Geneticist at Oxford: Yeti mystery solved. It is a descendant of ... - Gazeta Wyborcza

Over the centuries, the story of a mysterious creature who lives in the inhospitable, high-altitude regions of the Himalayas, fired the imagination of the natives. Yeti Nepalese called it, and the name adopted in the West. European zoologists heard about the Yeti in 1832, when the English traveler described the escape of porters in front of a large ape-like creature. He, however, did not see it.

Later attributed to the Yeti footprints in the snow described and shown in the pictures western climbers. However, none of the expedition failed to provide convincing evidence. The existence of this creature is not confirmed so modern zoology.

enigmatic fragment of tooth

It is possible that the evidence was Bryan Sykes, professor of genetics at the University of Oxford. Present their findings Sunday at the show the documentary “Bigfoot Records” prepared by the British television Channel 4 A year ago, a geneticist asked the people around the world to ask for a hair sample or bones of various mysterious creatures. He has won 30 such samples, including two samples of hair that had belong to the Yeti. They were found in the Himalayas at two spaced apart locations about 800 km.

said on Channel 4, the genetic material of the hair was 100 percent. consistent with DNA from the jaws of the ancient polar bear. 23-cm fragment of a tooth in 2007 found in northern Norway. Its first owner, namely the owner, walked the earth 40-120 thousand. years ago. It is a time when polar bears and intimately related to the brown bear as a single species went their own evolutionary paths.

After the turn of the Yeti Bigfoot?

– These exciting and totally unexpected results made us a big surprise. But you have to do a lot of work to interpret them. Certainly I do not think that the ancient polar bears are running today in the Himalayas – Sykes told Channel 4 Lends itself to the argument that analyzed the hair belonged to an ancient hybrid of a polar bear brown bear.

Sykes study is part of a larger project. The scientist is looking for genetic evidence for the existence of mysterious beings and examine whether they are related to people. Advanced analysis of genetic material from one hair and comparing it with the gene bank data costs about two thousand. dollars. But scientists hope that you will find the answer to the question of whether such creatures as the Yeti or Bigfoot really exist in the USA. Until now, the only evidence were clues, fuzzy pictures or shot video with a trembling hand.

– Lovers of cryptozoology think they are rejected by science. But this is a complete misunderstanding. Science does not accept or reject anything. All that does is evaluate the evidence, and I just’m on it – says Bryan Sykes.

The result of my research submitted for publication in scientific journals. There will be also a researcher in the book, which will be released next year.