First I must say that I am honored to post here as there really is no other Bigfoot message board like this. Anyone can cruise all the boards and see that this one is free from name calling and political infighting.

So to get on with my topic.

I understand from reading reports and claims , that on occasion hair samples have been tested. I am primarily interested in hearing from those who have had or still have actual hair samples.

Lets say I came across a smashed down wire fence in a suspected BF area with the tracks being hard to identify as the ground is primarily sand so any prints will be virtually useless. The only thing that may be taken is some hair, lets say about 15 hairs. My questions are:

1. Where would I send this for testing?
2. How many actual hairs should I send?
3. Do I need to give them a name of a suspected animal type (ie. primate) so they can compare it ? or can they find its identity on their own
4. How shold I properly handle and store the hair samples?
5. And if not many hairs are needed for testing, should some be given out to others to have them send samples out to have tests done by differeing groups to see the varied results? This way there would be more "unknown primate" hairs to raise some eyebrows in the scientific community.

I am not saying this happened, I would just like some information so I can better know what to do if such samples are found.

Thanks to all who may be able to help as this information may help others as well.

SkunkHunter (Ft. Lauderdale area Skunk Ape enthusiast)

Welcome SkunkHunter! Glad you finally made it in here.

I am sure there are some others here who can help you with this as I really can't do anything but offer some advice on what NOT to do.

My advice from experience is to know the person well enough so that you can for sure trust them. Never give them all of the sample. Always keep some for yourself.

We made a mistake once with a hair sample and never saw it again or the person we entrusted it to. We never got any results from the analysis either. I just wouldn't want to see that happen to anyone else.

Personally, i would do this :

Photograph the hairs in place
Photograph the tracks
Write notes, note location, time and date, be detailed
Do not contaminate the sample. Handle it with tweezers, place it in a fold of paper.
Try to identify the hairs, is it cattle? deer? horse? Alot of animals brush against fences, including humans.
Submit a detailed report to the org of your choice, wait for them to contact you, and go from there.

I would contact the BFRO ( www.bfro.net ) as i feel they have the best and most scientific contacts than any other org in the buisness.

Ditto what Rob said!

(Oh yeah, welcome!)

Welcome Skunk!

Great questions regarding the hair..

I've often wondered the same thing... "Now that I've got these hairs, what do I do with them?"

ps: Skunk, don't look now, but did you know you're a booger??? :wink:

Hi Skunkhunter,glad you finally made it.I've wondered about this alot myself and have a reasonable working plan (at least to me) Some of it rob already covered.First upon discovery and collection of the hairs (trying to avoid contamination) check the immediate area for any corroborating signs of what it may be.Find a local university(like here for me and you USF) that has a somewhat reputable wildlife program.many of the staff biologists may be able to rule it out as a local animal from the start (make sure you've done this to the best of your own ability to start with)if they cannot identify it,they should be able to put you into contact with someone who can.Once a genetisist or whatever their actual title is.gets the actual sample(s) .Have them issue you a reciept,with their signature date time naming you as the finder.( this goes to establish the "evidence chain"where it was obtained etc.)do this with ANYONE you give a sample to.Alot of universities and police agencies may or may not do this free of charge depending on the agency,the back up on work they already have,availability of resources.They may at worst (I hope) charge you lab fees.Personally I would not tell them I suspected primate,I would wait to see what they came up with as from what I've heard and read they should be able to cross reference it with all available species that have already been sequenced.And lastly(probably not,but at least in the plan I have)be prepared to give a sample of your own dna to rule yourself out as a possible contaminant.Hope this is helpful.its nothing that I have written in stone and totally reviseable when a better idea comes along.I'll probably forget it all if I actually find tangible proof out there but theres always hope.maybe we'll cross paths out in the Big Cypress swamp or out in the wilds of Lee and Charlotte co.

The logging of the actual find in place by photos and others present to verify. good sense.
The reciept is what I thought great advice.
You'd be surprised how many local University docs who would take the lead and look at the hair to prove you wrong.
If they cannot in fact prove the hair to be local animals then you gotta look deeper.
The Oregon Primate center, or one of the other regional Primate centers (if they will) would be prime.

There are some noticeable differences in reported Bigfoot hair.
As I'm not an expert I believe it has been stated that under a scope..
the hair is tubular and hollow.....is that right ??
anyone know for sure.

