CALIFORNIA
The Golden State’s official dinosaur is Augustynolophus morrisi, a vegetarian hadrosaur that looks like Jar Jar Binks’ head was grafted onto the body of an over-muscled kangaroo; the state’s official fabric is, naturally, denim; and its official mollusk is the very banana-like banana slug. But there’s no “state cryptid” yet, so Assemblymember Chris Rogers, D-Santa Rosa, introduced Assembly Bill 666 to nominate Bigfoot, as in Sasquatch, for the role. (As far as we know, the “666” is just a coincidence, and Satan has nothing to do with it.) Believers insist that the hairy ape-man of the forest is not mythical but an actual wandering biped of some sort. Just ask Matt Moneymaker — yes, that’s his real name — president of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization and a Bigfoot expert, according to SFGate. Moneymaker said he’s had several personal encounters with the elusive creatures: “I’ve gotten close to them several times. I had a face-to-face encounter one time. I was absolutely sure they existed because I had one about 20 feet in front of me, growling at me.” Moneymaker initially thought Assembly 666 was a prank, a joke about how states like to name “official” things. But once he learned that it was real, he supported it, noting that it makes sense for California to honor the hirsute beast since the term “Bigfoot” was first popularized in the state. At the moment, the bill is still wandering through the legislative undergrowth; committee members need to clear it, then it needs to pass the Assembly and Senate before the governor can sign it into law. No doubt Willow Creek, California — the Bigfoot capital of the world — is waiting in breathless anticipation. If the legendary creature is officially authorized, it’s sure to boost tourism for the quirky Humboldt County community — home to Sasquatch museums, Bigfoot-themed restaurants and the annual Bigfoot Daze celebration. Bigfoot could not be reached for comment.
OREGON/WASHINGTON
We thought baby zoo animal mania peaked when Moo Deng, a pygmy hippopotamus born in Thailand last summer, became an internet sensation, her hippo-riffic adorableness celebrated throughout the world. But now, two new arrivals (or should we say rivals?) — a baby elephant and a baby tapir — are competing for America’s Next Top Baby Animal. Our first contestant, Tula-Tu, is an Asian elephant calf born at the Oregon Zoo Feb. 1. Tula’s name means “balance” in Sanskrit, a skill that the precious pachyderm was still trying to master in the earliest videos we’ve seen. Steve Lefave, who oversees the zoo’s award-winning Elephant Lands habitat, says the name actually represents “harmony and stability,” KOIN reports, rather than gymnastic skill. Both the baby elephant and her mother, Rose-Tu, are doing well, and you can watch Tula playing hide-and-seek, acquainting herself with the marvels of her own little trunk, and exploring the outdoors for the first time on the zoo’s YouTube channel.
Meanwhile, Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma, Washington, is also celebrating a new arrival: the birth of a rare endangered Malayan tapir on Feb. 2, king5.com reports. Her name, Ume, means “plum blossom” and “apricot” in Japanese, though she currently looks more like a four-legged watermelon, what with her watermelon-y size, shape and distinctive watermelon-like stripes.
CALIFORNIA/LOS ANGELES
If you were Googling in search of a beacon of hope after the LA wildfires, you might not expect to land on a photo of a classic blue-and-white Volkswagen van, c. 1977. But the van’s former owner, Preston Martin, clearly regards the vehicle — which survived the flames miraculously unscathed — as just such a beacon. Two days after the Pacific Palisades fires, Associated Press photographer Mark J. Terrill, spied the VW parked serenely along a street in a Malibu neighborhood in amazingly stellar condition, the only colorful object in a bleak gray moonscape that was scarred in every direction by the charred-out remains of buildings and homes, NBC4 reported. Martin had sold the van to his friend and business partner, Megan Krystle Weinraub, the previous summer. In early January, the two friends, who design and make surfboards, used it for a day of surfing and parked it afterward near Weinraub’s apartment. But just two days later, the Palisades fire broke out, and Weinraub and her dog evacuated in her other vehicle. When the photograph went viral, Martin told the Associated Press, “There is magic in that van. It makes no sense why this happened. It should have been toasted, but here we are.”
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This article appeared in the April 2025 print edition of the magazine with the headline “Heard around the West.”
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