BIGFOOT SKULLDUGGERY?
YouTuber’s crypto cranial claims meet with scepticism from scientists
In early July cryptozoology YouTuber Coyote Peterson went public on social media with a find he claimed to have kept secret “for several weeks” – a large primate skull that he said he had discovered in British Columbia, Canada. While he didn’t explicitly claim it was bigfoot remains, he did say “I don’t know if it’s what you all think it might be… but I cannot explain finding a primate skull in the Pac Northwest without wondering! What do you believe?”
His post showed a photograph of a large skull protruding from muddy ground in what looks like a pine forest. According to Peterson, “The skull was found partially buried under ground in deep back forest ravine after a massive storm in the Pac Northwest where clearly a bunch of trees and earth were disturbed.” He went on to say, “I’m sure these pics will be taken down… as will probably the video by government or state park officials,” who he believed might “try to cease [sic] our footage.”
While this generated a good deal of social media excitement, not everyone was impressed. FT contributor and vertebrate palæontologist Darren Naish said: “This is undoubtedly a gorilla skull, as is obvious from numerous anatomical details. Also, it seems to be identical to commercially available casts of a specific gorilla skull.” This was backed up by geologist Yinan Wang, a graduate student at John Hopkins University, who pointed out the close similarity of Peterson’s skull to a gorilla skull cast commercially available on the AliExpress website.
Peterson, though, maintains “the skull is safe” and is going to be subject to “primatologist review” to support his claim. However, any claim for the genuineness for the skull would appear to be seriously undermined by the artefact seemingly having been dug up without proper archæological process and data collection, crucial for giving the skull appropriate context, particularly if it is not of recent origin.
If the skull does prove to be genuine, this would create further problems for Peterson; if it is “safe” in the US, it means he would have smuggled the skull across the border with Canada, which is illegal. Transporting biological specimens across borders requires various permits, and in addition, movement of primate specimens is governed by the CITES treaty that regulates the transport of endangered species. Also, if, as Peterson implies, it was found in a State Park, removing biological material from those is illegal in Canada as well. As a result, without the appropriate documentation Peterson would be in a difficult legal position were he to prove his skull was from an actual unknown primate. Naish, though, is confident that this is unlikely to be a problem, saying: “We can straight away shut down the idea that it might be a real skull of an unknown primate. Nope. It’s a cast of a known species.”
He concludes that the whole thing is probably a clickbait stunt for Peterson’s YouTube channel. In the meantime, there has been no sign of anyone trying to “cease” or take anything down. Considering the conspiratorial tone of Peterson’s posts, Naish added: “Maybe this is meant to be taken as harmless fun. But in an age where anti-scientific feelings and conspiracy culture are a serious problem it… really isn’t a good look. I think this stunt has backfired.” livescience.com, 8 July; sportskeeda.com, 9 July 2022.