Why so few reports from Quebec?

Possible sasquatch photographed in Quebec. more

The province of Quebec has similar land mass, population, and environmental conditions as Ontario. Yet there is remarkably few reports that are from Quebec. The BFRO lists 64 sightings in Ontario and only 4 from Quebec. The excellent website ontariosasquatch.com has documented over 70 sightings in Ontario and the sightings map shows at least a dozen of these sighting occur close to the Ontario-Quebec border. Mangani's Bigfoot Maps show incredible density of sightings in the north-east USA but very sparse sightings in Quebec.

How is it possible that so few sighting come from Quebec?

Hypothesis #1
People in Quebec speak predominantly French, therefore the sightings never get picked up by organisations like the BFRO due to language. Sightings are happening but they are not being reported.

• No central French language database or researcher in Quebec. Researcher Alexandre Bilodeau has recorded 6 sighting and 6 possible sighting in Quebec. Another bilingual paranormal organisation in Quebec has never received a report in Quebec. There are a few more forum posts and similar reports in French that can be found. Overall, the total amount of reports online is remarkably low.
• However, New Brunswick is a much smaller province but also largely Francophone has 7 reports from on the BFRO while Quebec only has 4. Remarkably, Malaysia has 36 and China 11 reports on the BFRO.  This suggests that language itself is not the problem. 

Hypothesis #2
Sasquatch is a myth. It has propagated in English speaking North Americans but has been incorporated to a much lesser degree in Francophone culture.

• It seems that sasquatch is present in modern Quebec culture. Many sasquatch/bigfoot documentaries have been translated into French. There was a minor league basketball team called the Montreal Sasquatch. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that Quebec residents have knowledge of sasquatch, they must associate a hairy human-like creature walking in the woods with the word "bigfoot" or "sasquatch." This hypothesis doesn't really work either.

Hypothesis #3
There are environmental characteristics that cause sasquatch to be less prevalent in Quebec.

• I am not familiar with any differences but it is possible.
• I would actually expect Quebec to be better than Ontario because of more coastal areas with salmon rivers. Dr. Bindernagel has stated that sasquatch food sources probably include clams and salmon. 

This seems really bizarre. The truth might be some combination of all factors. For example, greater knowledge of sasquatch in English speaking regions leads to more "false" reports combined with real sightings going undocumented.

Popular evidence form Quebec: Possible photo, casts, Great North figure

The Five Gait Patterns of Sasquatch

Firstly I want to draw attention to the work done by the Facebook Find Bigfoot crew. Without their countless hours of compiling data, analysis like this would not be possible.

There are five gait patterns seen in the record of Sasquatch motion pictures:

1. Walking with small vertical displacement of the centre of gravity
2. Walking with large vertical displacement of the centre of gravity
3. Biped Jog/trot
4. Biped Sprinting/running
5. Quadruped running

Walking with small vertical displacement of the centre of gravity

• Main characteristics: Very stable torso while walking, the head and shoulders move up and down less than typical human walking. The Sasquatch seems to glide or float. They move swiftly and fluidly. Fast or brisk walk. Fast cadence of footsteps.
• Examples: Patteson-Gimlin Film, White Bigfoot in Soybean Field Ohio, Minnesota Auburn, Harlan Ford, ... 
• Possible Explanations #1: Heelstrike walking with compliant gait. Dr. Jeff Meldrum has examined hundreds of footprints collected across North America and has come up with a theory of mid-tarsal break. Bipedal walking with a mid-tarsal break foot suggests "compliant gait" meaning that the knees are bent throughout the entire step cycle. This is mainly due to the decreased moment of inertia (torque) around the ankle joint that accompanies mid-tarsal break (difficult to explain, I will attempt to do this in another video or article). Basically, this type of walking is consistent with the footprint evidence.
• Possible Explanation #2: Patterson-Gimlin Film is a hoax and since then many hoaxers have attempted to copy the gait in the PGF.
• Final Word: This type of walking is probably the fast walking mode of the Sasquatch. Probably walk like this on flat terrain where footing is good.

