Bigfoot Fun Fact: The Mid-tarsal break

Interview with Jeff Meldrum on Bigfoot footprints

Many footprints of Bigfoot found have a feature that is referred to as a mid-tarsal break. This occurs when the foot bends before taking the next stride. This is common in most apes, but is not found on humans.

Dr. Jeferry Meldrum, at the Department of Biological Sciences in Idaho State University claims that a footprint cast from the Blue Mountains of WA clearly shows toe slippage and typical front half-track. According to Dr. Meldrum perhaps the most significant observation relating to this trackway was the evidence of a pronounced flexibility in the midtarsal joint. Several examples of midfoot pressure ridges indicate a greater range of flexion at the transverse tarsal joint than permitted in the normal human tarsus. This is especially manifested in the footprint figured below, in which a heel impression is absent. Evidently, the hindfoot was elevated at the time of contact by the midfoot. Due to the muddy conditions, the foot slipped backward, as indicated by the toe slide-ins, and a ridge of mud was pushed up behind the midtarsal region.

Although uncommon in humans, some "healthy humans" can produce "ape like" footprints as well.

Robin Crompton, a professor in the University of Liverpool's School of Biomedical Sciences, explained that many researchers believed loss of the "so-called mid-tarsal break," a flexing of the side midfoot, "distinguished humans from non-human apes." This flexing can contact the ground and leave behind a mark in footprints. But Crompton and his colleagues found that certain people today create such footprints.

Dr. Jeff Meldrum is featured on a Salt Lake City local news television station discussing bigfoot prints.