I know the hypothesis have been posted before, but I believe it deserves thread of its one.
Could some of the features seen in bigfoot be explained by a growth hormone overproduction?
In man, overproduction is most commonly caused by an active pituary adenoma that causes gigantism if it occures while still growing and acromegaly if occuring at adult age.
Gigantism is when the growth does not stop but accellerate, causing a person to become up to 8' tall, i.e. growth takes place inthe growth zones. Acromegaly on the other hand causes growth at the extremities. The hands and feet are enlarged and the facal features grow coarser, with protruding eyebrow ridge and lower jaw. In addition growth hormon is an anabolic hormon causing development of larger mass of muscles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acromegaly
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigantism
The most well-known example of a combination of gigantism and acromegaly is Andre the giant (picture borrowed from Wikipedia), which several previous posts have pointed out to be very similar to the PGF subject in proportion.
So - could some of the features seen in bigfoot be explained by a growth hormone overproduction in a primitive homo-species not genetically very different from us?
What do you think?
Click to view attachment
Full Version: Acromegalic gigantism
I'm glad you clarified your Topic Title, because my first questions was going to be, ok that's a possiblity, but a giant what? Now, if you're accepting the possibility of a primitive man existing, what's the necessity of complicating it with gigantism? Why would we assume Homo sapiens would have been the one member of the family to attain the highest normal bipedal stature?
QUOTE(moregon @ Feb 27 2007, 01:36 PM) 
I'm glad you clarified your Topic Title, because my first questions was going to be, ok that's a possiblity, but a giant what? Now, if you're accepting the possibility of a primitive man existing, what's the necessity of complicating it with gigantism? Why would we assume Homo sapiens would have been the one member of the family to attain the highest normal bipedal stature?
Oh, sorry about the latin.
I don't assume anything, only entertaining my mind. My point is however that since the leap between any other species of Homo to the BF is very large, is there anything that could explain it? The features of the BF of the PGF are actually very human-like, but the BF is much taller, more powerful and have a coarser face, all which could be explained by GH-overproduction.
I'm no endocrinologist, but this being such a large forum, there is a chanse there is someone out there that could clarify and hopefully pull the carpet under the idea. I'd like to get it out of my mind.
Soarwing has previously posted on the similarities between Andre the giant and the PGF subject, in the PGF compliant gait thread, using a nice illustration. I don't like stealing it so pleace follow the link; it's on page 1 of 30.
http://www.bigfootforums.com/index.php?showtopic=13527
On this forum you'll find a wide range of what people think bigfoot may be. Two of the main ideas are an ape of some sort, most likely related to, or something similar to Gigantopithecus blackii, and others that believe as you've suggesed a primitive man of some sort. There's no way any of us will "know" until we gather enough evidence to support one claim or the other. My opinion is it's possible it could be a primitive man, and I lean towards that a bit more than I do towards an ape... "IF" it exists at all.
While anything is possible, I believe this scenario is improbable due to the following reasons:
According to a quick search I did. Acromegaly is very rare. It occurs in only about 50 out of a million people. It usually becomes symptomatic during the middle age years (40-45). Untreated, the health problems associated with it are severe. These problems include Diabetes, heart disease, internal organ enlargement, joint pain and stiffness, muscle weakness to the point of limited mobility, limb swelling and numbness, vision problems, severe headaches, reproductive issues in women and erectile dysfunction in men.
(sources: http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/DS/00478.html and http://www.acromegalyinfo.com/info/resources/questions.jsp )
When Acromegaly occurs in children, it is called Gigantism. Untreated, these children rarely live past middle age due to severe health problems. Here is an article that describes the health problems of an aspiring NBA start with Gigantism: http://www.newsday.com/sports/basketball/n...tball-headlines
Andre the Giant had Gigantism. He chose not to be treated for his condition and died of congestive heart failure at age 46. He spent the last several years of his life confined to a wheelchair when not in front of the camera.
Carel Struycken, who played Lurch on the Addam's family also had this condition. He was born in 1948 and continues to act. My assumption is that he has chosen treatment for his condition.
Given all the health problems associated with this conditioning humans, it seems unlikely to me that our fleet footed and muscular sasquatch would suffer from such a devastating and rare disorder. My own personal opinion of course.
According to a quick search I did. Acromegaly is very rare. It occurs in only about 50 out of a million people. It usually becomes symptomatic during the middle age years (40-45). Untreated, the health problems associated with it are severe. These problems include Diabetes, heart disease, internal organ enlargement, joint pain and stiffness, muscle weakness to the point of limited mobility, limb swelling and numbness, vision problems, severe headaches, reproductive issues in women and erectile dysfunction in men.
(sources: http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/DS/00478.html and http://www.acromegalyinfo.com/info/resources/questions.jsp )
When Acromegaly occurs in children, it is called Gigantism. Untreated, these children rarely live past middle age due to severe health problems. Here is an article that describes the health problems of an aspiring NBA start with Gigantism: http://www.newsday.com/sports/basketball/n...tball-headlines
Andre the Giant had Gigantism. He chose not to be treated for his condition and died of congestive heart failure at age 46. He spent the last several years of his life confined to a wheelchair when not in front of the camera.
Carel Struycken, who played Lurch on the Addam's family also had this condition. He was born in 1948 and continues to act. My assumption is that he has chosen treatment for his condition.
Given all the health problems associated with this conditioning humans, it seems unlikely to me that our fleet footed and muscular sasquatch would suffer from such a devastating and rare disorder. My own personal opinion of course.
