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Scientists to investigate Bigfoot sighting in India Indian authorities promise further study into dubious claims mongabay.com June 10, 2007
Villagers in the jungles of the Indian northeastern state of Meghalaya claim to have evidence of Bigfoot or Sasquatch, reports the Indo-Asian News Service. Government authorities said they will conduct a "scientific study" to examine the purported sightings near the border with Bangladesh. 'A team of wildlife officials and other experts would conduct a study to find out if there is any truth in claims made by locals about sighting some hairy giants similar to the elusive Bigfoot,' Samphat Kumar, the district magistrate of West Garo Hills, told IANS. IANS reports that half-a-dozen Garo villagers claim to have seen the beast in separate sightings over the past three weeks. 'The sight was frightening - two adults and two smaller ones, huge and bulky, furry, heads looked as if they were wearing caps, and their colour was somewhat blackish brown,' IANS quoted Wallen Sangma, a 40-year-old farmer, as saying. Sangma claims to have seen hour of the creatures "in a thickly forested area near village Rongcekgre, about 350 km from the state capital Shillong" while looking for firewood.
'We have taken photographs and video images of the footprints of the creature and their nesting. The footprints we shot were as big as 13 to 15 inches long,' Dipu Marak, general secretary of the Achik Tourism Society, told the Indo-Asian News Service.
Achik Tourism Society says the "mystical monster" feeds on "wild berries, bananas, plantain tree shoots, barks and roots" and construct "a nest kind of thing using thatch and leaves with no roofs-just walls", according to Dipu Marak. Though it is highly likely that surveys will encounter Bigfoot, they could increase interest in India's forest biodiversity, which is under threat from unsustainable logging, hunting, and conversion for agriculture. There is also a strong possibility of encountering other unknown species like the legless lizard discovered last month in the state of Orissa. While less conspicuous than bigfoot, these discoveries are nonetheless important to understanding India's rich biological diversity. Related articles In search of Bigfoot, scientists may uncover unknown biodiversity in Malaysia. Malaysian scientists are scouring the rainforests of Johor state in search of the legendary ape-man Bigfoot, supposedly sighted late last year. But they are more likely to encounter some less fantastic but unique creatures that dwell in these still unexplored ecosystems. Scientists search for Mongolian Death Worm. A group of English scientists are spending a month in the Gobi desert in search of the Mongolian Death Worm, a fabled creature said to lurk in the sands of the hostile region. The three to five foot long creature is known to the locals as Allghoi khorkhoi, Mongolian for intestine worm because it is reported to look like the intestine of a cow. Mongolian nomads have made extraordinary claims about the animal, reporting that the death worm can spit a corrosive yellow saliva that acts like acid and that they have the ability to generate blasts of electricity powerful enough to kill a full grown camel. Comments? News options
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