Grover Krantz was an American physical anthropologist and professor best known for his research on the Bigfoot phenomenon. He was born on December 22, 1931, in Denver, Colorado, and received his PhD in anthropology from the University of Michigan in 1957. Krantz was a faculty member at Washington State University for over 30 years, where he conducted extensive research on the morphological and behavioral characteristics of primates.
Krantz’s interest in Bigfoot began in the 1960s when he first saw the famous Patterson-Gimlin film, which purports to show a female Sasquatch. He was intrigued by the creature’s anatomy and became convinced that it was a real animal, rather than a hoax. Over the years, Krantz conducted extensive research on the subject, including analyzing the film and studying footprints, hair samples, and other physical evidence. He also wrote several books on the topic, including “Bigfoot Sasquatch Evidence” and “Bigfoot: The Yeti and Sasquatch in Myth and Reality.”
Despite his belief in the existence of Bigfoot, Krantz faced criticism from his peers in the scientific community, who dismissed the creature as a myth. Nevertheless, Krantz remained committed to his research and continued to study the evidence until his death on February 14, 2002. Today, his work remains controversial and polarizing, but it has helped to keep the conversation about the possibility of the existence of Bigfoot alive.
Grover Krantz was also known for his research on the domestic dog and its relationship to the gray wolf. He studied the skeletal structure and morphology of both species, and was a vocal advocate for the idea that dogs are domesticated gray wolves. He believed that the process of domestication had resulted in the development of a subspecies of wolf, which he called Canis lupus familiaris. He argued that this subspecies was distinct from the gray wolf and should be recognized as its own species.
Krantz also studied the behavior of domestic dogs, and was particularly interested in the process of dog domestication. He argued that the domestication of dogs was a gradual process that occurred over thousands of years, and that the domesticated dog and the gray wolf were still capable of interbreeding. He also believed that the domestication of dogs was a key factor in human evolution, as the ability to domesticate animals was a crucial step in the development of human civilization. Krantz’s work on the domestication of dogs was well received by the scientific community and is considered an important contribution to the field of animal behavior and evolution.
After losing a battle to cancer, Krantz’s skeleton and his giant Irish Wolfhound Clyde are now on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History as seen above.