The samples came from all across the US and Canada. We don't know which of the 109 or so she began with went into the 20 that were fully processed for mtDNA nor the 5 samples from 3 individuals that were processed for nuDNA.
However ... note she says the entire genome was mapped. This means she isn't just looking at little clips of DNA and ignoring others.
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Sooooooo... we have 20 samples that yielded mitochondrial DNA, and only 3 nuclear DNA samples. Hmmm. That means we have 76 samples that DIDN'T meet criteria to even start analysis, and only 3 that met criteria for nuclear DNA analysis. And no one can say definitively where these samples came from, other than some dude found something in the woods somewheres, and thought it must be sasquatch tissue. Boy, I'm really starting to get excited, here!
Let's just frame the issue a bit differently. We have a research team that says they've mapped the entire genome for a species that has only been photographed and tracked sporadically over the past hundred years or more, a species of which no one has ever found a carcass, or shot or trapped one.
<sigh> Seems to me 23 "samples" wouldn't be that hard to fabricate in a molecular biology lab (and even easier if there were half a dozen guys in labs all over the USA and Canada, with access to all kinds of "donor" DNA clips, and ship to various post offices for re-shipping... I'm not saying it was done, I'm just saying it could be done. And there are people out there who are just nutty enough to do it.
Doc I think you nailed it here, people do crazy things for whatever reason. They are able to grab an audience temporarily while things get hashed out, get their 15 minutes of fame, and then slip away never to be heard again. It works every time because sane people without an agenda cannot fathom how or why anyone would fabricate things like this, and they apply their own moral compass to others and give them the benefit of the doubt.
Remember the guy that claimed he found a dead bigfoot and had it in his freezer. He even sent the DNA off to labs to be tested and released pictures of it. Turned out to be a bigfoot costume and some opossum guts. What could his motive be, what did he hope to accomplish?
