YouTuber Coyote Peterson’s “Primate Skull” Claims Raise Suspicion Among Scientists
YouTuber Coyote Peterson has become a hot topic on social media after claiming he found a “primate skull” in British Columbia.
Here is everything you need to know.
Coyote Peterson claims he found a ‘primate skull’
Coyote Peterson’s recent Instagram post has the internet talking as he allegedly found a large primate skull.
The 40-year-old YouTuber shared a series of images from his Instagram account on Thursday, July 7.
The images consisted of a huge skull apparently submerged in dirt and muddy water.
A couple of photos show Peterson retrieving the alleged skull from the muddy pool.
He described the post with a caption that read: ‘BREAKING NEWS’.
The internet personality added that he “found a large primate skull in British Columbia.”
He further mentioned that he “kept this secret for several weeks” as he did not want government officials to “try to stop our images” of the excavation.
The post read, “I’m sure these photos will be removed…as will the video by government or state park officials…but the skull is safe.”
Peterson wrote: “Absolutely unreal…we thought it was a bear skull when we found it, I can 100% guarantee it’s not.” The skull was found partially buried underground in a deep forest ravine after a massive storm in northwest Pac, where a lot of trees and soil were clearly disturbed.
He asked his followers: ‘I don’t know if it’s what everyone thinks it might be…but I can’t explain the finding of a primate skull in Northwest Pac without wondering! What do you think?’
Additionally, Peterson said he will release an episode based on the same thing this weekend on Animal Planet’s Brave Wilderness.
Scientists respond to Coyote Peterson’s claims
Several scientists have questioned the credibility of Coyote Peterson’s alleged discovery. They also hinted that the YouTuber’s actions might have crossed some ethical and legal lines.
Coyote Peterson (of Brave Wilderness fame) has apparently found a primate skull in British Columbia. I don’t need to tell you how important this is if it’s real pic.twitter.com/PGLXQnUxLO
– Before D. Luvian (@uncle_deluge) July 8, 2022
According to a Live Science report, experts said “Peterson’s claim is highly suspicious and that secretly removing and transporting animal remains across national borders may be illegal.”
Yinan Wang, author of The 50 State Fossils: A Guide for Aspiring Paleontologists mentioned that the skull resembles a gorilla skull sold on AliExpress.
Coyote Peterson has taken the final leap from disgusting self-aggrandizing tabloid to actively generating and spreading misinformation, in this case by faking the discovery of a ‘Bigfoot’ skull (clearly a gorilla skull) and bragging about smuggling it like unacceptable. https://t.co/JaG0ERr21I
— Dr. Mark D. Scherz (@MarkScherz) July 8, 2022
Additionally, he shared a side-by-side comparison of AliExpress products and the images Peterson posted.
Wang tweeted: “Looking at the photos, it’s not the Bone Clones gorilla skull. But it’s very close to this one on AliExpress seen by @offshoreoddity, although it has this weird bone on the side of the skull.
