"Samsquamtch" found?

[StoneMtn]

'Sasquatch' hair put to test

Last updated Jul 25 2005 11:39 AM MDT

CBC News

The legend of Sasquatch will be put to the test Monday as geneticists scrutinize a tuft of hair that allegedly came from the hairy beast.

The hair fragment was collected by some residents in Teslin, Yukon who claim a three-metre tall human-like creature tromped through their backyards earlier this month around 1 a.m.

Wildlife geneticist Dave Coltman, with the University of Alberta, is skeptical the results will turn up anything new.

"I'd be very surprised if it was something different, but you can never be 100 per cent sure, so I thought we would give this a go," said Coltman, who volunteered to run a DNA test on the strand.

FROM JULY 13, 2005: Sasquatch sighting reported in Yukon

Two men, Chucka Choumant and Trent Smarch, said they heard trees snapping and creaking as a mysterious figure passed through their Teslin yard – 180 km east of Whitehorse. They said the creature was moving fast and left behind a huge footprint, twice the size of a human's, and a small patch of hair.

FROM CBC ARCHIVE: Tracking Sasquatch

Coltman says in all likelihood the hair is that of a bison.

But there's a part of the scientist that hopes the Teslin residents really did see a Sasquatch. "Well that would be kind of cool, wouldn't it? We might as well have a look-see," he said.

"If it's anything known, if it's any species we've ever encountered before, we'll have a match. If it's something new, we won't have a match. So if we don't match anything, then it's potentially interesting," said Coltman.

Coltman and his colleague Corey Davis expect to have results by mid-week. After that, Coltman plans to take the hair around to schools to give kids a first-hand look at DNA testing.

http://calgary.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=ca-sasquatch-hair20050725

[Tooly]

"stop drop an roll ricky its a fuggin samsquanch!

[Lazlo]

My mother was just in the Yukon. I wonder if there's a connection.

[fluffhead77]

Sasquatch,

We know your legend's real.

Sasquatch,

We know your love is real.

Sasquatch,

You and Tenacious D, are...real.

[StoneMtn]

C B C . C A N e w s - F u l l S t o r y :

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'Sasquatch' hair belonged to bison

Last Updated Thu, 28 Jul 2005 14:15:26 EDT

CBC News

A tuft of hair found near a purported sasquatch sighting in the Yukon actually came from a bison, says the Alberta scientist who tested the sample.

A wildlife geneticist at the University of Alberta, David Coltman, said on Thursday that the hair produced a "100 per cent" match with known DNA sequences for bison.

The DNA in the 'sasquatch' hair was a 100-per-cent match with that of bison.

FROM CBC ARCHIVES: Tracking Sasquatch

"It also bore little similarity to other groups of mammals such as primates or carnivores," said Coltman, who did the tests with a colleague at the university in Edmonton.

The hair sample gained worldwide media attention after a group of people who live in Teslin, about 180 kilometres east of Whitehorse, said they found it after sighting a sasquatch near the community earlier in July.

Witnesses claimed to have spotted a large, furry, human-like creature late one night that left behind broken tree branches, a large footprint and the hair clump.

FROM JULY 13, 2005: Sasquatch sighting reported in Yukon

Reporters packed conference rooms in both Edmonton and Whitehorse to hear the results of the DNA sequencing done on the sample.

Coltman said the hair not only came from a bison but was from a long-dead animal.

He said the DNA was highly degraded and of very low quality, indicating that it had either been exposed for a long time to moisture and sunlight, or came from a hide that had been tanned.

"This is not to say this could not have been stepped on by a sasquatch," joked a wildlife technician in the Yukon, Phillip Merchant.

If necessary, geneticists could track the source of the hair, if the bison was from Yukon, Merchant said.

But he said the matter was likely going to go no further.

"Let's let this thing die a natural death," he told reporters. "Let the world move [on]."

Coltman has said planned to take the hair to schools in order to give children a first-hand look at DNA testing.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/07/28/sasquatchtesting0727.html

Copyright ©2005 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - All Rights Reserved

[Ms.Huxtable]

Mmmmm Bison.

[Boochawan]

I had an organic bison burger in Burlington, VT once. It was actually really good.