Skunkape Photo ? Taken By Fire Chief, page 1

Personally, I think that this photo shows a human in a costume. There are a few reasons why I believe this, but the most obvious are the creature's proportions and stance. Yarcofin is, I think, right in his appraisal that the figure is more human-like than ape-like in its proportions.

A distinguishing feature of apes is the exaggerated length of their arms in comparison to humans. This trait is advantageous for gorillas, chimpanzees, orang-utans and monkeys because it enables them to effectively utilise all four limbs for movement. For example, gorillas walk using their hind legs as well as their knuckles. Chimpanzees use their long forearms to grasp and swing through branches, as well as to assist in walking. Humans, however, being fully bipedal animals, do not require over-long arms to assist us in motion. This is why we have relatively short arms when compared to other primates. Typically, a human's arms fall to about the mid-thigh range. Try it for yourself, stand up straight and see where your arms end. Unless you are somewhat ... odd ... your arms will come to rest about half-way down your thighs. And such is the case with the figure in this photo. Even though its arms are slightly bent, you can clearly gauge that, when straightened, they would fall to approximately the mid-thigh range. Certainly they would not reach the ground, as one would expect for some type of lesser primate.

As Yarcofin pointed out, the figure's arms are thinner and less muscular than would be expected from any primate less developed than a human. The fact that this creature has arms which are out of proportion of any known primate and are more in proportion with those of a human suggests that it employs solely bipedal locomotion. Whilst this certainly seems to suggest a human, it is also true that a defining characteristic of Bigfoot and his many variants combine human and ape-like features. However, reports of Bigfoot, Yeti, Alma, Sasquatch, Yowie, etc tend to feature creatures with powerful musculatures. Take the Patterson footage, for example:

If it is real, then it clearly shows a heavily-muscled creature. If it is not, then it does a good job of demonstrating that such creatures are believed to be heavily muscular. The figure in the photo, however, appears to be quite slim, again as Yarcofin pointed out. It lacks the solidness that has been an identifying feature of Bigfoot et al and is far more similar to the slight musculature of a human than of any known ape. These reasons, the proportions of the figures arms and its relatively undeveloped musculature, strongly suggest that this figure depicts a human and not an unknown species of ape.

The final aspect of this image which suggests a human is the figure's posture. Due to the fact that they employ their front limbs for locomotion, apes invariably lean forward when in motion or at rest. The following image of a gorilla clearly demonstrates this:

Even chimpanzees, who are similar to us in so many ways and are known to stand on their hind legs for prolonged periods of time, would not lean backwards the way the figure in the photo is doing. The reason for this is that, apart from humans who are bipedal, primate hips are designed for quadrupedal locomotion:

Given the way the figure in the photo is standing, it is impossible for it to represent any type of known ape, or even anything that comes close. Its stance strongly suggests that it is a human, since humans are the only primates who utilise bipedal locomotion exclusively. But again, perhaps the Skunk Ape is some blend of human and ape characteristics. It is true that accounts of Bigfoot often feature an upright, bipedal animal. But again, these creatures are inevitably powerfully-built animals, very unlike the slim figure seen in the photo. In addition, previous reports of the Skunk Ape have depicted it as leaning forward in a more traditional ape-like fashion. Take the following photo of Myakka, for example:

Or the following photo of a reputed Skunk Ape taken by Dave Shealy himself, which shows a forward-leaning animal with what appears to be a small tail that most likely represents an escaped baboon or orang-utan or simply a person in a costume:

The fact that the figure in the original photo is leaning backwards suggests that its skeletal structure is more similar to that of a human than any other type of primate. This also runs counter to prior reports of the Florida Skunk Ape, which often suggest a more traditional ape-like creature. The figure's proportions are far closer to that of a human than an ape and are also not in line with reports of a heavily-muscled Bigfoot et al. Finally, the figure's arms are too short to be those of any known ape and closely coincide with the length of human arms. All of these factors, when taken together, strongly lead me to believe that this is a human dressed in a costume, posing for the photograph.

[edit on 10/10/05 by Jeremiah25]