The argument is not that the nutrition isn't available. And why are you mentioning only the PNW? The argument is that a beast of that size would biologically have to devote such an amount of time to feeding that doing so in viable breeding numbers across the North American continent would without a doubt produce a type specimen and obviously unambiguous video and photos.
I mentioned North Carolina, too.
I don't know where I got the caloric figure. We could go with Fahrenbach's 5000 figure -
"Increased size also implies high mobility and a correspondingly large home range. A rare, individually identifiable Sasquatch was reported over a span of 8 years in several locales in Washington and Oregon, the most distant sites having a linear separation of more than 150 miles (240 kin). If we take this distance as a lifetime radius of activity, we get an area (πr2) of more than 70,0002 miles (180,0002 km) of mainly forested terrain. This value encompasses a substantial portion of, for example, Washington State, and cannot be considered indicative of any particular home range. Also, it emphasizes the difficulty of any contemplated scheme of organized field study of the species other than to concentrate on regions of recent sightings.
Secondly, according to Kiciber’s Law (McMahon and Bonner 1973), which states that the basal metabolic rate scales as the 3/4 power of mass, a massive animal needs less energy input per gram of body weight than a small one does. This means that a Sasquatch can get by with a relatively smaller amount of food than a smaller animal. Nonetheless, if we use the calculated weight (W) of a Sasquatch at the population average (299 kg) and apply the scaling formula
(Kleiber 1961),
a basal caloric consumption of about 5,000 calories per day is found. With exercise and inclement weather, this value may double or triple. Hence, a diet that is minimally omnivorous, if not slanted toward carnivory for the sake of calories—especially during the winter—is required to fulfill that demand. Bipedal gait, seemingly as efficient as a quadrupedal gait (Rose 1984), can be viewed as an adaptation to becoming an endurance hunter in the very demanding terrain inhabited by the Sasquatch."
http://home.clara.net/rfthomas/papers/size2.html
- unless you think he's always been dotty, even when he was published in PubMed (on snails).
My argument is the nutrition is easily available and such an animal wouldn't have to spend all its time foraging. Protein provides a quick and plentiful source of most of those calories no matter how many are required. Did you know cougars eat grasshoppers in season when they can't make a kill?
Haven't we been over this before? Most of those beautiful NatGeo quality wildlife photographs are staged due to limitations of time and money.
Someone I've met apparently saw two bipedal primatelike somethings in a wilderness area in Georgia from a distance of about 30' last year. He had NV viewers, but these guys are on a shoestring and don't have an NV camera yet. This was the best they could do in 4 years of visiting this area. Most of the "teams" are weekenders. A "hot" area may have a number of sighting reports, but they're apt to be years or even decades apart.
I can get shots of elk at Cataloochee (NC) because they're imported and acclimated and don't mind the tourists.
When I lived downhill from a wild herd in Washington I saw two cows once and wouldn't have been able to get a shot from the truck if I'd had the camera. Everytime I went mushrooming they were somewhere else.
In my experience, most wild animals don't hang around waiting for the photographers. I'd be hard pressed to get a picture of a squirrel in broad daylight. I have Southern Flying Squirrels on my property now but they're nocturnal and the only way I've seen them was when they got down the chimney into the house.
Given the kind of funding L.S.B Leakey's women got there might be some results, but read Gorillas In the Mist for how easy a time Fosse had finding them even with an expert tracker.
Why are you so hard on Caddy? The man has his credentials.
I only dropped in to post a photo last night when I was bored and had nothing to do. I didn't really intend to get sucked into another discussion.
Back to class. I have to assemble some silver.