The abominable snowman , that giant, hairy and mysterious being that has supposedly frightened the Himalayan people for years, is nothing more than a cross between different types of bears. This has been certified by a genetic analysis carried out at the University of Oxford on two remains of hair attributed to this mysterious creature.
Thanks to two samples attributed to the famous Yeti taken in Ladakh west of the Himalayas and in Bhutan, east of the mountain range, researchers have been able to reach a reliable conclusion. " The result of the investigation establishes that the two samples are genetically identical to a species of polar bear formerly located in Svalbard, Norway," explained to the BBC the professor of genetics at the University of Oxford Bryan Sykes. According to the report, polar bears and of brown fur would have crossed in common territories for thousands of years generating hybrid species.
Specifically, Sykes' team analyzed the 12S RNA gene and compared it with samples found in the international repository of gene sequences, GenBank . Comparing the genetic data found with other samples already cataloged, the researchers verified that these remains would coincide with those of a polar bear jaw found in the area and that date back 40,000 years.
Although there will continue to be skeptics about mysterious creatures such as the BigFoot, Yeti or the abominable snowman, it seems that the data is more than conclusive: what many think is a mysterious creature could be a simple hybrid of two species of ursids.
