The Abominable Snowman – He’s real and he’s fantastic
Aerial Photo of the Himalayas by NASA Earth Observatory
After decades of being relegated to the realms of B-movie horror flicks, and suffering the indignity of becoming code name for crack pot theories, the elusive Yeti of the Himalayas has been pinned down by geneticists in the UK.
The world-famous climber Reinhold Messner, the first human to reach the summit of Everest without oxygen, was one of the few believers that science would eventually uncover the legendary creature. He has recounted tales of the beasts related in Tibet adding:
They call it a bear with human abilities… It goes on two legs when it meets people… it’s telling you to go away, or you are a dead man.
Now Oxford University genetics professor Bryan Sykes has uncovered scientific proof to validate the tales of those who have spotted the beast. Sykes analyzed two hair samples of potential Snowmen; one sourced from the Western Himalayan region of Ladakh, and the other from Bhutan, and found a direct match to a prehistoric polar bear that lived 40,000 years ago.
According to Sykes, it is likely that members of the species still roam the Himalayas explaining that:
The polar bear ingredient in their genomes may have changed their behavior so they act different, look different, maybe walk on two feet more often.
Cryptozoologists, who have consistently maintained belief in the existence of the Yeti, feel vindicated by the finding, but say they are not surprised. They point to past examples of actual creatures once thought to be mythical such as the Okapi and Pinocchio lizard as evidence that their field is ahead of mainstream science on the issue of rare beasts.
Although it may be awhile before Yetis become common enough to inhabit the world’s zoos, their experience shows that reality can sometimes be fantastical.
Related articles
- The Abominable Snowman Lives (presurfer.blogspot.com)
- ‘Yeti lives’: Abominable Snowman is ‘part polar bear and still roams the Himalayas’ (thetruthseeker.co.uk)
- Yeti/Snowman Mystery Could Be Closer to Clarity (webpronews.com)
- DNA tests prove yeti is roaming Himalayas, Oxford prof says (calgaryherald.com)
