LONDON (AP) — A British scientist says he may have
solved the mystery of the Abominable Snowman — the
elusive ape-like creature of the Himalayas. He
thinks it's a bear.
DNA analysis conducted by
Oxford University genetics professor
Bryan Sykes suggests the creature, also known as
the Yeti, is the descendant of an ancient
polar bear.
Sykes compared DNA from hair samples taken from two
Himalayan animals — identified by local people as
Yetis — to a database of animal genomes. He found
they shared a genetic fingerprint with a polar bear
jawbone found in the Norwegian Arctic that is at
least 40,000 years old.
Sykes said Thursday that the tests showed the
creatures were not related to modern Himalayan bears
but were direct descendants of the
prehistoric animal.
He said, "it may be a new species, it may be a
hybrid" between polar bears and brown bears.
"The next thing is go there and find one."
Sykes put out a call last year for museums,
scientists and Yeti aficionados to share hair
samples thought to be from the creature.
One of the samples he analyzed came from an alleged
Yeti mummy in the Indian region of Ladakh, at the
Western edge of the Himalayas, and was taken by a
French mountaineer who was shown the corpse 40
years ago.
The other was a single hair found a decade ago in
Bhutan, 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) to the east.
Sykes said the fact the hair samples were found so
far apart, and so recently, suggests the members of
the species are still alive.
"I can't imagine we managed to get samples from the
only two 'snow bears' in the Himalayas," he said.
Finding a living creature could explain whether
differences in appearance and behavior to other
bears account for descriptions of the Yeti as a
hairy hominid.
"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,"
he said.
Sykes' research has not been published, but he says
he has submitted it for peer review. His findings
will be broadcast Sunday in a television program on
Britain's
Channel 4.
Tom Gilbert, professor of paleogenomics at the
Natural History Museum of Denmark, said Sykes'
research provided a "reasonable explanation" for
Yeti sightings.
"It's a lot easier to believe that than if he had
found something else," said Gilbert, who was not
involved in the study. "If he had said it's some
kind of new primate, I'd want to see all the data."
Sykes' findings are unlikely to lay the myth of the
Yeti to rest.
The Yeti or Abominmable Snowman is one of a number
of legendary ape-like beasts — along with Sasquatch
and Bigfoot — reputed to live in heavily forested or
snowy mountains. Scientists are skeptical, but
decades of eyewitness reports, blurry photos and
stories have kept the legend alive.
"I do not think the study gives any comfort to
Yeti-believers,"
David Frayer, a professor of biological
anthropology at the
University of Kansas, said in an email. But "no
amount of scientific data will ever shake
their belief."
"If (Sykes') motivation for doing the analyses is to
refute the Yeti nonsense, then good luck," he said.
Sykes said he was simply trying "to inject some
science into a rather murky field."
"The Yeti, the Bigfoot, is surrounded in myth and
hoaxes," he said. "But you can't invent a DNA
sequence from a hair."
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Jill Lawless can be reached at
http://Twitter.com/JillLawless
© 2013 Hearst Communications, Inc.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/DNA-links-mysterious-Yeti-to-ancient-polar-bear-4903466.php