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Creatures, Myths & Legends

Scientists challenge 'Yeti' DNA results

By T.K. Randall
December 18, 2014 · Comment icon 26 comments

The Himalayas are a large and remote region of South Asia. Image Credit: CC BY-SA 2.0 Dirk Hartung
DNA thought to be from an extinct polar bear in the Himalayas might actually belong to something else.
Professor Bryan Sykes made headlines last year when he DNA tested suspected Yeti hair samples from Ladakh and Bhutan and found that they were actually a match for a jawbone belonging to an extinct species of polar bear that lived 120,000 years ago.

The find opened up the possibility that sightings of the mysterious Abominable Snowman in and around the Himalayan region might actually be explained by the presence of this ancient bear.
Now however two other scientists, Ceiridwen Edwards and Ross Barnett, have repeated the same DNA tests and believe that the hair samples are not from an extinct species of polar bear at all but are in fact from a rare sub-species of the common brown bear.

"The Himalayan bear is a sub-species of the brown bear that lives in the higher reaches of the Himalayas, in remote, mountainous areas of Pakistan, Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan and India," they wrote.

"The common name for these bears in the region is Dzu-teh, a Nepalese term meaning 'cattle bear', and they have long been associated with the myth of the yeti."

Source: BBC News | Comments (26)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #17 Posted by Imaginarynumber1 9 years ago
But...but... I like Swedish people! They can't all be fake can they? I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you this...
Comment icon #18 Posted by Night Walker 9 years ago
Sykes' Response to Edwards and Barnett
Comment icon #19 Posted by Red Moon 9 years ago
The hair samples are showing extinct bears and unusual bears. I don't know. That TV show about the Bigfoot DNA left too many questions. The witnesses clearly didn't see bears running around but something unknown, yet the sample was picked up. No one ever asked if it's because bears walked in the same place as a monster.
Comment icon #20 Posted by Imaginarynumber1 9 years ago
The hair samples are showing extinct bears and unusual bears. I don't know. That TV show about the Bigfoot DNA left too many questions. The witnesses clearly didn't see bears running around but something unknown, yet the sample was picked up. No one ever asked if it's because bears walked in the same place as a monster. The fact is that the average person usually has no idea what they are looking at. Take the "montauk monster" and other dead mammals that have washed ashore. Clearly plain old regular animals, but people always think it's something strange. Eyewitnesses are the LEAST reliable fo... [More]
Comment icon #21 Posted by Black Manta 9 years ago
Just a thought.....how close is the DNA of the cattle bear to that of this extinct polar bear? Is it possible that the two are genetically related?
Comment icon #22 Posted by badeskov 9 years ago
snip There are accounts of mothmen, goatmen, horse and dog headed men, werewolves, elves and swedish people. Doesn't make any of them real. snip It's true, swedish people do actually exist. I have once seen one of these alleged swedish people and I even have a blurry picture.... Cheers, Badeskov
Comment icon #23 Posted by Imaginarynumber1 9 years ago
It's true, swedish people do actually exist. I have once seen one of these alleged swedish people and I even have a blurry picture.... Cheers, Badeskov It's was probably just a guy in a suit that you saw.
Comment icon #24 Posted by Imaginarynumber1 9 years ago
'Absolutely untrue' that anomalies in the fossil and archaeological records are ignored by mainstream science?!? Haha. Yeah, right. Still waiting for a verified example of this that isn't a known hoax. I have a feeling that I will be waiting a while.....
Comment icon #25 Posted by badeskov 9 years ago
It's was probably just a guy in a suit that you saw. Dang.....:-/ Cheers, Badeskov
Comment icon #26 Posted by Imaginarynumber1 9 years ago
Dang.....:-/ Cheers, Badeskov http://www.debate.org/opinions/is-sweden-real


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