People who live and work in the Himalayas have many stories (more like tales) about the beast that walks on the snow dusted peaks and valleys – the yeti! Over the years, people say that they have found many footprints that belong to this mysterious cryptid.
Recently, a crew was analyzing all the yeti samples they could have find and they published their research in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. What they have found is really interesting.
A lot of people tried to uncover the identity of this mysterious creature called yeti. There are many biologists and explorers that were amazed by the mysteries of the mountaintops and would give everything in order to uncover the truth. Some people claimed to have found some body parts of this animal around the Buddhist temples.
In the past, there were genetic studies for the yeti’s and most of them actually suggested that they come from ancient polar bears that somehow managed to survive.
The team that is making a research about the yeti has decided to have different approach and they have gathered all the artifacts that could have find – including skin, hair, bones and feces that were supposed to be from the yeti’s.
However, the DNA shows that this is very unlikely. One of the samples was originally from a humble canine, while all the rest of the samples appear to come from some living bears that may still be found in the Himalayan region.
Maybe this research haven’t been so helpful for understanding the origin of the yeti, but at least it helps for a better understanding of the species that still live in that area.
“Beats in this region are either vulnerable or critically endangered from a conservation perspective, but not much is known about their past history. The Himalayan brown bears, for example, are highly endangered. Clarifying population structure and genetic diversity can help in estimating population sizes and crafting management strategies.”, said the author Charlotte Lindqvist from the University at Buffalo.
The study also proves that unlike the Tibetan brown bears that are related to their European and North American counterparts, the brown bears from the Himalayas has split from their group many years ago earlier on in their evolutionary history.