TASH MAHNOKAREN
Staff Writer
If only 20,000 years ago there were a half a dozen hominid species coexisting, why should we think things to be any different now?
This thought was inspired by Jeffrey Meldrum, professor of anatomy and anthropology.
Meldrum, an anatomy and physical anthropology professor at Idaho State University since 1993, is best known for his research attempting to prove the existence of Bigfoot.
Meldrum formally began his study of primates during his doctoral research on the terrestrial adaptation of African primates.
Since then, his research pursuits have led him to travel the world in search of fossils and evidence relating to his research on bipedalism.
Of these is Meldrum’s research on Bigfoot. Well versed in the area of hominid bipedalism, Meldrum has isolated the cast specimens found in the Blue Mountains near Walla Walla, Wash., as those of Bigfoot.
These footprints of unevaluated species have proved to be unlike any other.
“In the face of so much evidence of yetis, the almasty in Russia, yeren in China, sasquatch in North America, orang pendek in southwest Asia and hobbits, it is hard to defend the fact that we are the only hominid on the planet,” said Meldrum.
Meldrum focuses his teaching not only on aspects of human anatomy but also on evolutionary morphology, which centers on how the human form came to be through natural selection and adaptation.
Apart from educating the ISU community, Meldrum also pursues his personal interests in the humble confines of the biology laboratory.
Meldrum’s fascination with vertebrate functional morphology and the evolution of hominid bipedalism has fostered a vast collection of fossils and cast specimens.
“I have accumulated well over 200-250 cast specimens of hominid species, including examples of hominid fossil footprints for comparison,” said Meldrum.
“Currently I’m working with the fossil remains of a foot skeleton of an 800,000-year-old hominid from China,” he said.
Meldrum has published several journals on his finding in relation to this subject. In addition, Meldrum also edits an online scientific journal called the “Relict Hominoid Inquiry.”
“I want to present my evidence to my colleagues in a way that they can also evaluate, review and consider it,” said Meldrum.
“These distinctions are biomechanically sound and reasonable, precisely what one might expect for a gigantic bipedal primate,” said Meldrum of the cast specimens on his research on Bigfoot.
“They exhibit differences in proportions, differences in the presence or absence of arch, in degrees of flexibility of joints within the foot, degrees of preemption and relative length of the toes,” he continued.
One of Meldrum’s recent collaborations is with a tracker in Montana.
Together they taught a course in the forensic analysis of footprints of rare and unusual species, ranging from Bigfoot to bears, cougars and grizzlies.
“We taught workshops, made presentations and guided a tour tracking wolves and bears in Yellowstone,” said Meldrum.
Meldrum also works in collaboration with the Idaho Virtualization Laboratory through the Idaho Museum of Natural History to create a virtual archive consisting of 3-D scans of footprint casts. This means Meldrum’s scans are readily accessible to other researchers pursuing similar areas.
“We are expanding that collection to include the largest wildlife footprint cast collection in the country,” said Meldrum.
Meldrum is also currently in conversation with producers from the Discovery Channel and National Geographic to host a series relating to bipedalism.
