Bigfoot And The Ground Sloth Connection


Editor’s Note: This is a post by Bigfoot Evidence contributor, Damian Bravo, a Sasquatch believer. You can join Damian's group Sasquatch Lives? on Facebook and the group's official page at www.sasquatchlives.com.

As more theories evolve on what exactly Bigfoot/Sasquatch is without the physical study of a specimen, even I have made a hypothetical connection to Bigfoot with a creature sometimes confused by many people as a primate, the always smiling and gentle Sloth. The Sloth is a medium-sized mammal that belongs to the families of Megalonychidae (two-toed Sloth) and Bradypodidae (three-toed Sloth), which are classified into six different species. What if Bigfoot is not actually a hominoid species that branched off on its own evolutionary path as we think? Could Bigfoot, based on its amazing abilities sometimes described by witnesses, actually be the descendant of the giant ground Sloth?

It is amazing to find that the Sloth species, which shows primate like features, is a mammalian species in the same genius order of Armadillos and Anteaters and are not primates. They are part of the order Pilosa which sport a similar set of specialized claws. Sloths are arboreal (tree dwelling) residents of the jungles of Central and South America and are known for being slow-moving, and so given the name "sloths".

Sloths belong to the superorder Xenarthra, mammals that appeared approximately 60 million years ago, although some other scientific sources concluded the date at which sloths and related animals broke off from other placental mammals to be at about 100 million years ago. Some scientists think, based on the fossil records, early Xenarthrans were arboreal herbivores with sturdy spines, fused pelvises, stubby teeth and small brains.

You may be asking yourself right about now, what the connection is between Bigfoot and the extinct ground Sloth. First we need to understand what exactly the superorder Xenarthra is. This order shares many variables as those of other placental mammals. The name Xenarthra means "strange joints" and it was chosen because their vertebral joints have extra articulations, which other mammalian species do not have. It was also discovered that males from the order have internal reproductive organs, which are placed between the bladder and the rectum. It’s also interesting (and I know cryptozoologist Loren Coleman will love this part) that in all cases I know of, no one has ever reported seeing the genitals of a Bigfoot. Mr. Coleman if you have heard of a report, please let me know so I can write about that story. The superorder Xenarthrans also shows the lowest metabolic rates among this subclass of mammals.

In the article I wrote on “The Physical Body of Bigfoot”, I talked about how could such a creature survive and sustain its self in the vast wilderness of North America. Let’s take a look at a modern example of the extinct giant ground Sloth. The Sloth’s of today are amazing mammalians; the adaptions they have developed through evolution have given them the ability to survive in an environment which can sometimes lack the necessary nutrition to survive for many animals.

Fur and the Symbiotic relationship

One amazing characteristic of the Sloth that could be found on Bigfoot if we ever have a captured specimen might be the symbiotic relationship they have on their fur. The fur hosts two species of symbiotic cyanobacteria and come in a variety of colors and length just like the typical descriptions Bigfoot, which help protect the sloth from the elements and provide camouflage. Because of the cyanobacteria, sloth fur is a small ecosystem of its own, hosting many species of non-parasitic insects. Sloths have short, flat heads, big eyes, a short snout, long legs, and tiny ears. Some Sloths even have stubby tails (6–7 cm long), which is not found in all species. If Bigfoot roams the wilderness of North America, which can have terrible swarms of nats, horseflies and other annoying or parasitic insects, having such fur could also be an advantage at times.

A Stomach made for Survival

Sloths are folivores, because the bulk of their diet consists of buds, tender shoots, and leaves, mainly of Cecropia trees of which some species are highly toxic. Some Sloths are documented as eating insects, small reptiles, and birds as a supplement to their diet and have made extraordinary adaptations to an arboreal lifestyle. Sloths main food source are leaves, which provide very little nutrition and do not digest easily. Through evolution Sloths have developed large, specialized, slow-acting stomachs with multiple compartments in which symbiotic bacteria break down the leaves, just like the bacteria in their fur protect them from the elements. It is amazing that two-thirds of a sloth's body-weight consists of the contents of its stomach and the digestive process can take a month or more to complete.

Now as of yet, no scientific information is available that would suggest that Bigfoot could have such a fantastic stomach. Yet if Bigfoot is actually roaming the wilderness of North America, such a stomach would give it the ability to not have to hunt as often as other mammals. So could this be the reason we have so little evidence of Bigfoot hunting its prey? Could it be that once Bigfoot eats his prey he has no need to feed himself for a longer period of time, maybe not as long as the modern day Sloth but possibly for weeks?

