Yeti

:For the British indie rock band see Yeti (band).

Analyses

Many cryptozoologists, after careful examinations of eye-witness reports and statistical evidence, have concluded that yeti reports are misidentification of mundane creatures. Well-financed expeditions have failed to turn up any positive evidence of its existence, although a sample of hair retrieved from one expedition was reportedly confirmed as belonging to an unknown ape.

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Enthusiasts speculate that these reported creatures could be present-day specimens of the extinct giant ape Gigantopithecus, as the only evidence (other than teeth) recovered from Gigantopithecus (its jawbone) indicates a skull rested upon a vertical spinal column (as in hominines and other bipedal apes such as Oreopithecus). However, while the yeti is usually described as a bipedal, most scientists feel that Gigantopithicus was probably quadrupedal, and so massive that unless it evolved specifically as a bipedal ape (like Oreopithecus and the hominids) upright walking would have been even more difficult for the now extinct primate than it is for its extant quadrupedal relative, the Orangutan. Without evidence to support it, this suggestion must be regarded as highly speculative.

Related Topics:
Extinct - Ape - Gigantopithecus - Hominine - Oreopithecus - Bipedal - Quadruped - Orangutan

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Although there is no firm evidence to support yeti reports, some have noted the Himalayas are remote and sparsely populated, and that there is perhaps more room for the yeti's actuality than with Bigfoot in North America.

Related Topics:
Bigfoot - North America

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Recently, Henry Gee, editor of the journal Nature, wrote that "The discovery that Homo floresiensis survived until so very recently, in geological terms, makes it more likely that stories of other mythical, human-like creatures such as yetis are founded on grains of truth.... Now, cryptozoology, the study of such fabulous creatures, can come in from the cold" http://www.nature.com/news/2004/041025/full/041025-2.html.

Related Topics:
Henry Gee - Nature - Homo floresiensis - Human - Cryptozoology

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