In his book Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science (page 119), Dr. Meldrum writes:
QUOTE
Eventually, careful comparisons to elk imprints were made at multiple game ranches and zoological parks. These comparisons, combined with consultation by professional game keeper, ruled out elk as a possible candidate for the imprint. The obvious heel imprints and forearm imprint could not be accounted for by the anatomy of an elk. Skeptics opined that the heel imprint was simply the mark of a kneeling elk, without ever examining the cast itself. A wrist of a 650-pound bull elk was obtained by Rick Noll, impressed in soft soil, and cast. Not only did it fail to measure up to the dimensions of the Skookum heel imprint, it was clearly distinct in shape and pattern of hair. The overall orientations of the hair patterns on the Skookum cast were likewise incongruent with those of an elk. This was made quite evident by comparisons to taxidermy museum mounts. And finally, and perhaps most telling, when an elk rises from a repose it must place its hooves directly under its weight in order to stand, leaving tracks in the centerline of its imprint. Yet there are no elk tracks located in the center of the Skookum imprint, only deep and clear elk prints skirting the imprint.
The specific part I found puzzling was this one:
"A wrist of a 650-pound bull elk was obtained by Rick Noll, impressed in soft soil, and cast. Not only did it fail to measure up to the dimensions of the Skookum heel imprint, it was clearly distinct in shape and pattern of hair."
Originally I was only concerned about the size of the elk used, but in reading it over it got me wondering about four things:
a] what part of an elk is considered the wrist?
Here's a picture of a reclining Roosevelt elk (original image found here). I'm no expert on the anatomy of an elk, but I had assumed the joint over the yellow line was a knee and the joint over the red line was a wrist. Is this a correct assumption on my part, or is the knee actually considered the wrist?
b] Since large Roosevelt elk are found in the same geographical area as the Skookum cast (west of the Cascades), and grow larger than 1,000 lbs, why wasn't a larger Roosevelt elk wrist/knee used for experimental purposes?
c] What was the condition and origin of the 650-pound bull elk part?
and
d] Was the bull elk used in the experiment a Roosevelt elk?
Rick, since you've probably got the best insight into the experiment that was conducted, would you mind fielding these curiosities?
RayG