Why Bigfoots walk instead of run

I sometimes wondered why in the Patterson/Gimlin film the female Bigfoot did not run away when Patterson started chasing after her and fell. Not worrying about the typical conspiracy theories that have not as yet disproven the validity of the creature on film, in almost every encounter with Bigfoot the creature just walks away. Sloths have such a slow metabolism that any type of high energetic movements would cause them to expend too much energy and bring them to exhaustion very quickly. Could this be the reason that Bigfoot is rarely seen running or using great bursts of energy by most eyewitnesses? Could his metabolism be an adaptation necessary to survive in an environment that at times will not produce the needed nutrients that such a large animal may require? If Bigfoot is such a large creature, then the use of such physicality would expend too much energy and would require a constant diet. Keep in mind that the typical descriptions of Bigfoot are of a bipedal human like creature. If we look at the sloth, it too shows physical similarities to the hominoid species, yet with some very distinctive features, like its toes and its cranial morphology.


I already know that many will think my hypothesis is crazy and that in no way did Bigfoot come from an extinct creature called the giant ground Sloth, but what true evidence do we have that bigfoot is a sub-species of hominid? Without this physical body, we cannot just stick to or assume that we are looking at a species that is in this genius. Many hypotheses are being investigated in a fossil record that lacks the remains of and exact picture of how we came to be what we are. Some scientists may think about how a non-scientist like me, could come up with a hypothesis that a creature like the extinct ground Sloth could evolve and possibly even look like primate. Every day, evidence is being found that some species have taken characteristics of other mammals while evolving separate from one another in different continents.

Some may even argue that the fossil record does not show evidence of such a fantastical event in evolution occurring. It is the scientific belief that the large mega fauna became totally extinct in the content of North America. We cannot assume that this extinction was effective since new species and species that were assumed to be extinct have been found around the world. Should we just assume that because a creature shows the typical hominoid characteristics, it automatically has to be related to a species we know about?

A well-known mass extinction of mega fauna in North America and other continents, however, this extinction pulse near the end of the Pleistocene was just one of a series of mega faunal extinction pulses that have occurred during the last 50,000 years over much of the Earth. In North America this extinction of the mega fauna occurred around 13,000 years ago.

It is well known that mass extinctions of mega fauna have occurred many times in the past, even as recently as 13,000 years ago. If certain mammalians survived such an event, it means that their evolutions and adaptions to the changing environment gave them the edge to survive those events. If Bigfoot is truly roaming North America, his key to survival must have been the ability to evolve very specific traits only found in this possible species. The modern Sloths adaptions could be a view of how Bigfoot could and has survived.

Contributing writer for:

bigfootevidence.blogspot.com
www.saquatchlives.com

Comments

  1. There is a report of an Eastern Bigfoot in a back issue of PURSUIT that specifies that the male out of a pair had an obvious large set of male sex organs. This of course is later than an already-established "Groundsloth" report from upstate New York.

    There ARE what appear to be Groundsloth reports from the Appalachian area, but the reports specify that the creatures have TAILS. Similarly in the case of "Mapinguari" reports in South America, the ones that have TAILS are apparently the Groundsloths of the bunch and the TAILLESS ones are more like giant apes. In the case of Mapinguaris there are other factors to consider: the shoulder joint of Ground Sloths prevents them from raising the arms high above the head in a typical Mapinguari threat posture, and the Groundsloth candidate in this case has no foreteeth (and hence no fangs)

    In the Caribran area there seem to be at least two medium-sized groundsloths from the reports, one the size of a bear with a tail but one more intermediate in size and shape to ordinary sloths and more like a small chimpanzee with claws. the second one of these is tailless and spends more time in the trees. Both of these types can be matched against finds of groundsloth fossils that persisted up until quite recently (Colonial period, at least)

    I have written about all of these things on my regular blog, Frontiers of Zoology.
    Best Wishes, Dale D.

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  2. Very informative article, thanks Damian. As "out there" as the idea may be, at least there are some north american pleistocene fossils to wave around. Can you imagine the shift in the "exists- does not exist" debate if a giganto fossil was ever found in NA? That would shake up the bigfoot community a lot more than the steak photo.

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  3. What is this: "...a mammalian species in the same genius order..."? Anyone with a high school biology class will want to know what a "genius order" is; it must be entirely new! If only the genus Homo would have more geniuses! Maybe there are others in the Order Primates that will fill that role.

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    Replies
    1. Give him a break, he probably meant "same order"

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    2. KingdomPhylumClassOrderFamilyGenusSpecies

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    3. Right, and that is good enough for me.; The finer divisions are tougher on lay people interested in taxonomy: what is the difference between a sub-order and superfamily? Are these kind of divisions attempts at making the phylogenic trees match the taxonomy tables? I think the experts are still trying to sort all that out.

