No.

Skookum means "strong spirit" or strongly spirited such as in a rapid, or a brave warrior, etc.

The term was applied to BIGFOOTS because a long time ago local tourist shops sold a Bigfoot Doll named "Skookum."


How the fvck could it mean Ape when there are no--and never have been-- any apes in the Western Hemisphere?

That's like saying Chehalis really means "Aluminum Singlewide Longhouse" and Tukwila really means "asphalt toilet."
Them Injuns must have had amazing foresight. It's a wonder they didn't invent the wheel* and put a patent on it, and invent the concept of patents while they were at it.

As a matter of fact, the ONLY non-human primates in the new world came over from Africa during the age when S. America and Africa were joined during Pangaea**, well BEFORE their African counterparts developed opposable thumbs and lost their prehensile tails. The S. American primates still have the tails, but never developed the thumbs after the two continents drifted apart.













*The wheel was an amazing new & never seen before technology, along with rideable beasts of burden, and the world-wide slave trade, introduced to the New World in 1492.


**As evidenced by the fossilized remains of Mesosaurus which died out approximately 250 million years ago and can be found in early Permian sedimentary strata along the Eastern coast of South America, and the Western Coast of Africa, repectively.
And, no, it was a fresh water animal and would have died if it had attempted to swim the Atlantic and it sure as schit did NOT possess tickets to board Noah's Ark.