Yeti - The Abominable Snowman
by Jayasri Jayakody
Purported Yeti scalp at Khumjung monastery.
The Yeti, is a humanoid cryptid associated with the Himalayas
sometimes referred to as the Abominable Snowman. The names Yeti or
Meh-Teh are part of their history and mythology, and commonly used by
people indigenous to the Himalaya.
Most mainstream scientists, explorers and writers with experience of
the area, consider current evidence of
the Yeti's existence to be weak
and better explained as hoax, legend, or misidentification of known
species. Nevertheless, the Yeti remains one of the most famous creatures
of cryptozoology.
Animals that live in the Himalayas, known to Tibetans, Nepalese and
mammologists that are directly linked with the Yeti phenomena are the
Chu-Teh, a Langur monkey living at lower altitudes, the Tibetan Blue
Bear, the Himalayan Brown Bear and the Dzu-Teh which is the Himalayan
Red Bear.
The term Yeti is often used to describe a number of very different
reported creatures:
* A large ape-like biped (that some suggest could be a
Gigantopithecus)
* Human-sized bipedal apes (the Almas and the Chinese wildman)
* Dwarf-like creatures (such as the Orang Pendek).
The term is also often used to refer to reported creatures that fit
any of these descriptions: for example, the fear liath may be referred
to as the "Scottish Yeti".
The appellation "Abominable Snowman" did not come into existence
until 1921, in that year Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Howard-Bury lead the
Royal Geographical Society's "Everest Reconnaissance Expedition" from
which he authored "Mount Everest The Reconnaissance, 1921".
In his book he wrote, amongst the details of the expedition, of an
account, whilst crossing the "Lhakpa-la" at 21,000 feet where he found
footprints in the snow. Howard-Bury stated that these tracks "were
probably caused by a large 'loping' grey wolf, which in the soft snow
formed double tracks rather like a those of a barefooted man".
However Howard-Bury also stated that "our coolies at once volunteered
that the tracks must be that of "The Wild Man of the Snows", to which
they gave the name "metoh-kangmi" "Metoh" translates as "man bear" and
"Kang-mi" translates as "snowman".
The 1954 Pangboche Scalp Investigation
The Pangboche Hand and Yeti "Scalp", 1954
Dr. Biswamoy Biswas examining the Pangboche Yeti scalp during the
Daily Mail Snowman Expedition of 1954
The Daily Mail, on March 19th 1954, printed an article, where
the"Snowman Expedition" teams obtained and submitted specimens of hairs
from the scalp in Pangboche monastery. Professor Frederic Wood Jones,
F.R.S, D.Sc., and an expert in human and comparative anatomy, conducted
the research on the hair.
The research consisted of taking micro-photographs of the hairs and
comparing them with hairs from known animals such as the bear and
orangutan.
Professor Woods-Jones was of the opinion that the evidence of the
hairs and the photographs, from the Pangboche monastery "scalp", proved
it was not a scalp of any type.
The reason for this is that although some animals have a ridge of
hair beginning at the top of the head and extending between the
shoulders to the back, he did not believe that any animals have a ridge
such as shown in the photographs of the Pangboche relic "running from
the base of the forehead across the top of the head and ending at the
back of the neck".
The hairs were a "foxy-red" in sunlight and black or dark brown in
colour in dull light. None of these had been dyed and they were probably
exceedingly old.
The hairs were bleached, cut into sections and compared
microscopically with those of known animals. Wood-Jones was unable to
suggest from what animal the Pangboche hairs were taken. He was however
convinced they are not the hairs of an anthropoid ape, or of a bear. He
suggests they may come from the hair of a coarse-haired hoofed animal,
but not from its head; they may be from its shoulder.
Early 20th century
The frequency of reports increased in the early 20th century, when
Westerners began making determined attempts to climb the many mountains
in the area and sometimes reported seeing odd creatures or strange
tracks.
In 1925, N.A. Tombazi, a photographer and member of the Royal
Geographical Society, saw a creature at about 15,000 ft near Zemu
Glacier. Tombazi later wrote that he observed the creature from about
200 or 300 yards, for about one minute. "Unquestionably, the figure in
outline was exactly like a human being, walking upright and stopping
occasionally to pull at some dwarf rhododendron bushes.
It showed up dark against the snow, and as far as I could make out,
wore no clothes." About two hours later, Tombazi and his companions
descended the mountain, and saw what they took to be the creature's
prints, described as "similar in shape to those of a man, but only six
to seven inches long by four inches wide.... The prints were undoubtedly
those of a biped."
