The first of 10 all-new episodes rolls out Sunday, January 1 at 10:00/9:00c.

Animal Planet

For centuries, eyewitness accounts and colorful stories have fueled rumor that large, furry, human-like animals have roamed the forests in North America and other continents. These legendary creatures have come to be known as bigfoot or sasquatch.

The folklore around Bigfoot has many doubters and many true believers, and passionate groups like the Bigfoot Field Research Organization (BFRO) have formed to investigate stories, analyze evidence and strengthen their hypotheses of these elusive beings.

Over the course of 10 hour-long episodes, Animal Planet’s FINDING BIGFOOT returns for a brand-new season on Sunday, January 1, 2012, at 10 PM (ET/PT) for further expeditions to investigate reports of the mysterious bigfoot.

From small towns in the South to remote areas of the mountain West and dense forest of the Northeast and into Canada, four passionate, driven researchers and adventurers embark on one single-minded mission – to find this beast.

BFRO members Matt Moneymaker and James “Bobo” Fay, professional educator Cliff Barackman and skeptical biologist Ranae Holland engage in the ultimate quest in search of proof that Bigfoot really does exist – and that he or she is alive and abundant in North America.

By examining photos and videos of the creature, speaking to local witnesses, using new technology and luring the mysterious beast with the team’s squatch calls, the group uncovers startling proof of the legendary and highly intelligent enigma that has eluded capture for centuries and fascinated man for just as long.

During the series premiere, called “Baby Bigfoot,” the quartet of investigators head to the Catskills in New York near Poughkeepsie to provide in-depth analysis of 15-year-old video footage from 1997 that indicates a juvenile or baby sasquatch could have been in the area at the time.

“Even though this area of the Hudson River Valley is fairly populated and not terribly far from the urban New York City, there is still a lot of forest here,” explains Moneymaker, “and a lot of vegetation to support something like a sasquatch.”

“It is definitely a primate,” adds Bobo. “I think we’re looking at a juvenile sasquatch, which is quite amazing because [seeing] a baby is incredibly rare.”

Splitting up into teams of two and using infrared technology, the intrepid sleuths embark on a night mission that eerily is similar to “The Blair Witch Project,” poking around abandoned cabins and remote orchards to capture a sighting of bigfoot.

They also talk to many locals and conduct deep detailed re-creations of sightings, all culminating with an evening adventure where they employ a baboon (borrowed from the local zoo) to assist with their investigation. But what do they find?

Throughout the new season of FINDING BIGFOOT, the team scours North America to follow up on compelling evidence, new and old, including visiting such popular outdoor destinations as Moose Lake in Minnesota; the Catskills Mountains in New York; Salt Fork State Park in Ohio; and Dunes State Park and Morgan Monroe State Park in Indiana.

They also head to rural regions of Rhode Island, New Mexico, Kentucky, Virginia and Alberta, Canada.