QUOTE(Redwolf @ Feb 27 2007, 05:57 PM)
While anything is possible, I believe this scenario is improbable due to the following reasons:
According to a quick search I did. Acromegaly is very rare. It occurs in only about 50 out of a million people. It usually becomes symptomatic during the middle age years (40-45). Untreated, the health problems associated with it are severe. These problems include Diabetes, heart disease, internal organ enlargement, joint pain and stiffness, muscle weakness to the point of limited mobility, limb swelling and numbness, vision problems, severe headaches, reproductive issues in women and erectile dysfunction in men.
(sources: http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/DS/00478.html and http://www.acromegalyinfo.com/info/resources/questions.jsp )
When Acromegaly occurs in children, it is called Gigantism. Untreated, these children rarely live past middle age due to severe health problems. Here is an article that describes the health problems of an aspiring NBA start with Gigantism: http://www.newsday.com/sports/basketball/n...tball-headlines
Given all the health problems associated with this conditioning humans, it seems unlikely to me that our fleet footed and muscular sasquatch would suffer from such a devastating and rare disorder. My own personal opinion of course.
According to a quick search I did. Acromegaly is very rare. It occurs in only about 50 out of a million people. It usually becomes symptomatic during the middle age years (40-45). Untreated, the health problems associated with it are severe. These problems include Diabetes, heart disease, internal organ enlargement, joint pain and stiffness, muscle weakness to the point of limited mobility, limb swelling and numbness, vision problems, severe headaches, reproductive issues in women and erectile dysfunction in men.
(sources: http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/DS/00478.html and http://www.acromegalyinfo.com/info/resources/questions.jsp )
When Acromegaly occurs in children, it is called Gigantism. Untreated, these children rarely live past middle age due to severe health problems. Here is an article that describes the health problems of an aspiring NBA start with Gigantism: http://www.newsday.com/sports/basketball/n...tball-headlines
Given all the health problems associated with this conditioning humans, it seems unlikely to me that our fleet footed and muscular sasquatch would suffer from such a devastating and rare disorder. My own personal opinion of course.
Yes this is what I also did read, and your interpretation is probably right. Children with gigantism will get acromegaly if passing into adulthood without treatment, hence suffering from the same disorders you described in your first paragraph. But do we know anything on how the level of growth hormone varies between races? Could a controlled increase in growth hormon output relatively to human cause the large difference in appearence without causing all the side effects seen when acromegaly is untreated? What do we know of the difference in GH level between other species being closely related but totally diffent in size, e.g. gorillas and to chimps?
Of cause it's pretty naive to believe that a single hormone would make the difference between species. I'm not that naive. This is marely food for thought concidering the compelling similarities mentioned above. This line of thought may however be productive when hypothesis generation and formulating research questions.
Isbjörn
QUOTE(Redwolf @ Feb 27 2007, 05:57 PM)
While anything is possible, I believe this scenario is improbable due to the following reasons:
...
Given all the health problems associated with this conditioning humans, it seems unlikely to me that our fleet footed and muscular sasquatch would suffer from such a devastating and rare disorder. My own personal opinion of course.
...
Given all the health problems associated with this conditioning humans, it seems unlikely to me that our fleet footed and muscular sasquatch would suffer from such a devastating and rare disorder. My own personal opinion of course.
I forgot to thank you Redwolf for the very serious post. Good research and thinking.
Weren't there buried skeltons in Iceland (?) thought by some to be sasquatches that turned out to be acromegalic humans?
QUOTE(LAL @ Feb 28 2007, 05:34 AM)
Weren't there buried skeltons in Iceland (?) thought by some to be sasquatches that turned out to be acromegalic humans?
I saw your post on that. Interesting.
There was a recent National Geographic that described what were considered to be the immediate ancestors of modern humans on recently. I think it was "The ultimate survivor". It doesn't seem to be well documented on the internet. They called them "Goliath". I am pretty sure they were a race of heidlebergensis that lived in Africa 300,000 years ago. They were describing what they thought was a female over 6' and they said they thought the males were about 6.5 feet tall but far more robust then modern humans. They said they were the size of a professional football linebacker. Sorry, I don't have a more reliable source of the info. I seem to remember them saying they died because they were so large they couldn't stand the heat. They really lose credibility with me when they make those kind of statements. If they are our immediate ancestors, did they really die?
QUOTE(BobZenor @ Feb 28 2007, 07:45 PM)
There was a recent National Geographic that described what were considered to be the immediate ancestors of modern humans on recently. I think it was "The ultimate survivor". It doesn't seem to be well documented on the internet. They called them "Goliath". I am pretty sure they were a race of heidlebergensis that lived in Africa 300,000 years ago. They were describing what they thought was a female over 6' and they said they thought the males were about 6.5 feet tall but far more robust then modern humans. They said they were the size of a professional football linebacker. Sorry, I don't have a more reliable source of the info. I seem to remember them saying they died because they were so large they couldn't stand the heat. They really lose credibility with me when they make those kind of statements. If they are our immediate ancestors, did they really die?
They reached 6'6'' in Africa living by hunting and gathering? Was that documented by whole skeleton findings or deduced from more uncertain sources? Considering the height range of H sap sap being almost a feet depending on habitat, think what this species could be like if living well-nurtured, in e.g. a NA forest…
Size never stopped the Masai, why the Goliath? They probably moved if in trouble.
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.