A host of DNA samples “strongly suggest” that yetis are, in fact, local Himalayan bears. Watch out, Bigfoot.
Photo: Zoo Hluboka/Wikimedia
An international team of researchers took a look at bear and supposed yeti DNA samples to better pinpoint the origin of the mythological creature. The researcher’s results imply that yetis were hardly paranormal or even strange, but the results also helped paint a better picture of the bears living in the Himalayas.
“Even if we didn’t discover a strange new hybrid species of bear or some ape-like creature, it was exciting to me that it gave us the opportunity to learn more about bears in this region as they are rare and little genetic data had been published previously,” study author Charlotte Lindqvist, biology professor from the University of Buffalo in New York, told Gizmodo.
The yeti, or abominable snowman, is a sort of wild, ape-like hominid that’s the subject of long-standing published yesterday in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
Lindqvist and her team analysed DNA from 24 different bear or purported yeti samples from the wild and museums, including faeces, hair, skin and bone. They were definitely all bears – and the yeti samples seemed to match up well with exiting Himalayan brown bears. “This study represents the most rigorous analysis to date of samples suspected to derive from anomalous or mythical ‘hominid’-like creatures,” the paper concludes, “strongly suggesting the biological basis of the yeti legend as local brown and black bears.”
Researcher Ross Barnett from the Center for GeoGenetics in Copenhagen, who investigates ancient DNA in felids, told Gizmodo that he found the study convincing and would not have done much differently. He pointed out that the study could have benefited from more data on other brown bear populations, or species that recently went extinct such as the Atlas bear. But still, “I hope other groups take advantage of the great dataset these authors have created” to help understand how brown bears ended up distributed around the world in the way that they did, he told Gizmodo in an email.
When asked about what a reader’s takeaway should be – and whether this diluted the local folklore – the study author Lindqvist said she didn’t think so. “Science can help explore such myths – and their biological roots – but I am sure they will still live on and continue to be important in any culture,” she said.
And it isn’t like the study rules out the existence of some paranormal yeti creature completely. “Even if there are no proof for the existence of cryptids, it is impossible to completely rule out that they live or have ever lived where such myths exist – and people love mysteries!”