Editorial: Could Sasquatch Be Misidentified as Bear, and Vice-Versa?

Picture this: an average hunter or hiker, walking in the forest or on a mountain trail, just minding his/her own business. Suddenly, the hiker/hunter comes across something hunched over on all fours. It is black or dark-brown in color, and the witness immediately assumes it to be a bear, so the witness breaks out the bear mace. But, the witness gets the shock of his/her life when it stands up on two legs, looks at the witness with a more humanlike face and humanlike posture and walks off into the deeper forest. The witness is flabbergasted and is unsre of what to do next. The witness was prepared for a bear, but not for what could only be a Sasquatch or Bigfoot! This scenario is more common than most may realize. A witness assumes he/she saw a bear, but then the true nature of the creature in question becomes clear. Of course, bears are primarily quadraped walkers, only standing briefly on their hind legs to observe a landscape further, and almost certainly not being habitually bipedal, only being able to take a few short steps before reverting back to quadraped status. Many eyewitness reports of sightings from a good distance have been observed of a Sasquatch which was on all fours and was assumed to be a black or Grizzly bear, but then the individual witnessed stood up and walked on its two legs, bipedally, like humans. There is always the possibility that a witness thought he saw a Sasquatch, possibly under poor lighting or at a distance, but it turned out to be a bear. The reverse has also happened, where something assumed to be a bear turned out to be a Sasquatch. John Bindernagel, a retired wildlife biologist, has examined this possibility in his excellent book North America's Great Ape: The Sasquatch, but also included two sketches which showed a bear standing at front and side profile, and also another sketch of a Sasquatch in the same position, which is used almost as a field guide-type drawing to give people a clue as to the differences between an upright bear and a bipedal primate. It is also believed by some that low-flying helicopters and planes passing over a wilderness area may see a hunched-over creature which is assumed to be a bear, but may in fact be a Sasquatch, utilizing natural "camouflage" to fool witnesses. So, next time one is in the woods and sees what appears to be a hunched-over bear on all fours, may in fact be witnessing a Sasquatch.