The Yeti or ‘Abominable Snowman’

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What would you call an eight foot, thickset, long limbed man, covered in long hair with a face not unlike Chewbacca? The answer may depend on where you live, but one of the most common names for this kind of creature is Yeti.

Yeti sightings have been reported all over the world, with creatures referred to by names like the Jungle Yeti or the Yeti of the Amazon, but the word Yeti originates in the languages of indigenous peoples of the Himalayas. To some of these tribes the Yeti was a wild man, while to others he was a mythological demon, so it is no wonder that we’re still unsure about Yetis existence.

The translation of the name means ‘rock bear’ which is used as fuel by both believers and those who think Yeti proof is a hoax or a case of mistaken identity. Tibetan animals like the Langur Monkey, the Himalayan Red Bear and the Tibetan Blue Bear may have been misidentified in some of the sightings, but some Yeti proof, like a scalp and hair specimens found in a monastery in 1954, unknown parasites found in Yeti dung in 1957 and large human like tracks photographed in 1951 by respectable explorers at an altitude of 20,000 feet are more difficult to explain. Sir Edmund Hillary was also convinced by stories he heard from indigenous peoples and reported seeing ‘Yeti footprints’ on his way up Everest in 1953, he also sent one of several ‘Yeti scalps’ back to the UK for testing in 1960, though this specimen is thought to be from an unusual goat.

A ‘Yeti foot’ was found in permafrost in a remote part of Siberia, hairy and several thousand years old, when x-rayed the bones were very similar to humans - around a size 5. The frozen top of the world would be a good place for creatures to exist without human civilisation affecting them - so the Yeti out still be out there waiting to be discovered.

Review by editor World Reviewer Staff

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