Boy there's a lot of reading to catch up on........just on here :wink:

Robert

Not sure on that one Robert,I 'member that the ones taken out of Nepal by Slick had a higher zinc concentration than a normal human or other known primate,but I believe that could have been attributed to their diet as much as anything else.I'm adding a few things to my plan.from some of the posts above.I really hadn't considered what to do as far as contacting an actual primate center.(Busch Gardens being only two hours away)I thought that I would be able with a large enough group sample to possibly several differen't agencies in hopes of provoking intrest among as diverse a number of experts as possible,unfortunately this may also increase the risk of possible contaminants.Great now I've got to revise my plan.Hey Fish,see it happens to me all the time.

hmmmmmm.....................can´t say i ever heard of hollow hair for sasquatches.......have difficulty with the idea of their hair being all that different than ours or any of the apes..........had some of the phoney stuff that some of us got at the I.S.C. conference in Pullman, WA in ´89? but can´t say i ever saw any that one could reasonably call "real".....

Just to add sample collecting tactics; check with the org's. that you will submit to. All labs have their own method for sample collection, chain of evidence procedures, and testing methods. For collecting, "friends" in law enforcement can help. We have specific bags, tapes, etc. for collecting hair samples. Usually the containers are plentiful so you may be able to aquire some or order from a supply co. such as Sirchie (100 Hunter Place, Youngsville, N.C. 27596, 1-800-356-7311) or Galls (Web site available). Then follow the rules of collection: PHOTOS! first, then follow up with a second series with rulers or some known length object. Wear gloves, latex preferred. Tape works best to collect hair samples, the wide clear kind, like shipping tape works well and is cheaper than LE stuff. If forceps are to be used, use wide tippedones preferred with rubber tips and try to avoid crimping the sample, grab for an end if you have to. Place sample in clear plastic bag, close and sel with evidence tape, available from supply co's cheap, and sign across the tape so your mark is on both the tape and bag. As with all collections, consistency with submissions is paramount. Establish yourself and your techniques and a lab should work with you and give some info along the way, possibly even letting tech's that are interested assist at times.

Those are great tips, deppup! Thanks!

You are a welcome addition around here!

Please keep those facts coming... 8)

I'm just wondering one thing, deppup. Maybe you can answer this, if not maybe someone else will give it a shot.

Most of what I've read concerning hair sample collection states that you should not use a plastic baggie to place the hair in but rather use a paper envelope or fold the sample up in a piece of paper. Seems that the use of plastic can possibly degrade the sample but I don't know about the specifics of that.

This, IMHO, would be a good thing to know for sure.

Other than that, thanks to all for the advice they've given on this subject. It's definitely useful.

When wanting to preserve evidence for DNA purposes, i.e. blood soaked materials, paper is to be used to allow the blood to dry. With hair, tape is preferred. The plastic problem is that it allows for an environment for organic material to decompose and promote bacteria growth thus ruining your sample. With hair, it is dead to begin with and decomposition is almost nill. And the DNA in hair is readily preserved on its own. The folded paper, a pharmacist fold, works great for scrapings, etc. Check with local labs and police agencies, as ultimately it will be them to analyze the sample. Paper is used here for "body fluid" soaked material. If possible hair and fiber samples are removed prior to placing the item(s) in paper bags. Was also reading some ?'s regarding casting material on other threads. Sirchie as mentioned on prev. reply carries many different types of casting materials and other evidence collection supplies and instructional material. With some thought and imagination quite a bit of it carries over nicely to other areas.

Thanks for the info, deppup! Much obliged!

Deppup , Kudos, good info there

As far as i know, the hair of a sasquatch does not contain a medulla, and is not hollow. Most human hair has a medulla though. A small magnifying glass is a good item in your field pack.

Hollow hairs are guard hairs found on ungulates (deer, cow,... plant eating animals. Meat eating animals, human, sasquatch, bear , cougar, dont have hollow guard hairs).

A quick test that can be conducted afield is : bend the hair, if it kinks or breaks , its that of an ungulate. If it doesnt, then its worthy of further examination.

*edit* further notes : sasquatch and other primates (other than human) hair is all one color. Other animals (deer, racoon etc) may have hair that is lighter on one end than the other example : whitetailed deer can go from a whiteish base to a brown or tan tip.
Also look for a tapered tip, this is an indication of hair that hasnt been to a barber.

I'm glad I found this thread.

Alley recomends a saline solution, but didn't go into detail.

Any specific types of paper to be avoided?

Nevermind, someone beat me too it!

Some good info. Thanks for the heads up.