Tales of a fierce "��Abominable Snowman"��, otherwise called Yeti, Sasquatch or Bigfoot, is one of the world'��s most enduring mysteries. Apparent eye-witness accounts, blurry home videos, and traces of large non-human footprints have instilled both fear and curiosity in people for centuries. Now, it appears that the mystery has been solved thanks to a new DNA study conducted by British Scientists, and the results are surprising.

Oxford University genetics professor Bryan Sykes conducted a DNA analysis on hair samples from suspected yetis, one found in the western Himalayan region of Ladakh and the other from Bhutan, 800 miles away. The sample from Ladakh came from the mummified remains of a creature shot by a hunter around 40 years ago, while the second sample was in the form of a single hair, found in a bamboo forest by an expedition of filmmakers searching for the Yeti around 10 years ago. Skyes used these samples to compare them to those in GenBank, the international repository of gene sequences of known species.

Sykes was surprised and perplexed by what the analysis revealed, which was a 100% match with a sample from an ancient polar bear jawbone found in Norway, which dates back between 40,000 and 120,000 years ago. This was around the time that the polar bear and the related brown bear were separating into different species and Sykes believes the most likely explanation is that the animal is a sub-species of brown bear that is descended from an ancestor of the ancient polar bear.

��This is a species that hasn'��t been recorded for 40,000 years. Now, we know one of these was walking around ten years ago. And what’s interesting is that we have found this type of animal at both ends of the Himalayas. If one were to go back, there would be others still there,�� said Professor Sykes. ��It may be some sort of hybrid and if its behaviour is different from normal bears, which is what eyewitnesses report, then I think that may well be the source of the mystery and the source of the legend.

Prof Sykes said that his results were "completely unexpected"�� and that more work needed to be done interpreting them. He has submitted to a journal for peer review so other scientists will be able to examine the results more closely as soon as they are published.

He is aware of the limitations of his analysis, saying that there was only a limited amount that could be learned with the hair. “It's 40 years old and not much DNA there really. The next best thing to do is to get an expedition together to find one and see what one is like in the wild and to see if any aspects of its behavior are more likely to be identified as a yeti.

By April Holloway

Section:
News
Evolution & Human Origins

www.Ancient-Origins.net

�� Reconstructing the story of humanity'��s past
http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-evolution-human-origins/dna-study-solves-mystery-himalayan-yeti-surprising-results-00941

Thx for sharing. I don't always comment but regularly read your postings on this things.

Great post, I love these topics and its weird that this animal was still walking around 10 years ago. There is so much that man has yet to uncover, who knows what is really under the sea. I will wait until all the research has been done before making up my mind.

I heard that on the radio, fascinating!!
I also love the idea it was totally unexpected to the scientists, and this is much closer to scientific discovery reality than often alleged...

Interesting read thanks MM.

hey, whats up dude!

I have a client that studies "bigfoot" and says he has interacted with them.

The things that make you go hmmm

i watched a show on the science channel once that talked about the way bears walk, and sometimes their back footprint somewhat covers the footprint from the front paw, making them look almost human when the snow melts a little....

thanks mighty moe for complementary info, and now i understand better why these yeti are thought of standing on their rear limbs, possibly in part due to this rear prints covering the front ones' !!! although as i understand, they probably also did stand, and that was also making them look as humans for those who saw them, quite a fear I guess

This is just what the Bigfoots want us to think.