yuuri

**Thanks to http://bigfootevidence.blogspot.ca for this information

Southern SASquatch Expeditions
Author: Angela Ashton, Founder
#southernsasquatchexpeditions #bigfoot #sasquatch
https://www.facebook.com/southernsasquatchexpeditions/

Looking at the "Paranormal" Claims in Bigfoot History

2017-12-06T03:09:00.000-06:00

The Norse Explorer Leif Erikson is generally regarded as the first to discover the North American Bigfoot in 986 AD. However, as with any story in history which is the first of its kind on record, relating to an unknown species or a cryptid creature, there is debate whether this sighting is accurate or fabricated.

Creatures resembling Bigfoot have been recorded by Native Americans for hundreds of years. In fact many of the creature name variations are from various Native American Tribes who believe in a Bigfoot-like creature. Most of these tribes report the same basic physical characteristics: 6 – 9 feet tall, very strong, hairy, uncivilized and foul-smelling (ironically the same odor emitted in the presence of demons – sulfur or skunk odor). They also claim the creature can mate with human women, though can only communicate in grunts and whistles. Might these claims have originated from the book of Enoch in the story of the fallen angels.... (Nephilim) mating with women on Earth & remaining in the forests as watchers of humans? But there are differences in Native Bigfoot (Sasquatch) claims as well, primarily in behavior. Some tribes report Bigfoot as shy, occasionally kidnapping a human wife, but never actually harming people. Other tribes regard Bigfoot as the guardian of the forest and claim it will come to the aid of humans in trouble. Yet several tribes regard Bigfoot as a malevolent beast that attacks humans, steals children, and plays dangerous tricks on the Native Americans. As with any species of animal, you will always find peace-loving, as well as aggressive behavior. It’s the balance of life.

The first recorded Bigfoot evidence by a “white man” was by David Thompson in 1811. Thompson was a trader for the Northwest Company. While traveling near Jasper, Alberta (Canada), Thompson discovered a large track.

One of the very first known documented cases of the "Paranormal" Bigfoot was reported in 1888. We learned if this report in 1971, when James C. Wyatt of Memphis, Tennessee (my home town), released a copy of his grandfather's journal, which contained fascinating and startling entries. The eyewitness account was written in straightforward fashion, which appears to indicate that an association between Bigfoot-type creatures and UFOs has existed for quite

some time.

In a journal dated 1888, Wyatt's grandfather records that he was somewhere along the Humboldt Line in the "Big Woods Country" in California, where his father and several cowhands had wintered with a local tribe after delivering some cattle to a fort further north. Grandfather Wyatt, a long time cattleman, was fluent in many tribal languages, proficient in sign language, and partook of most of the tribal activities.

One day he came upon a man from the tribe carrying a large platter of raw meat.

At first the man seemed afraid to answer Wyatt's questions concerning his errand, but he finally bade the cattleman to follow him.

In a shallow cave in a cliff face, dwelt a beast with long, shiny black hair that covered its entire body, except for its palms and an area around its eyes. The human like creature did not seem wild or vicious; it sat cross--legged, Indian-style, to wolf down the raw meat. Wyatt described the creature as built like a big, well-developed man, except for its lack of neck and its long body hair. The creature's head seemed to rest directly on its shoulders.

Wyatt visited the man-beast in the cave more than a dozen times. After much questioning, and receiving two pounds of tobacco, a compass, and an axe, one of the men from the tribe took Wyatt to a high pinnacle of rock one clear night to tell him of the creature's origin.

"Crazy Bear," as the thing was called by the Indians, had been brought to the "Big Woods" from the stars. A "small moon" had flown down like a swooping eagle and had landed on a plateau a few miles away from the tribe's encampment. The beast in the cave and two other "crazy bears" had been flung out of the "moon" before the craft had once again soared off to the stars.

The man told Wyatt that other "crazy bears" had been left in the vicinity over the years. Wyatt's guide

and several of his fellow villagers had occasionally seen the "men" who put the crazy bears off the

small moons. They did not look like the giant hairy ones, but appeared to be more like men such as themselves. The men from the small moon had much shorter hair than the tribes people, though, and they wore shiny clothing. They always waved to the Indians in a friendly manner before they closed the door in their small moon and flew back to the stars.
The crazy bears had been led to the village by the Indians, and at no time had the hairy giants offered any resistance to their benefactors. The Indians believed that the crazy bears from the stars had been sent to bring them powerful medicine, and they would not permit the creatures to stray away lest they be captured by rival tribes.
Some of the most famous paranormal claims today in the Bigfoot and UFO world have been scientists, doctors, psychologists, military personnel and pilots. Some of the most trusted and reputable witnesses in history. What do you make of these claims?

Southern SASquatch Expeditions
Author: Angela Ashton, Founder
#southernsasquatchexpeditions #bigfoot #sasquatch
https://www.facebook.com/southernsasquatchexpeditions/

Southern SASquatch Expeditions

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