Walking with large vertical displacement of the centre of gravity

• Main characteristics: Centre of gravity rises and falls with each step. Up and down movement of head and shoulders is greater than typical walking in humans. Forward movement almost stops with each step. Slow speed. Slow cadence of footsteps.
• Examples: Freeman Footage, Del Norte, Peguis Back Road, Backyard Bigfoot,  Kid films Sasquatch in profile N. IL, ...
• Possible Explanation #1: Forefoot strike walking. The creatures in this video are landing with the front part of the foot rather than the heel. This causes the characteristics discussed above. Apes with mid-tarsal break often walk like this and can even switch between heelstrike and forefoot strike walking (Dr. Aaron Filler, 7min mark). Consistent with footprint evidence, especially half-tracks found, because sometimes only the front part of the foot would contact ground.
• Possible Explanation #2: This type of walking is caused by persons in suits trying to take long strides. This explains the up and down movement with each step, and the near stop to the forward movement with each step. Trying to take big steps also causes an in-line trackway because the hips rotate to make the step longer.
• Final Word: This might be the method Sasquatch use for walking slowly. This method of walking is the most common in the video record. There is a problem with this type of walking: it is very inefficient. It takes a lot of energy to move the centre of gravity up and down with each step. Natural selection does not tolerate inefficiency. However, there might be a couple reasons to explain this: (1) improve traction. Humans do this when walking on hard slippery surfaces. (2) Stealth, perhaps it lets them step more softly and quietly. (3) depth perception, human move their head laterally (left/right) a few centimetres to change perspective slightly and gain a better depth perception. Perhaps Sasquatch necks cannot move this way because the head is set closer to the shoulder, they move vertically instead.

Biped Jog/trot

• Main characteristics: Slightly faster than walking, slightly faster cadence than walking. Elbows are flexed but very little arm movement. Short airborne phase (period of both feet off the ground). Mid-foot or forefoot landing. Similar to barefoot human running.
• Examples: To my knowledge the only example is the final seconds of the Soybean Ohio video
• Final Word: Theoretically possible for Sasquatch to bipedal jog. Not much else to say.

Biped Sprinting/running

• Main characteristics: Full run. Fast. Arms pumping. Long airborne phase (period of both feet off the ground). Long strides. Heelstrike landing. Torso rotation with each step.
• Examples: Memorial day, “Bigfoot in Backyard" by stream (somehow #17 of top 50 from FB/FB)
• Possible Explanation #1: Sasquatch bipedal run very similar to the way humans run when wearing shoes.
• Possible Explanation #2: Human in a suit.
• Final Word: These videos are probably hoaxes or mis-identification. This type of gait does not fit well with mid-tarsal break theory. It is my hypothesis that Sasquatch cannot run the way humans do. I will address this in more detail in another article. Briefly, the main reasons are: (1) Human barefoot runners do not run with the characteristics above. It is more of a trot or slow jog, strides are much shorter, and they land with the mid-foot or front part of the foot. (2) Sasquatch arms are too long to pump when running. (3) Foot anatomy of Sasquatch as inferred from footprints suggests a decreased speed advantage for angular velocity about the ankle joint. (4) Ligaments in the foot at the mid-tarsal break would not be able to support the forces of a 500+ lbs animal biped running.

Quadruped Running

• Main characteristics: Very fast. Running on all four limbs, similar to gorilla or chimpanzee.
• Examples: PEI, New York Quadruped
• Possible explanation #1: Sasquatch can quadruped run the same way Gorillas and Chimps do. Consistent with long arms observed in the best videos. Consistent with mid-tarsal break foot anatomy and function since Gorillas and Chimps have mid-tarsal break feet.
• Possible Explanation #2: Mis-identified bears.
• Final Word: This is probably the method Sasquatch use to sprint. This gait would be very difficult to fake. Some possibility the New York video is a bear, but it seems very unlikely that the PEI video could be a bear. 

Munns report shows Patterson-Gimlin subject walks with heelstrike gait pattern and shows toe movement.

Bill Munns has enhanced and analysed the Patterson-Gimlin Film his work can be found at themunnsreport.com. In one sequence of images Munns highlight the feet of the subject of the film. These images were used for the following analysis.

The heelstrike is interesting because this is how humans typically walk when wearing shoes. Mid-tarsal break theory allows for heelstrike and toestrike walking. Apes who have mid-tarsal break walk with both gait patterns (see 6 min mark of this video).

The extension of the toes is suggestive that this is something other than a man in a suit. It is conceivable that the man in the suit is wearing big floppy feet and centrifugal force is causing them to bend up just before heelstrike. There are two main problems with the floppy foot theory, the gait looks too natural/fluid to be wearing floppy feet, and the feet don't flop around at any other point in the film.

Energy Expenditure of Sasquatch

Sasquatch are big, therefore they require a large amount of food. This article attempts to calculate as closely as possible how food much would be required. Calculating the minimum amount will limit the error involved.  Calculating the minimum also makes it easier to discuss the plausibility of sasquatch's existence in terms of Ecology.

