The Yeti, also known as Meh-Teh, is an ape-like creature said to live in the Himalayan region. However, genetic analysis of nine ‘Yeti’ samples found that seven came from brown bears, one from a black bear, and one from a dog. Previous evidence, such as footprints and bones, has also been inconclusive.
In the Himalayan region of Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet, it is known as Yeti or Meh-Teh. For British explorers tackling Everest in the 1920s, it was the Abominable Snowman. Stories of the mysterious Yeti, an ape-like creature that lives in the Himalayas, emerged in Western popular culture in the late 19th century. Over the years, “evidence” purporting to prove the existence of this ape-man has included footprints, teeth, hair and bones. But when geneticists were asked to analyze the mitochondrial DNA of nine ‘Yeti’ samples for an Animal Planet TV production, they found that seven came from Himalayan or Tibetan brown bears, one from a black bear and one from a dog.
No evidence of the Yeti yet:
Through the analysis, the researchers were able to create the first complete mitochondrial genomes for the Himalayan brown bear and Himalayan black bear. They were surprisingly different.
When Alexander the Great conquered the Indus Valley in 326 BC, he asked to see a Yeti, but later learned that Himalayan hulks supposedly only lived at higher altitudes.
In 1960, Sir Edmund Hillary organized an expedition to collect evidence of Yeti. An alleged Yeti scalp found in a Khumjung monastery has turned out to be the skin of a serow, a Himalayan antelope.
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