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  4. Anatomically, it doesn't seem to add up at all. Sasquatch very closely resembles humans, with some great ape attributes. I've read claims that a Sasquatch has been seen running, and the one I saw near Honobia moved extremely quickly and fluidly. The symbiotic relationship theory, however, is very plausible.

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    1. I think it is also interesting how they are often reported to run on all fours.

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  5. Not cool dude. Especially when we have DNA coming back as human. Hopefully Damian Bravo is just kidding or something.

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    1. I didn't take it to mean there were no Bigfoot and all were sloths. I thought he meant occasionally a Bigfoot sighting might be a sloth.

      We still have Bigfoot/Sasquatch for sure.

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  6. I don't really like when people make theories just for the sake of it and very little evidence to support their theory. It seems a thousand times more plausible that bigfoot is some type of primate, so why even bother? Imagine though if a bigfoot is found and it turns out to be a giant sloth! We'd all be very dissapointed, and Bravo would look like a damn ... Genius. Lol.

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    1. The sloth hypothesis is mentioned in the bigfoot wiki entry, but this is the first time I read anything about it; that alone made the article interesting to me. I enjoyed reading it.

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    2. Just as there are Bigfoot out there that have remained elusive, I don't know why there couldn't be a few of these creatures out there too.

      I think Damian meant there could have been some Bigfoot sightings that could have been possible sloths, not that ALL Bigfoot sightings were sloths.

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  7. A while back on this blog there was a teacher telling his students about his encounter, he said what he saw was ...obviously male if you know what I mean... or something in that area. Also there´s that story about the forest-fire and the injured Sasquatch, the genitals are described there as well.

    JN
    Sweden

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  8. Sloths are extremely cute critters but they're some of the laziest and slowest animals on the planet, aka the hairy snails of the trees, sasquatches are big and fast so I don't see any credible connection.

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    1. But there are other sloths reported that aren't cute.

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  9. If I saw a Sasquatch, the last thing I'd do is check out its junk.

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    1. Right? I imagine your instinct is not to look down there. They are also supposedly covered in long, dark fur. Parts could blend in more.

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  10. Good article Damian. I was trying to find the sighting by a woman and her daughter in the last year or so where she found a picture in a book which was like the creature she saw. It was a giant sloth.

    I'm pretty sure it was on "Phantoms and Monsters". Lon if you're reading here maybe you can help.

    Here's another article that Lon did on Sloths,

    http://naturalplane.blogspot.com/2011/04/does-giant-ground-sloth-still-live.html

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  11. http://naturalplane.blogspot.com/2012/04/huge-sloth-like-cryptid-sighting-in.html

    "Last Autumn I caught sight of a large animal moving through the cypress trees of the swampy area that borders one of the fields I work. I live in Ware County, Georgia. I was working the field at the time and noticed the movement. It was late afternoon and still light out. The animal was huge, hairy and walked on all fours but I did see it rear up once. It reminded me of a black bear but much larger and lighter in color. I was about 200 yds. away from it but I still had a good look. I know for a fact that this was not a bear. I've seen black bears in the Okefenokee and this didn't look like one of those at all. I later saw a picture of an animal, a mapinguari, that is supposed to be a legend. I swear that is what I saw. Have you heard of this animal? I haven't seen it since but there have been a lot of cypress trees tore up lately and I'm wondering if it has been causing it. Some people have said for many years that there's a swamp beast in Ware County but I never paid it no mind until now. Henry

    NOTE: could this have been a Bigfoot? I have included other information about the Mapinguari...which is a creature supposedly from the Amazon rain forests. Anybody familiar with a swamp beast story in southeast Georgia? Lon"

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  12. Its amazing how childish you are Fasano, i do remember you was insultinng and cursing Mr. Bravo who is a decent man on one of your videos in spanish, so it must be you Fasano. I hope your not serious to think the North America wilderness has Sloths, they are only capable of living in warm climates of central and south America you idiot,now I know why people dislike you.

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  13. Tons of sloths in america. Come to smiths station alabama and i will show them to you. Jeff Teagle

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  14. From what I have read about the giant ground sloth theory, it has been suggested that the sasquatch reports from the southern areas such as Florida are actually giant ground sloths. They question whether this is the reason that the northwest bigfoot descriptions differ from skunkape descriptions.

    The teacher post one of the commenters was referring to is Mr. Karaskevicus, one of my earlier posts. It is actually one of my favorites that I have written about. He said that the Minnesota Iceman figure looked like what he saw.

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