Yes, the lack of solid physical evidence is a valid point, but that doesn’t mean people should stop looking.  Our knowledge of the fossil record is not complete either (I would actually expect that Bigfoot, if real, came over an Arctic land bridge just like humans did.)  I can picture natural mechanisms whereby a population of these things could survive (particularly in the areas where they are most often sighted) without a lot of contact with humans. Sure, I carry a camera (phone) around all the time, but a lot of the images I want to capture are fleeting, and the camera is not out and ready to snap away.  (Besides, millions of cameras being carried around a large city is not the same as a lone cameraman hiking in a vast expanse of forest– I apparently hiked right past a feeding moose once without even noticing.)

There’s no denying that it would be very cool, particularly from a scientific standpoint, if someone found incontrovertible evidence of Bigfoot, so I won’t mock anyone who is seriously and honestly studying it, any more than I would have mocked the Wright Brothers with “everyone knows flight is impossible.”

comments and ratings disabled, lol.

Chinese Academy of Science research suggests that the rise of the Tibetan plateau 1.6 million to 800,000 years ago altered the climate of South Asia, ushering in a colder, drier period when forests shrank. Also, Gigantopithecus’s neighbor, Homo erectus may have over-hunted and/or outcompeted him into extinction.

It’s also unexplained how this lumbering, 1,200-pound quadruped that only ate C3 forest plants like bamboo could (1) get to the western hemisphere in the first place, and (2) turn into a swift, agile, upright walker in such a short time on an evolutionary timescale.

Or is it an ALIEN IN A BIGFOOT SUIT?

(If I had the time and a piece of paper, I’d do the trig here.)It seems to me much more likely that the necessities imposed by wearing a large, ill-fitting costume are to blame.    

Still waiting for someone to find some bigfoot poop.

Bigfoot poop is actually quite plentiful. The problem is that it’s biologically indistinguishable from bullshit.

“But…but…but bigfoot doesn’t have an anus!”  No excuses.  If you want bigfoot to be a part of biology proper then evidence or STFU.

[Edit: google seems to suggest these were hoaxes as well FWIW. Learns me for relying on news from my childhood]

Even if there had been though it wouldn’t suggest bigfoot is one or exists.

Rather even that wouldn’t make it a 50/50 split between Bigfoot and Stupid People.

Now there are fossils of large North American apes that have been found, but these are very ancient fossils.

Really? I hadn’t heard that. What fossils were those?

We also know that people, while some times clever, can be infinitely stupid. This gets demonstrated regularly.Now there are fossils of large North American apes that have been found, but these are very ancient fossils. 

So your question boils down to this: is it more likely that  there a species of non-human large ape still living in North America, or that there are a lot of very very stupid people living in North America?

I would not put those odds at 50/50. I’d put forth the suggestion that we KNOW there are a lot of very very stupid people living in North America.

…is it more ridiculous to believe there is a large ape species we haven’t physically verified,

In Africa, maybe. In North America? That would be pretty darn astounding.

…or that there is an army of hoaxers running around in ape suits in the middle of nowhere (including during hunting season?)

“Army” seems a bit strong since the number of sightings which would require hoaxers (i.e. photos & video that unmistakably depict a furry hominid) are pretty few and far between. Most of the “evidence” is open to some pretty wide interpretation, to say the least.

Consider this: the number of people who carry high-quality cameras with them at all times has increased exponentially over the last generation. Why aren’t we seeing a corresponding increase in Bigfoot photos?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IORdWpu5KM