Yeti

Yeti  or Abominable Snowman is an ape -like entity, taller than an average human, that is said to inhabit the Himalayan region of Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet. The names Yeti and Meh-Tehare commonly used by the people indigenous to the region, and are part of their history and mythology. Stories of the Yeti first emerged as a facet of Western popular culture in the 19th century.

The scientific community has generally regarded the Yeti as legend given the lack of evidence of its existence. In one genetic study, researchers matched DNA from hair samples found in the Himalaya with a prehistoric bear from the Pleistocene epoch. The Abominable Snowman (Yeti) is a legendary creature known to Tibetans and Sherpas by many names, with “Yeti” being the one most well-known in the West. According to accounts from purported witnesses the yeti is an ape-like creatures that stands upright like a man and walks on two legs. It is between five and eight feet tall and has long arms, broad feet between 12 and 20 inches long, and long brownish or reddish hair that hangs over its eyes. One early Himalayan explorer wrote: “Their heads are said to be pointed on the top and their eyes are deeply sunken and reddish. Their light colored faces are without hair, we are told, and not at all pretty, except to perhaps to another Yeti. They do not have a tail. The feet, like most of the body, are covered with hair.” [Source: People’s Almanac]

The Yeti is said to be muscular, covered with dark grayish or reddish-brown hair, and weigh between 200 and 400 lbs. (91 to 181 kilograms) It is relatively short compared to North America’s Bigfoot, averaging about 6 feet (1.8 meters) in height. Though this is the most common form, reported Yetis have come in a variety of shapes. In modern times, when Westerners started traveling to the Himalayas, the myth became more sensational, according to the BBC. In 1921, a journalist named Henry Newman interviewed a group of British explorers who had just returned from a Mount Everest expedition. The explorers told the journalist they had discovered some very large footprints on the mountain to which their guides had attributed to “metoh-kangmi,” essentially meaning “man-bear snow-man.” Newman got the “snowman” part right but mistranslated “metoh” as “filthy.” Then he seemed to think “abominable” sounded even better and used this more menacing name in the paper. Thus a legend was born.

In 2017, Daniel C. Taylor published a comprehensive analysis of the century-long Yeti literature, giving added evidence to the (Ursus thibetanus) explanation building on the initial Barun Valley discoveries. Importantly, this book under the Oxford University imprint gave a meticulous explanation for the iconic Yeti footprint photographed by Eric Shipton in 1950, also the 1972 Cronin-McNeely print, as well all other unexplained Yeti footprints. To complete this explanation, Taylor also located a never-before published photograph in the archives of the Royal Geographical Society, taken in 1950 by Eric Shipton, that included scratches that are clearly bear nail marks. Though there are several evidences of Yeti anywhere, the very convenient and strong evidence whether the Yeti exists or not still is in confusion.