Researchers in Moscow are asserting that they have new evidence that Almas, a Bigfoot-like creature said to inhabit parts of Russia, are not only real, but wandering in the woods near the capital city.
Biophysical technologist Andrei Stroganov, of Moscow’s Agricultural Academy, discovered a piece of bark which appears to have been marked by a large primate, according to The Moscow Times . While scouring the woods around Moscow for the Russian Bigfoot, Stroganov reportedly came upon the sample near a railway line, just five miles from the satellite town of Zelenograd.
“The Almas is cosmopolitan,” Stroganov said. “I am not worried: They are benevolent and need our protection.”
Along with Igor Burtsev, one of the Russia’s leading Bigfoot researchers, Stroganov extracted samples from the bark, which will be sent to the United States for examination. Russian-born researcher Vladimir Yamschekov will perform a morphological analysis of the sample, and test for any trace remnants of DNA, according to UPI .
So, Hugo Strange has left Gotham and is now a Bigfoot hunter in russia. New comic book story? pic.twitter.com/GGpxBJC4dy
— Sion Lewis (@SionDafLewis) November 24, 2013
The researchers are far from the first to use DNA evidence in an attempt to prove the existence of Bigfoot. As the Inquisitr previously reported, Bryan Sykes, a researcher with Oxford University, performed a high-profile DNA study of hair samples reported to come from Bigfoot or its relatives, the Yeti, Almas and Orang Pendek. While many of the samples were identified as originating with known animals, two of them proved to be from a species of bear that was thought to be extinct. Sykes conceded, however, that the study did not disprove the existence of Bigfoot.
In 1965: Bigfoot was officially put on the endangered species list in Russia. #CRYPTOKIDS pic.twitter.com/LkzV3AaTcp
— Ashlee Ackland (@sweetandscally) January 22, 2014
Stroganov believes that horizontal scratches in the bark sample were made by a hand or paw nine inches across. He cites a lack of claw marks as evidence that they were not made by a bear.
Burtsev asserted that he recently was able to confirm an Almas presence in Russia, during a trip to the city of Miass in the Urals region of Chelyabinsk. He had traveled there to investigate sightings of the Russian Bigfoot, yet declined to discuss his findings in detail.
“There is more information on this than when I started 50 years ago,” Burtsev said. “Then again, people have less time now and travel is more expensive. The Bigfoot scene in America is bigger.”
The Soviet government established an Almas commission in 1958, though it was short-lived. Stroganov and Burtsev will have to wait for the test results to see if their sample is definitive proof of the Russian Bigfoot.
[Image via Parade ]