He tried to use his special knowledge to debunk alleged evidence of Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch. But his examination of alleged Bigfoot footprint castings didn't lead to the conclusion he had expected. The path to Chilcutt's unusual investigation began with an idea he had in 1995. He began examining fingerprints to determine whether there were differences based on race or sex. It finally occurred to him that the key to understanding human fingerprints could lie in nonhuman primates.
Primates are members of the order of mammals that includes humans, great apes, monkeys and lemurs.
Chilcutt said he hoped to find primordial characteristics that would unlock hidden information in human fingerprints. First, he had to convince a zoo or a research center to allow him to take fingerprints. N.C. Impressed by Chilcutt's expertise, Glander offered prints from his collection of lemurs. But Chilcutt was primarily interested in apes, so Glander steered him to the Yerkes Regional Primate Center at Emory University in Atlanta. Kaylee Summerville, occupational health program coordinator at Yerkes, said Chilcutt's request was received with caution.