Quantifiable factors involved:

1. Basal Metabolic Rate
2. Movement Requirements for Foraging
3. Thermic Effect of Food

Non-quantifiable factors:

1. Thermoregulation

Basal Metabolic Rate

In order to calculate the amount of food required we must first look at Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). BMR is defined as the amount of energy needed to sustain life at rest; calculated in thermoneutral environment and fasted state (maintaining body temperature and digesting food consumes energy) [1].
Dr. Wolf H. Fahrenbach calculated the BMR of Sasquatch in his 1998 paper using Kleiber's Law:

kcal/day = 67.6 x body weight^0.756

Initially I had considered using predictive BMR equations for use in humans. The rationale for this was that Kleiber's Law describes a general trend and is not ideal for estimating BMR in a single species of individual. Whereas the human predictive equations are specific (I assume sasquatch are metabolically similar enough to humans). However I discovered a few problems: (1) equations require unknown data such as age, sex, or body composition (% body fat). Estimating these would be an additional source of error. (2) These equations are linear and therefore applying them to sasquatch 2-6 times larger than humans is problematic since it contradicts Kleiber's Law. Also the equations only claim to be valid within normal human weight limits. (3) Plugging in the 100 Kg and 20% body fat in the Katch-McArdel and Cunningham equations gives similar results to the Kleiber equation.

In conclusion, the Kleiber equation is the best way to approach this issue.

Table 1: BMR relative to weight

Movement Requirements for Foraging

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) Walking Equation estimates oxygen consumption (VO2) during walking in humans. VO2 is directly related to energy expenditure.

VO2 = resting component + horizontal component + vertical component
VO2 = 3.5  +  0.1(speed)  +  1.8 (speed) (fractional grade)
*speed in m/min, grade as decimal

We will omit the resting component because we have already calculated the BMR and will add the BMR in place of the resting component later on. The ACSM resting component is a rough estimate based on human averages. The equation gives VO2max in mL/Kg/min which can be converted to kcal/min by the co-efficient 1 L O2 = 4.9 kcal. Then multiply in the weight, speed and distance gives the total number of calories. Using this equation requires several assumptions about Sasquatch's physiology and behaviour:
Primary mode of locomotion - Assume Sasquatch moves around the forest primarily by bipedal walking.
Gait efficiency - Assume the efficiency of Sasquatch's gait is equal to humans. Given the mid-tarsal break theory gait would actually be less efficient than humans, Dr. Meldrum notes this in his paper. It is impossible to quantify how much less efficient so we will assume equal to humans. This is consistent with establishing a minimum energy requirement.
Speed - Assume average speed of walking is 5 Km/h. A conservative estimate based on what my GPS calculates as my average hiking speed while backpacking. The effect of speed is rather minimal.
Distance - Conservative estimate being the average distance covered per day is 20 Km/h. This equates to 4 hours of hiking at 5 Km/h. Personally I probably cover 10-15Km/day on average including work, chores, exercise. Obviously we have no data on the daily activities of Sasquatch but this estimation considers study of radio collar studies of Grizzly Bears. Fahrenbach notes, "Increased size also implies high mobility and a correspondingly large home range. A rare, individually identifiable Sasquatch was reported over a span of 8 years in several locales in Washington and Oregon, the most distant sites having a linear separation of more than 150 miles (240 km)." While the identification of the same individual is questionable, I agree that the range of sasquatch is likely very large, probably larger than Grizzly Bears. Finding food is one issue, the other is given the rare nature of the species they must have large ranges to find breeding partners.
Hills/terrain - An estimate of 5% grade (average) will be included in the equation. This accounts for the increased energy demand of walking up hill. 5% is a conservative estimate based on the mountainous terrain sasquatch is proposed to inhabit. This also includes the increased energy demand of walking on uneven ground.
The results:

Table 2: Energy requirements of walking 20 Km at 5% grade, 5 Km/h  for various weights (Kg).

The energy requirement just for walking around to find food increases dramatically as the size of the individual increases. Where increased size is a metabolic advantage for BMR it is a disadvantage for movement energy expenditure. This equilibrium is what prevents animals from evolving into larger and larger forms.

The Thermic Effect of Food
The Thermic Effect of Food, is the energy required to digest food. In humans this accounts for 10% of all energy expenditure and can be considerably more for animals that eat primarily plants. Sasquatch can be assumed to be omnivores and therefore probably have the same or similar 10% as humans. Although realistically in the wild access to simple sugars and refined carbohydrates is limited, this would suggest greater than 10% effect.

