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CLOUDY Temp: 57 °F Wind: SE at 13 mph Tuesday, April 29, 2003 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine W3 Magazine Jobs @ Mail Tribune Tempo A & E Oregon CarZone Wellness Connection Real Estate Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend April 3, 2003 Giganto pithecus predated Bigfoot legend By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune With only samples of unidentified hair, footprints, the occasional videotape and thousands of reported sightings to support them, most people who study the Bigfoot/Sasquatch question all point to one large and officially extinct primate from Asia as the creature most likely to be the body under all that hair. Giganto pithecus, a.k.a. "Giganto" in the Bigfooters’ Internet lingo, once was the world's largest primate when it inhabited the forests of China and India from as far back as 9 million years ago, with the youngest known remains dating back about 500,000 years. Bigfoot researchers believe it's a version of this creature that followed, or possibly predated, man's migration from Asia over the land bridge from Siberia to Alaska and dispersed south throughout North America. Giganto teeth and jaw fragments found in China and India have led scientists to calculate that the creature stood up to 9 feet tall, weighed more than 600 pounds and fed primarily on grass and seeds. However, with no other known Giganto remains for study, scientists can hypothesize little about its other physical traits, such as its foot size. Yet Bigfooters believe the ape-like screech they attribute to their creature, as well as the hairy body and ability to walk upright, all help point to Giganto — and not Ray Wallace. Family members say Wallace, who died last November in Washington, instigated the Bigfoot craze in 1958 by strapping on a pair of large wooden feet and tromping around his construction site in Humboldt County, where a news report in a local paper quickly coined the term "Bigfoot." Wallace remained mum about the spoof, which family members claimed after his death. Matthew Johnson, a Bigfoot researcher in Grants Pass who says he saw the creature during a family hike in 2000, acknowledges that Wallace probably faked much of his claims. But reported sightings of similar creatures dating back to Native American times, plus reams of evidence of primate-like foot impressions throughout the country, indicate that Wallace could not be behind every encounter, Johnson says. "Ray Wallace’s claims don’t account for hundreds of years of sightings," Johnson says. "Ray Wallace was not at the Oregon Caves when my family smelled the Bigfoot that I saw. "Ray Wallace is dead, but Bigfoot is alive and well," Johnson says. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search M Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2003 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy Website Feedback A D V E R T I S E R S