Esteban Sarmiento is a primatologist and biologist. He is noted for his work in primate anthropology and for appearing on the ''

Monster Quest ''MonsterQuest'' (sometimes written as ''Monsterquest'' or ''Monster Quest'') is an American television series that originally aired from October 31, 2007 to March 24, 2010 on the History (American TV channel), History channel. Produced by Whitewol ...

'' television series.

Biography

Sarmiento earned a

biological anthropology Biological anthropology, also known as physical anthropology, is a scientific discipline concerned with the biological and behavioral aspects of human beings, their extinct hominin ancestors, and related non-human primates, particularly from an e ...

Ph.D. in 1985 and from then until at least 2008 he worked as a research associate at the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 inter ...

. His main field of study is the

skeleton A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of an animal. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside ...

s of

hominoid Apes (collectively Hominoidea ) are a clade of Old World simians native to sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (though they were more widespread in Africa, most of Asia, and as well as Europe in prehistory), which together with its sister g ...

s,Sarmiento, Esteban
Should We Consider the Translocation of Gorilla Populations?
Gorilla Journal 13, December 1996 including both extinct and living species. From 2002 to 2003, he was a

Fulbright scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

teaching physiology at

Eduardo Mondlane University The Eduardo Mondlane University ( pt, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane; UEM) is the oldest and largest university in Mozambique. The UEM is located in Maputo and has about 40,000 students enrolled. History The institution was set up as a center for ...

in Mozambique. Presently, he heads The Human Evolution Foundation whose main goal is to understand humanity's place in nature, and fight to end to racial discrimination at Public Universities. Sarmiento is one of the few mainstream experts to give serious attention to

cryptozoology Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience and subculture that searches for and studies unknown, legendary, or extinct animals whose present existence is disputed or unsubstantiated, particularly those popular in folklore, such as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness ...

, particularly reports of

Bigfoot Bigfoot, also commonly referred to as Sasquatch, is a purported ape-like creature said to inhabit the forest of North America. Many dubious articles have been offered in attempts to prove the existence of Bigfoot, including anecdotal claims o ...

. Sarmiento does not suggest that the existence of Bigfoot has been established, but that its existence is possible and that claims and evidence deserve careful scrutiny. He has stated, "If the animal in the P&G film igfootis real, this animal is exceedingly human-like... would be our closest relative on earth.”Ortega, Javier. 2009.
Esteban Sarmiento: Thoughts on Bigfoot
. Retrieved 13 Feb 2010. He has appeared on several episodes of the History Channel series ''

'' discussing Bigfoot and other

cryptid Cryptids are animals that cryptozoologists believe may exist somewhere in the wild, but are not believed to exist by mainstream science. Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience, which primarily looks at anecdotal stories, and other claims rejected by ...

Legal Actions Against Discrimination

Sarmiento filed a lawsuit against

Queens College Queens College (QC) is a public college in the Queens borough of New York City. It is part of the City University of New York system. Its 80-acre campus is primarily located in Flushing, Queens. It has a student body representing more than 170 ...

claiming that the college's refusal to grant him interviews in 1999 and 2000 for

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. Overview In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a ...

employment was motivated by racial discrimination and thus a violation of Title VII of the

Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...

. In 2005, a U.S. District Court ruled against Sarmiento. The court noted that while Sarmiento was qualified for the job, Queens College demonstrated that other candidates were more qualified and race was not a factor in their decisions. For example, among the job requirements was an emphasis on human anatomy and anthropology, while Sarmiento's emphasis had been on non-human primates. At the time Sarmiento had 10 years of teaching experience in anatomy in Universities throughout the world. The court also ruled that Sarmiento submitted inadequate syllabi and other candidates had superior teaching experience. Later in 2005, an appeals court upheld the district court decision. Sarmiento subsequently filed a similar lawsuit against

Montclair State University Montclair State University (MSU) is a Public university, public research university in Montclair, New Jersey, with parts of the campus extending into Little Falls, New Jersey, Little Falls. As of fall 2018, Montclair State was, by enrollment, ...

. Again, he alleged racial discrimination as a factor in a 2001 hiring procedure. The court ruled that Montclair established that another applicant was better qualified for the position due to her specialty in

medical anthropology Medical anthropology studies "human health and disease, health care systems, and biocultural adaptation". It views humans from multidimensional and ecological perspectives. It is one of the most highly developed areas of anthropology and applied ...

and that race was not a factor in Montclair's hiring decision. Montclair interviewed 2 black women one with a Ph.D but hired the white woman. While the candidate Montclair ultimately hired did not have her Ph.D. at the time of interview, she was scheduled to earn her doctorate by the time employment would have begun, in line with Montclair's hiring procedure. Montclair, however in circular advertisement specifically required a Ph.D. degree

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarmiento, Esteban Cryptozoologists People associated with the American Museum of Natural History Living people Year of birth missing (living people)