S is for Sasquatch

I already posted about one of my favorite Minifigures of all time (click here to read about Hot Dog Guy). Today’s post is about another one, my LEGO sasquatch. This Minifigure was released in Series 14, and it has provided me with hours of photography entertainment. I took him on pretty much every hiking trip I went on last summer, taking every opportunity to shoot some pics.

Much like ghosts (click here to read my thoughts on those), the sasquatch is a creature that I am intrigued by, and am not ready to rule out as myth. But, the question arises, how could something so big exist with so little evidence for so long? Well, the answer is quite easily, actually. Let’s begin with what a sasquatch could be. My favorite theory is that Big Foot is a hominoid, which is to say a close relative of ours on the evolutionary tree. Throughout the short history of man, several species of hominoids have co-existed (Neanderthals being the most commonly known). While it is generally accepted that our species outcompeted all others, there is a small chance that we are incorrect in that assumption. Another species of hominoid would be relatively clever compared to many other animal species, and could avoid us easily enough. It has been said that one out of every ten times that you go hiking in the Pacific North West, a mountain lion will see you, but you won’t see it. Now imagine an animal that is even smarter.

So, why isn’t there any real proof? Well, anyone who has tried to photograph or film wildlife will know that it is actually really hard to do. I used to track lions in Africa for film crews from BBC, Animal Planet, and National Geographic. All those beautiful shots you see on TV take hours, if not days or weeks to catch. For every great shot I took of a lion, I took another multitude of crappy ones. The only photo I managed to catch of a wild leopard during a whole year spent in Africa is a blurry mess. Big animals can hide from and avoid you easily. There were times when we would have a full radio signal from the tracking collar of a lion, but the actual animal was no where in sight.

Then there are all those large animals that we have only discovered recently. In the last 10 years, we have discovered a new species of clouded leopard (which is no small cat) in Indonesia, two species of primates (one in Brazil, another in the Congo), a species of sloth (on an island near Panama), a species of dolphin (in Australia), a species of lemur (in Madagascar), and a species of deer (in Vietnam) among many others. Interestingly, the deer was originally identified from bones, but later was found to be a living species in the woods. There is a lot out there that we just don’t know about, so I am not ready to give up on sasquatches just yet.

What do you think? Do you believe in Big Foot? At the very least, the wilderness of my LEGO world is home to sasquatches.

This post was written as part of the April A-to-Z blogging challenge. You can read more about the challenge by visiting the official website. Be sure to check back on Monday for my LEGO themed letter “T” post!

Until next time,

-T.N.B.