# Science solves Yeti? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 29, 2017, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-solves-yeti/803064 "2017-11-29T16:16:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2017, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-solves-yeti/803064/41 "2017-11-30T22:39:51Z")
Could the glowing raccoon possibly be… _ **a Yeti???** _ ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2017, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-solves-yeti/803064/42 "2017-11-30T22:47:49Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > In place of immersion therapy, I recommend you watch the MST3K episode that features _Boggy Creek II: and the Legend Continues_. That’ll cure you. Noooooo! ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2017, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-solves-yeti/803064/43 "2017-11-30T23:14:05Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > So science was right about the Yeti remains being bears. I suppose one can hold out hope for there being some hominid or ape there also, but Occam’s razor shaves pretty close. > > I think it is nice to have a mystery solved. > [https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/yeti-dna-study-footprints-himalayas-genetic-asiatic-bears](https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/yeti-dna-study-footprints-himalayas-genetic-asiatic-bears) Your cite disagrees with you, btw: > [@](#): > > Beyond the question of whether footprints and hair are reliable data points, Taylor poses a bigger, more slippery quandary, which started to snowball for him as he conducted his search. Do we need to poke and prod the legend in the first place? Is the puzzle of the yeti one we really want to solve and shelve, or is the uncertainty important to who we are? > > In some respects, myths such as the legend of the yeti are designed to be unverifiable, Taylor says. He cites the uneasy relationship between wanting tangible, quantitative facts to make sense of the world and the gnawing desire to be awed by it. Out in nature—beyond the Anthropocene’s urban parklets, in huge, humbling landscapes—there’s magic. One other thing: The only classification level for which there is some sort of “governing body” is the species level. No such body exists for levels above or below that. And while there are certain, commonly accepted guidelines about what makes a subspecies, any scientist can say “this population is a subspecies” or “that population is a subspecies”. On guys saying something like that has very little meaning. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2017, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-solves-yeti/803064/44 "2017-11-30T23:34:29Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Sasquatch legend goes back to before us palefaces were even here. So if we’re gonna toss around CSICOP cites: [https://www.csicop.org/si/show/bigfoot\_as\_big\_myth\_seven\_phases\_of\_mythmaking](https://www.csicop.org/si/show/bigfoot_as_big_myth_seven_phases_of_mythmaking) 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2017, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-solves-yeti/803064/45 "2017-11-30T23:50:48Z")
Btw…the boggy creek monster is known as the Fouke Monster in these parts. (South Arkansas). ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2017, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-solves-yeti/803064/46 "2017-12-01T00:03:04Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Yeti is in Tibet. You’re thinking of BigFoot. I see all sorts of Yeti signs around here. You know, like [this](http://pacificflywaysupplies.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/metal-sign-2.jpg). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2017, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-solves-yeti/803064/47 "2017-12-01T17:14:43Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I think it is nice to have a mystery solved. The mystery was “solved” a long time ago. People’s imagination got the best of them. This is no more solved (in your sense) than Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster. The fact that someone tried to pass off bear hair as Yeti hair doesn’t mean that everyone who claims to see a Yeti is seeing a bear. There any number of photos of Yeti prints in the snow that are clearly not bear and are clearly hoaxes. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2017, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-solves-yeti/803064/48 "2017-12-01T18:37:36Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > So if we’re gonna toss around CSICOP cites: > > [https://www.csicop.org/si/show/bigfoot\_as\_big\_myth\_seven\_phases\_of\_mythmaking](https://www.csicop.org/si/show/bigfoot_as_big_myth_seven_phases_of_mythmaking) Yep, Joe Nickell has authored some good articles about “yetis” and other pseudoscientific/occult silliness. I like the part about the true believer who claimed that alien “star people” were directing her to buy property with sasquatch populations (it was probably just an unusually persistent real estate agent). Another Skeptical Inquirer article delving into Bigfoot “DNA analysis”: > **[The Ketchum Project: What to Believe about Bigfoot DNA ‘Science’ | Skeptical...](https://skepticalinquirer.org/newsletter/the-ketchum-project-what-to-believe-about-bigfoot-dna-science/)** > > Science by press release is an unprofessional form and often is a bust upon peer review. Melba Ketchum asked the public directly to buy into an extraordinar ... ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2017, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-solves-yeti/803064/49 "2017-12-01T19:11:56Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > “Yeti” means “rocky place bear”. I thought “Yeti” was a Yeshiva boy’s name. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2017, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-solves-yeti/803064/50 "2017-12-02T01:00:20Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I thought “Yeti” was a Yeshiva boy’s name. I’m not comfortable with the way that makes me feel… ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2017, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-solves-yeti/803064/51 "2017-12-02T01:55:56Z")
It’s the Chupacabra you have to fear. Big foot is an amateur. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-solves-yeti/803064/52 "2019-05-01T01:14:27Z")
