What constitutes an "expert"?

The field of Bigfoot research has many different researchers from all walks of life-newspaper reporters, anthropologists, wildlife biologists, paleontologists and scientists. But the vast majority of researchers are amateurs with no professional status to jeopardize. But, do any of us qualify as "experts"? Well, I would say that yes, some of the more qualified people in this field would fall under that category. I realize that some of us say "There are no experts in the Bigfoot field.", but I would say there are a lot of experts in this field who seem to know certain aspects about the mystery. I would put Dr. Jeff Meldrum in the field of "expert" because of his qualifications in the fields of anatomy and primatology; I consider M. K. Davis an "expert" on the Patterson/Gimlin film, since he worked on it for 8 years and found it authentic; I would put Rick Noll in the "expert" category due to his continued field work and background in aeronautics. I could list more, but you get the drift. There are experts in this field, but they don't advertise themselves as such (most of the time), and are usually very humble and honest about their professions. So there are experts in the Bigfoot field.