Late 20th century
Western interest in the Yeti peaked dramatically in the 1950s. While
attempting to scale Mount Everest in 1951, Eric Shipton took photographs
of a number of large prints in the snow, at about 6,000 m (19,685 ft)
above sea level. These photos have been subject to intense study and
debate. Some argue they are the best evidence of Yeti's reality, but
others contend the prints are from a mundane creature and have been
distorted and enlarged by the melting snow.
In 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reported seeing large
footprints while scaling Mount Everest. Hillary would later discount
Yeti reports as unreliable.
During the Daily Mail Snowman Expedition of 1954, the largest search
of its kind, the mountaineering leader John Angelo Jackson, made the
first trek from Everest to Kangchenjunga and in the process photographed
symbolic paintings of the Yeti at Thyangboche Gompa. Jackson tracked and
also photographed many footprints in the snow, many of which were
identifiable.
However, there were many large footprints which could not be
identified. The flattened footprint-like indentations were attributed to
erosion and subsequent widening of the original footprint by wind and
particle action.
Beginning in 1957, Tom Slick, an American who had made a fortune in
oil, funded a few missions to investigate Yeti reports. In 1959, feces
reportedly from a Yeti were collected by Slick's expedition. Analysis
found a parasite but could not classify it. Bernard Heuvelmans wrote
that "Since each animal has its own parasites, this indicated that the
host animal is equally an unknown animal."
In 1959, actor Jimmy Stewart, while visiting India, reportedly
smuggled the remains of a supposed Yeti, the so-called Pangboche Hand,
by hiding them in his luggage when he flew from India to London. In
1960, Sir Edmund Hillary mounted an expedition to collect and evaluate
evidence for the Yeti and sent a Yeti scalp from the Khumjung monastery
to the West for testing.
The results indicated that the scalp had been manufactured from the
skin of the serow, a goat-like Himalayan antelope. But some disagreed
with this analysis. Shackley said they "pointed out that hairs from the
scalp look distinctly monkey-like, and that it contains parasitic mites
of a species different from that recovered from the serow."
In 1970, British mountaineer Don Whillans says he saw a creature
while scaling Annapurna. While scouting for a campsite, Whillans heard
some odd cries. His sherpa guide told him the sound was a Yeti's call.
That night, reported Whillans, he saw a dark shape moving near his camp.
The next day, Whillans observed a few human like footprints in the
snow, and that evening, he asserted that with binoculars, he watched a
bipedal, ape-like creature for about 20 minutes as it apparently
searched for food not far from his camp.
The anthropologist John Napier (primatologist) in his book "Bigfoot:
The Yeti and Sasquatch in Myth and Reality", a detailed collation of
writings, first hand reports and analysis on the subject, argued that
amongst what evidence there is for the Yeti, "unlike the Sasquatch,
there is little uniformity of pattern, and what uniformity there is
incriminates the bear".
Many cryptozoologists, after examining eye-witness reports and
statistical evidence, have concluded that Yeti reports are
misidentification of mundane creatures. Well-financed expeditions have
turned up little positive evidence of its existence, although one
expedition to Bhutan did retrieve a hair sample that, after DNA
analysis, could not be matched to any known animal.
In 1997, Italian mountaineer Reinhold Messner claimed to have come
face to face with a Yeti. He has since written a book, My Quest for the
Yeti, and also claims to have actually killed one. According to Messner,
the Yeti is actually the endangered Himalayan Brown Bear, Ursus arctos
isabellinus that can walk upright or on all fours.
The Yeti has become a cultural icon, appearing in movies, books and
video games. Mainly this is in the abominable snowman style, but
occasionally as comic relief.
The Yeti is one of the characters in the Tintin comic 'Tintin in
Tibet'. The Yeti in the story rescues Tintin's friend, Chang, from the
remains of an air crash in Tibet.
Several Looney Tunes shorts feature a Yeti named Hugo. He is obsessed
with having a rabbit, whom he will call George. This is an allusion to a
character from Of Mice and Men named Lennie - who is a large, physically
strong man with the mind of a child.
Most recently, the Yeti has become the main attraction in the
Himalayan-themed Roller-coaster ride, Expedition Everest - Legend of the
Forbidden Mountain, at Disney's Animal Kingdom. The ride features a very
large and extremely lifelike Audio-Animatronic Yeti, whose massive hand
appears to just miss the riders as they pass under him in the ride's
final scene.
The Yeti was also featured in an amateur film about the popular
website, myspace.com which portrayed the Yeti as a gender confused man,
in which a lot of emphasis was put on its hair.
*
The riddle of the yeti will continue to tantalise humankind for a
long time to come. |