# Yeti - scientist encourages people to look for live specimens **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 17, 2013, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeti-scientist-encourages-people-to-look-for-live-specimens/671526 "2013-10-17T21:51:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeti-scientist-encourages-people-to-look-for-live-specimens/671526/1 "2013-10-17T21:51:48Z")
According to [this](http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/DNA-links-mysterious-Yeti-to-ancient-polar-bear-4903466.php) scientist, there may very well be live specimens of what locals believe to be Yeti, abominable snowmen or some kind of primate. However, the locals are mistaken about one thing: it’s a bear. > [@](#): > > He said, “it may be a new species, it may be a hybrid” between polar bears and brown bears. > > “The next thing is go there and find one.” Apparently the DNA of two separate hair samples are similar, and they are linked very closely to a species of polar bear that went extinct 40,000 years ago. The hair samples were found in widely separated areas, one as recently as a decade ago. I’m going out on a limb here and predict that both hair samples were preserved from around that same 40,000 years ago, due to the cold, and that there are no longer any living specimens of this bear. Anyway, read the article, it’s interesting and there’s more to it than I can quote here. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeti-scientist-encourages-people-to-look-for-live-specimens/671526/2 "2013-10-18T00:20:17Z")
What’s “Do it yourself, you slob” in Nepalese? ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeti-scientist-encourages-people-to-look-for-live-specimens/671526/3 "2013-10-18T01:32:02Z")
> [@the OP's article](#): > > Sykes said Thursday that the tests showed the creatures were not related to modern Himalayan bears but were direct descendants of the prehistoric animal. He’s not actually hypothesizing that the hair samples are 40k years old, but that they are samples from modern creatures who descended from those Orks, I mean, bears, in a competing line with modern Himalayan bears. > [@same article](#): > > One of the samples he analyzed came from an alleged Yeti mummy in the Indian region of Ladakh, at the Western edge of the Himalayas, and was taken by a French mountaineer who was shown the corpse 40 years ago. > > The other was a single hair found a decade ago in Bhutan, 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) to the east. > > Sykes said the fact the hair samples were found so far apart, and so recently, suggests the members of the species are still alive. Actually, what it _suggests_ is contamination in your laboratory. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeti-scientist-encourages-people-to-look-for-live-specimens/671526/4 "2013-10-18T02:09:43Z")
Scientist: “Hey everybody! I’ve tested the DNA of this Yeti hair, and it proves that Yetis are really polar bears!” Sensible person: “Or maybe it proves that somebody grabbed some polar bear hair, and claimed it came off a Yeti.” Scientist: “…nevermind.” ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeti-scientist-encourages-people-to-look-for-live-specimens/671526/5 "2013-10-18T03:42:27Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Scientist: “Hey everybody! I’ve tested the DNA of this Yeti hair, and it proves that Yetis are really polar bears!” > > Sensible person: “Or maybe it proves that somebody grabbed some polar bear hair, and claimed it came off a Yeti.” > > Scientist: “…nevermind.” He’s claiming the hair samples came from a polar bear cousin that went extinct 40,000 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeti-scientist-encourages-people-to-look-for-live-specimens/671526/6 "2013-10-18T03:50:31Z")
“Have you found anything?” “Not yeti.” ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeti-scientist-encourages-people-to-look-for-live-specimens/671526/7 "2013-10-18T04:28:53Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > “Have you found anything?” > > “Not yeti.” That’s abominable! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeti-scientist-encourages-people-to-look-for-live-specimens/671526/8 "2013-10-18T04:33:33Z")
Sasq’ watch for my next trick! ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeti-scientist-encourages-people-to-look-for-live-specimens/671526/9 "2013-10-18T07:19:01Z")
I’d be happy with a dead specimen. They are suspiciously absent from discovery. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeti-scientist-encourages-people-to-look-for-live-specimens/671526/10 "2013-10-18T23:09:33Z")
> [@Fubaya](#): > > He’s claiming the hair samples came from a polar bear cousin that went extinct 40,000 years ago. No he isn’t. He’s saying that the DNA sequences he tested matched that of a fossil polar bear. That doesn’t mean they wouldn’t also match a grizzly bear, or a modern polar bear, or some other creature. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeti-scientist-encourages-people-to-look-for-live-specimens/671526/11 "2013-10-19T05:48:20Z")
If this involves a mysterious island and some weird experiments then I don’t want to hear about it.