Wildlife biologists Zoe Jewell and Sky Alibhai, founders of WildTrack – a non-profit organization dedicated to identifying and protecting endangered species – identified “Bigfoot” tracks on SAS-owned wooded land in Cary, NC. The Bigfoot species is thought to live in deeply forested areas of North America; it is not to be confused with its relative, the Yeti or Meh-Teh, that is believed to live in the Himalayas.
While people have claimed to see the animals in isolated pockets of forested areas, it has never been officially catalogued as a species. The lack of data on this animal makes it the rarest species the WildTrack team has studied.
Jewell and Alibhai happened upon the track by accident while taking photos of coyote paw prints to test out a new algorithm for WildTrack’s Footprint Identification Technique. “This animal’s foot was wider than a human foot – almost square and totally flat with no arch, if you can believe it,” exclaimed Jewell. “And the thing that clearly demonstrates that it isn’t a human foot is a protrusion just below the big toe.”
The print was smaller than might be expected of a Bigfoot animal, which had Jewell and Alibhai speculating that this individual was a juvenile. “That makes sense,” said Alibhai, “because a fully grown adult Bigfoot knows to stay well away from areas trafficked by humans.” Speculation is that the juvenile snuck away from the protection of its parents and felt comfortable coming out of hiding because the SAS campus has been quiet for so long.
A press conference on SAS Campus is planned for next Monday, when John Sall, Alibhai and Jewell will unveil casts of the prints and explain their findings. Journalists from National Geographic, CNN, Science and Nature will be in attendance.
Not in attendance – in fact, hiding in her Raleigh home – will be Diana Levey, who had recently been wandering around the woods near campus barefoot. Her bunions had grown to amazing proportions, which made wearing shoes uncomfortable. How was she supposed to know that WildTrack would be snooping around right after?!?