Updating this thread: > [@](#): > > The Indian army says it has discovered footprints in the Himalayas that appear to belong to a yeti, known in the United States as bigfoot or the abominable snowman. > > Measuring **32 inches by 15 inches,** the footprints were found near Mount Makalu base camp April 9, military officials posted on Twitter late Monday. > **[Indian army says it has discovered 'mythical' yeti's footprints](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/indian-army-says-it-found-yeti-footprints-himalayas-n999951)** > > Mount Makalu is the world's fifth highest mountain and is located about 12 miles south of Mount Everest. [spoiler]Of course there at naysayers around–for example at the New York Times with the suggestion these tracks are make by a bear and her cub: [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/30/world/asia/yeti-footprints-indian-army.html[/spoiler]](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/30/world/asia/yeti-footprints-indian-army.html%5B/spoiler%5D) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-solves-yeti/803064/53 "2019-05-01T06:41:39Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Updating this thread: > > [Indian army says it found yeti footprints in the Himalayas](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/indian-army-says-it-found-yeti-footprints-himalayas-n999951) > > [spoiler]Of course there at naysayers around–for example at the New York Times with the suggestion these tracks are make by a bear and her cub: > [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/30/world/asia/yeti-footprints-indian-army.html[/spoiler]](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/30/world/asia/yeti-footprints-indian-army.html%5B/spoiler%5D) Interesting, but DNA evidence show that yeti is indeed a bear. A very rare or even unknown species or subspecies perhaps, but a bear nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-solves-yeti/803064/54 "2019-05-01T08:17:29Z")
Oh, happy day. If the Bigfoot doesn’t eat you some new undiscovered bear will. Just what I needed to hear, living in the boonies. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-solves-yeti/803064/55 "2019-05-01T12:55:07Z")
How is this different from Edmund Hillary’s results from his 1960 Everest expedition that gathered evidence about the yeti? > [@](#): > > In 1960 Hillary organized an expedition to search for the fabled abominable snowman.[52] Hillary was with the expedition for five months, although it lasted for ten.[53] No evidence of Yetis was found, instead footprints and tracks were proven to be from other causes. During the expedition, Hillary travelled to remote temples which contained “Yeti scalps”; however after bringing back three relics, two were shown to be from bears and one from a goat antelope.[54][55] Hillary said after the expedition: “The yeti is not a strange, superhuman creature as has been imagined. We have found rational explanations for most yeti phenomena”.[56] > **[Edmund Hillary](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Hillary)** > > Sir Edmund Percival Hillary KG ONZ KBE (20 July 1919 – 11 January 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers confirmed to have reached the summit of Mount Everest. They were part of the ninth British expedition to Everest, led by John Hunt. From 1985 to 1988 he served as New Zealand's High Commissioner to India and Bangladesh and concurrently as Ambassador to Nepal. > Hillary became... I read about this in Hillary’s 1962 book **High in the Thin Cold Air** , which includes pictures of the “Yeti scalps” and other artifacts. It’s not a particularly well-written book, but in this case it’s the author and subject matter that are important. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-solves-yeti/803064/56 "2019-05-01T19:35:57Z")
I have read stories from reputable people who have seen a bigfoot type creature. I dont know. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-solves-yeti/803064/57 "2019-05-01T20:12:26Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Interesting, but DNA evidence show that yeti is indeed a bear. A very rare or even unknown species or subspecies perhaps, but a bear nonetheless. Despite it being pointed out by Chronos in the second post of this thread (and several times thereafter) you are persistently ignoring the point that your claim that the yeti “is” a bear is nonsense. It remains to be seen whether some instances of claimed sightings of mysterious animals were actually bears; but however that turns out, there is no such thing as a yeti. This is the same problem that arises when considering evidence for the historicity of Jesus. What are the minimal set of attributes for some real historical figure (or real animal) that are sufficient to make a reasonable claim that a proven historical person “is” Jesus; or in this case that a real animal “is” the yeti? If some proven real entity possess none of the _remarkable_ attributes of the mythical entity, it’s spurious to claim that it “is” the mythical entity, or that it constitutes proof that the mythical entity is “real”. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-solves-yeti/803064/58 "2019-05-01T20:53:43Z")
I’m gonna go with “if it’s a bear, it’s not a yeti”, and “there’s no such thing as yetis”. I’m an ayetiist. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-solves-yeti/803064/59 "2019-05-01T20:53:58Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Despite it being pointed out by Chronos in the second post of this thread (and several times thereafter) you are persistently ignoring the point that your claim that the yeti “is” a bear is nonsense. It remains to be seen whether some instances of claimed sightings of mysterious animals were actually bears; but however that turns out, there is no such thing as a yeti. > . Look, people have been reporting a “yeti” for 1832, and the natives before that. The word _Yeti_ means “rocky place _bear_”. So certainly there is a Yeti. It’s a bear. That is the local word for that type of bear. It’s a type of bear the natives call “rocky place bear” aka “Yeti”. Are you saying the natives can’t call a type of bear by using the word “_Yeti_”? :dubious: Now yes, there is a mythological animal that shares the same name but more often “Abominable Snowman”. It shares many of the lore associated with the bear. Some people think it’s a ape. This is very Western White man centric, saying that the natives can’t use their own word for their yeti bear because some Western white dudes postulated it could be a mythical ape or something. That somehow that means “there is no yeti”. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-solves-yeti/803064/60 "2019-05-01T20:56:08Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > This is very Western White man centric, saying that the natives can’t use their own word for their yeti bear because some Western white dudes postulated it could be a mythical ape or something. That somehow that means “there is no yeti”. :rolleyes: They can call bears whatever they want in their language. However I speak english, and in english “yeti” doesn’t mean “bear”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-solves-yeti/803064.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-solves-yeti/803064.md?page=4)