Dr. Jeff Meldrum, Ph.D. holds a doctorate in anatomical sciences from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He is currently an Associate Professor of Anatomy & Anthropology in the Departments of Biological Sciences and Anthropology, and is an affiliate curator at the Idaho Museum of Natural History. He has been at ISU for 17 years. His formal study of primates began with the terrestrial adaptations of African primates, and has since taken him from the skeletal cabinets of far-flung museums, to the remote badlands of Colombia and Argentina in search of fossil New World primates. He has published extensively on the evolutionary history of the South American primates and has described several new extinct species. More recently his attention has returned to the emergence of modern human bipedalism and the analysis of fossil hominid footprints. His co-edited volume, From Biped to Strider: the Emergence of Modern Human Walking, Running, and Resource Transport, redirects attention from the origins of simply walking on two legs, to the pattern of emergence of the innovations specifically unique to modern human gait. His interests in the footprints attributed to an unrecognized North American ape, commonly known as sasquatch, came into focus when he literally crossed paths with an enigmatic set of tracks in the mountains of Washington State. He has conducted collaborative laboratory research and field work throughout the Pacific Northwest and Intermountain West, and has spoken about his findings in numerous interviews, television appearances, public and professional presentations. He has written an expanded companion volume to the very successful Discovery Channel documentary, Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science that explores his and other scientists’ evaluation of the evidence for the reality of this legendary primate. He has pursued his research in China, investigating evidence of the Yeren, the Chinese Wildman while visiting the mountains of Hubei Province.