Thermoregulation
There is no way to calculate this other than to predict it would probably be more than humans. Aboriginal humans had fire, clothing, and shelter to keep warm while they rested. Without these the energy required for thermoregulation would be considerably more. However, this is impossible to quantify.

Sources of Error
There are many. Too many unknown factors: Activity, behaviour, diet, metabolic cost of thermoregulation, actual size, hibernation?, walking in snow, ...

Discussion

Table 3: Estimated total energy expenditure relative to weight.

These are absolute minumum values. Is there enough energy available in the ecosystem to support creatures with caloric requirements such as this?
John Bindernagel Ph.D.- Dr. Bindernegel is a professional wildlife biologist who thinks it is plausible that sasquatch exist. Update: On a radio program Dr. Bindernegel was asked about this topic, he did not have a estimate in terms of calories. He dosen't consider calorie availability a limiting factor, he referenced moose living in the same ecosystems and having a similar body mass.
Bears do it - Bears have comparable body mass and probably similar caloric requirements.  Bears can consume up to 35 000 kcal/day. Food drives bear behaviour: "Bears are constantly in search of easily obtainable food sources", "The focus is feeding—along forest openings, trails, road edges and in campgrounds—sometimes around the clock." Bears have extremely sensitive sense of smell that allows them to find food efficiently, (ie. they can smell there is something to eat under a rock before they flip it over). This also means sasquatch probably compete with bears for food sources.
Aboriginal humans - Humans have existed in essentially every ecosystem in North America. Although caloric requirements would be considerably less. Humans have several advantages such as communication, team work, tool use, permanent shelter, fire, transportation (ie. canoes), community (live in villages) which have helped the species survive.

Conclusion
Energy expenditure does not preclude the existence of sasquatch since bears and humans have proven survival is possible in a wide variety of habitats. It does however make certain areas with greater abundance of food sources more likely to contain sasuqatch. For example, areas where aboriginals have been known to settle in large numbers, and/or areas where bears are abundant would have greater probability of finding a sasquatch.
Calculations such as these seem to suggest that it is less likely that 600 Kg and larger sasquatch exist.

Further questions:

• If large amounts of food are important to sasquatch why has a starving individual never wandered into a town/farm/camp risking being seen to find a meal?
• Why do sasquatch not associate food and people the way bears sometimes do?
• What sort of special traits or adaptations do they have to allow them to find food?

Off-line References:

1. American College of Sports Medicine. (2010) ACSM's resource manual for guidelines for exercise testing and prescription, 6th ed. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer.
2. Meldrum, Jeff. (2006) Sasquatch: Legend meets science. New York: Forge

Jacobs Photos

The BFRO suggests that the R Jacobs photos might be a young Sasquatch. The photo's can be seen here. The main reason why the BFRO and others suggest this might be a Sasquatch is due to the limb proportions. In their calculations the limb proportions do not match those of a bear, and appear to be similar to a primate. Limb proportions can only be estimated because the photo quality is not sufficient to show anatomical landmarks required to make these calculations. Although this photo does not seem to be typical of a black bear, limbs do seem longer than that of a black bear.

Here is the reasons why this is likely not a Sasquatch:

1. Walks/stands on four legs - Sasquatch are bipedal
2. Size - Smaller than 5 feet tall (reference), probably about 100-150 lbs (my own guess), Sasquatch are generally much bigger. Although this size is well within normal range for a female black bear (reference).
3. Bear cubs photographed in the same location less than 30 min prior - Bear cubs are generally accompanied by an adult bear.

4. Spinal flexion - The level and location of spinal flexion is not consistent with human, gorilla, or chimpanzee; but is consistent with a bear. See figure:
5. Gluteal muscles - It does not appear that this creature has pronounced gluteal muscles. Large gluteal muscles are associated with bipedal gait. Glutes appear similar to bear, although inconclusive due to picture quality.
6. Girth of upper limb is roughly equal to lower limbs - Bipeds would probably have larger girth in lower limbs relative to upper limbs.
7. Feet - feet appear small
8. Professional opinion - The Pennsylvania Game Commission declared this a "mangey bear" (reference). The bigfoot community argues that the Pennsylvania Game Commission is biased because they do not accept the possibility of a Sasquatch. Similarly, the Bigfoot community is biased because they do not accept the possibility that Sasquatch does not exist.

I feel the R Jacobs photos are most probably a bear and unlikely to be a Sasquatch. This might be an example of Bigfoot researchers drawing observations from conclusions.