Slashdot Mirror
Yeti Bears Up Under Scrutiny
Rambo Tribble writes "Bryan Sykes of Oxford University has discovered that hairs, ostensibly from the Yeti creature of the Himalayas, were '... genetically identical to polar bear.' What the professor is suggesting is that a rare hybrid of brown and polar bear may be the actual, elusive creature of legend."
What do polar bears like to eat?
Brrrrrrrritos!
How hard can it be to really capture one on film? There are reports almost daily of bears wandering into populated areas looking for food. If this mythical creature actually exists, it should be dead easy to get legitimate proof via baited trap and motion-sensing camera.
For gawd sakes, the Ewoks managed to capture Chewbacca. Are we really that incapable?
I see what you did there, very clever.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Everybody knows that when you cross a brown bear and a polar bear you get a chupacabra.
Some legends don't seem to die. This whole yeti/bigfoot thing is almost a religion to some people.
If it's "genetically identical" to a polar bear, well... doesn't that mean it's a polar bear?
In other news, after careful scruteny of a black and white picture of a supposed UFO, it seems to be a top-hat thrown upwards and then photographed.
The name "Yeti" remembers me a low level monster from the mmo MU Online.
Why does this sound like he's made up another undocumented creature as his explanation?
This sounds like he either tested a sample which was from a hoax, or he's just making shit up.
I'm going with "researcher tests hoax, comes up with own unfounded explanation to get publicity". Because there's no more evidence for the existence of this creature in the Himalayas than the yeti.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
The yeti was snacking on a polar bear (or Himalayan Goral FTFA..) while out for a walk.
Join the Slashcott! Feb 10 thru Feb 17!
http://xkcd.com/1235/
"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." -- William Butler Yeats
Too bad I don't have mod points today.
We are so screwed....
You know, I've seen black bear prints that look remarkably similar to human prints. I'm serious, they can really look alike under the right conditions, such that there's no obvious impression of claws...
So you mean to tell me that the himilays have polarized killer bears?
Scratch that off my vacation destinations.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
I guess this isn't entirely surprising considering that "Yeti" fur has been identified as coming from the Tibertan blue bear as well. It is very interesting how closely and recently related the brown bear is to the polar bear, though, and to these mountain dwelling species as well. I did not know that. The Tibetan Blue Bear has only been rarely sighted since it was documented in the 1850s. It's not out of the question that there are other, non-classified bear relatives in the high mountains.
The Tibetan sand fox and other fox species contribute to the Yeti legend as well. They occasionally make human-like cries. Snow leopards do to. I've heard a snow leopard cry at a the Central Park Zoo; it sounded like a child shrieking only much louder and more piercing. If you heard one of these animal species during a blizzard, especially combined with certain related optical phenomena (or actually seeing a sub-species/relative of brown bear), you could get the strong impression that there was another person out there. Or something like a person but definitely not. You certainly wouldn't find a person after it had been snowing, the animal having moved on, burrowed, or appearing only as an animal.
My view's - not my employer's. I wonder when Microsoft will take a stance on the Yeti question...
...as actually having anything to do with "yetis".
I don't think we need DNA evidence to demonstrate that people are perfectly capable of making up monster folklore without anything more convincing than a tall tale.
Replacing a non-existent creature of folklore with a purported half breed of a creature that occurs nowhere near a specific location really isn't accomplishing much, especially when people have long been motivated to produce "evidence" before the advent of DNA testing. The polar bear doesn't live anywhere near the Himalays, yet intrepid explorers who wanted to engage in a prank or to fool a foundation to donate money to their expedition were certainly capable of bringing part of a polar bear to create "evidence" for their "discovery".
This is like finding a South African cent in my change and coming to the conclusion that the United States used to be a South African possession. There are easier ways to explain this "evidence" than purporting the yeti myth to be a misunderstood bear that didn't live anywhere near the reported location: people make shit up, and people want to believe in monster myths.
Given the terrain, maybe when people meet it the Yeti bear rears up and roars ... which does look a lot like the classic Yeti image. Just add some longer white hair and bazinga!
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
...impossible! Global Warming/Global Cooling/Global Weirding/Climate Change/George Bush already killed all of the polar bears.
Hey slashdot, the media called and they want their stupid sensationalistic clickbait headline back.
Publishing your research on BBC television? Is that how it works now? Do the comments, questions and rebuttals have to appear on BBC TV also, or can they appear on someone else's TV show?