Sasquatch and the Short-Faced Bear. Who are they?
He was between ten and eleven feet tall when standing on his hind legs. His arms were long, and his toes faced straight ahead, creating a human-like stance when walking. He weighed as much as sixteen hundred pounds, probably impressive to his lady friend, half his size. Though the couple enjoyed tasty meat dishes, she may have eaten more vegetables. In general, they weren't that picky, adapting to the food in various climates and terrains. The species occupied North America during the Pleistocene, between 1.6 million years ago and the end of the ice age, approximately 11,000 thousand years ago. Their remains have been found in the plains, steppe tundra, boreal forests, open grasslands, and subtropical woodlands. Archeologists call them Arctodus sinus, or Short-faced Bears.
After seeing a museum rendition of a Short-faced Bear, I wondered if they were behind the stories of Sasquatch or Bigfoot, as they were called when Hollywood glamorized them. For nearly 5,000 years, the Short-faced Bear shared the land with the Clovis people who had crossed the Bering Sea and with those who sailed here from Oceana. When these First Americans encountered Short-faced Bears, they must have found them frightening and taught their children to hide from them. Could they be the ones who named them Sasquatch?
The original word for Sasquatch is "Sasq'ets," from the Halq'emeylem language of Coast Salish First Nation peoples of southwestern British Columbia. Though Sasquatch's habitat is usually associated with the rainforests of the Pacific Northwest, the species is said to thrive in the High Desert, in dry canyon lands, pine forests, and scrublands as well. And so did the Short-faced bear.
Though Sasquatch is described as a cross between a gorilla and a human, I think the bear and human would be a better analysis. Stories about the creatures go back thousands of years, well before recorded history, and are said to roam the forests today. The hairy man (or is it fur) with a flat face was believed to have special powers. The Ojibway people of the Northern Plaines believe he appeared in times of danger as a messenger of warning, telling humans to change their ways. All tribes see Sasquatch as shrouded in power and magic, though some describe him as violent and crude, and others say he's helpful.
