Air Date: Week of March 30, 2001

Transcript

VILLIGER: Last fall, a research team trekked into the mountains of Washington State, looking for evidence of Sasquatch, the mysterious animal, also called Bigfoot. They laid out fruit in muddy areas, hoping to lure the animal to a place where it would leave tracks, and the plan worked, sort of. When researchers returned to one spot, they found a five-foot-wide impression in the ground where a large mammal appears to have sat down. They think the animal leaned on its hip, thigh, and forearm as it reached for the fruit. A heel impression shows the same kind of ridges on the skin that people have, but one scientist estimates this creature to have been eight to nine feet tall. Also embedded in the mud were hairs from an unknown primate, and DNA analysis of these hairs is the next step to figure out just what animal enjoyed an apple snack in the muddy clearing. That's this week's animal update. I'm Maggie Villiger.

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CURWOOD: And you're listening to Living on Earth.