I know that I've said several times that I think Bigfoot are close to the human line. The problem is: are they animals? They live like animals. They apparently use no technology any more advanced than the apes do. On the other hand, there is evidence that they have at least a rudimentary form of speech.
It is my belief that speech was necessary before man could maintain and use fire. There is just too much to know about this dangerous but useful phenomenon that it all could be learned by observation. Children had to be taught how use it safely, how to maintain it and rekindle a fire after it went out. Once the knowledge of fire was kindled in men's minds, it has never been forgotten to this day. That could only be because the knowledge was passed from one generation to the next by speech.
That does not mean that isolated groups didn't lose the use of fire. If they did, they picked it up again after meeting with groups that had retained its use.
If speech is older than the use of fire, then it is a very old ability since the use of fire goes back at least to the time of homo ergaster, about 2 million years ago.
This means that either Bigfoot is at the stage man was before he discovered fire or he is part of a group that has lost its use. In the first case it would appear that maybe he just never developed enough intelligence to cross the line. In the second case it would appear that he just didn't have the intelligence to relearn the use of fire from the native Americans that he came into contact with.
A great deal of intelligence is probably not necessary for a creature to have a simple form of speech. Some people who study crows maintain that they can talk.
It may not be that simple, however.
Take a look at a chimp's hands. He has a little thumb and long hand and fingers. He has to curl them way around if he wants to touch his fingers to his thumb. He cannot do any delicate manipulation with them. A human can manipulate small objects like needles or arrow heads, but a chimp cannot. a chimp can put a nut on a rock and smash it with another rock. He can use a stick to manipulate objects. He can even chew the end of the stick to give it a sharper point and then use it to spear smaller animals. But he can't make a spear head and attach it to the stick because he doesn't have the dexterity.
Whether this applies to Bigfoot or not, I don't know. If only we could find some good hand prints, maybe we could decide. If Bigfoot can run around on all fours like some people claim, then there ought to be a lot of them out there.
William Mayes
It is my belief that speech was necessary before man could maintain and use fire. There is just too much to know about this dangerous but useful phenomenon that it all could be learned by observation. Children had to be taught how use it safely, how to maintain it and rekindle a fire after it went out. Once the knowledge of fire was kindled in men's minds, it has never been forgotten to this day. That could only be because the knowledge was passed from one generation to the next by speech.
That does not mean that isolated groups didn't lose the use of fire. If they did, they picked it up again after meeting with groups that had retained its use.
If speech is older than the use of fire, then it is a very old ability since the use of fire goes back at least to the time of homo ergaster, about 2 million years ago.
This means that either Bigfoot is at the stage man was before he discovered fire or he is part of a group that has lost its use. In the first case it would appear that maybe he just never developed enough intelligence to cross the line. In the second case it would appear that he just didn't have the intelligence to relearn the use of fire from the native Americans that he came into contact with.
A great deal of intelligence is probably not necessary for a creature to have a simple form of speech. Some people who study crows maintain that they can talk.
It may not be that simple, however.
Take a look at a chimp's hands. He has a little thumb and long hand and fingers. He has to curl them way around if he wants to touch his fingers to his thumb. He cannot do any delicate manipulation with them. A human can manipulate small objects like needles or arrow heads, but a chimp cannot. a chimp can put a nut on a rock and smash it with another rock. He can use a stick to manipulate objects. He can even chew the end of the stick to give it a sharper point and then use it to spear smaller animals. But he can't make a spear head and attach it to the stick because he doesn't have the dexterity.
Whether this applies to Bigfoot or not, I don't know. If only we could find some good hand prints, maybe we could decide. If Bigfoot can run around on all fours like some people claim, then there ought to be a lot of them out there.
William Mayes