abominable snowman

Yeti

(Abominable Snowman Migoi, Meh-teh et al.)
Purported Yeti scalp at Khumjung monastery
Creature
Grouping	Cryptid, Orangutan
Sub grouping	Homin, Hominid
Data
Country	Nepal, Tibet, China, India
Region	Himalayas
Habitat	Mountains

The Yeti or Abominable Snowman is possibly a creature and an ape-like cryptid said to inhabit the Himalayan region of Nepal and Tibet. The names Yeti and Meh-Teh are commonly used by the people indigenous to the region,^[1] and are part of their history and mythology. Stories of the Yeti first emerged as a facet of Western popular culture in the 19th century.

Some in the scientific community regard the Yeti as a legend,^[2] yet it remains one of the most famous creatures of cryptozoology. The Yeti may be considered a sort of parallel to the Bigfoot legend of North America.

Etymology and alternate names

The word Yeti is derived from Tibetan: གཡའ་དྲེད་; Wylie: g.ya' dred), a compound of the words Tibetan: གཡའ་; Wylie: g.ya' "rocky", "rocky place" and (Tibetan: དྲེད་; Wylie: dred) "bear".^{[3][4][5][6][7]} Pranavananda^[3] states that the words "ti", "te" and "teh" are derived from the spoken word 'tre' (spelled "dred"), Tibetan for bear, with the 'r' so softly pronounced as to be almost inaudible, thus making it "te" or "teh".^[3][7][8]

Other terms used by Himalayan peoples do not translate exactly the same, but refer to legendary and indigenous wildlife:

• Meh-teh (Tibetan: མི་དྲེད་; Wylie: mi dred) translates as "man-bear".^[5][7][9]
• Dzu-teh - 'dzu' translates as "cattle" and the full meaning translates as "cattle bear" and is the Himalayan Brown Bear.^{[4][7][8][10][11]}
• Migoi or Mi-go (Tibetan: མི་རྒོད་; Wylie: mi rgod) (pronounced mey-goo) translates as "wild man".^[8][11]
• Mirka - another name for "wild-man", however as local legend has it "anyone who sees one dies or is killed". The latter is taken from a written statement by Frank Smythe's sherpas in 1937.^[12]
• Kang Admi - "Snow Man".^[11]
• Jo-Bran - "Man eater".^[11]

Nepalese have various names for Yeti like "Ban-manche" which means "forest(wild) man"^{[citation needed]} or "Kangchenjunga rachyyas" which means "Kanchanjunga's demon."^{[citation needed]}.

The "Abominable Snowman"

Illustration of a yeti, also known as an abominable snowman

The appellation "Abominable Snowman" was not coined until 1921, the same year Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Howard-Bury led the joint Alpine Club and Royal Geographical Society "Everest Reconnaissance Expedition"^[13][14] which he chronicled in Mount Everest The Reconnaissance, 1921.^[15] In the book, Howard-Bury includes an account of crossing the "Lhakpa-la" at 21,000 ft (6,400 m) where he found footprints that he believed "were probably caused by a large 'loping' grey wolf, which in the soft snow formed double tracks rather like a those of a bare-footed man". He adds that his Sherpa guides "at once volunteered that the tracks must be that of "The Wild Man of the Snows", to which they gave the name "metoh-kangmi".^[15] "Metoh" translates as "man-bear" and "Kang-mi" translates as "snowman".^{[3][5][11][16]}

Confusion exists between Howard-Bury's recitation of the term "metoh-kangmi"^[13][15] and the term used in Bill Tilman's book Mount Everest, 1938^[17] where Tilman had used the words "metch", which cannot exist in the Tibetan language,^[18] and "kangmi" when relating the coining of the term "Abominable Snowman".^{[5][11][17][19]} Further evidence of "metch" being a misnomer is provided by Tibetan language authority Professor David Snellgrove from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London (ca. 1956), who dismissed the word "metch" as impossible, because the consonants "t-c-h" cannot be conjoined in the Tibetan language."^[18] Documentation suggests that the term "metch-kangmi" is derived from one source (from the year 1921).^[17] It has been suggested that "metch" is simply a misspelling of "metoh".

The origin of the term "Abominable Snowman" is rather colourful. It began when Mr Henry Newman, a longtime contributor to The Statesman in Kolkata, using the pen name "Kim",^[6] interviewed the porters of the "Everest Reconnaissance expedition" upon their return to Darjeeling.^{[17][20][21][22]} Newman mistranslated the word "metoh" as "filthy" or "dirty", substituting the term "abominable", perhaps out of artistic license.^[23] As author Bill Tilman recounts, "[Newman] wrote long after in a letter to The Times: The whole story seemed such a joyous creation I sent it to one or two newspapers'".^[17]

History

19th century

In 1832, James Prinsep's Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal published trekker B. H. Hodgson's account of his experiences in northern Nepal. His local guides spotted a tall, bipedal creature covered with long dark hair, which seemed to flee in fear. Hodgson concluded it was an orangutan.

An early record of reported footprints appeared in 1889 in Laurence Waddell's Among the Himalayas. Waddell reported his guide's description of a large apelike creature that left the prints, which Waddell thought were made by a bear. Waddell heard stories of bipedal, apelike creatures but wrote that of the many witnesses he questioned, none "could ever give ... an authentic case. On the most superficial investigation it always resolved into something that somebody had heard of."^[24]

20th century

The frequency of reports increased during the early 20th century, when Westerners began making determined attempts to scale the many mountains in the area and occasionally reported seeing odd creatures or strange tracks.

In 1925, N. A. Tombazi, a photographer and member of the Royal Geographical Society, writes that he saw a creature at about 15,000 ft (4,600 m) near Zemu Glacier. Tombazi later wrote that he observed the creature from about 200 to 300 yd (180 to 270 m), for about a 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 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^[25]... The prints were undoubtedly those of a biped."

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 (20,000 ft) above sea level.

In 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reported seeing large footprints while scaling Mount Everest. In his first autobiography Tenzing said that he believed the Yeti was a large ape and although he had never seen it himself his father had seen one twice. In his second autobiography he said he had become more skeptical about its existence.^[26]

During the Daily Mail Snowman Expedition of 1954,^[27] the mountaineering leader John Angelo Jackson made the first trek from Everest to Kanchenjunga in the course of which he photographed symbolic paintings of the Yeti at Tengboche gompa.^[28] Jackson tracked and photographed many footprints in the snow, most of which were identifiable. However, there were many large footprints which could not be identified.

On March 19, 1954, the Daily Mail printed an article which described expedition teams obtaining hair specimens from what was alleged to be a Yeti scalp found in Pangboche monastery. The hairs were black to dark brown in colour in dim light, and fox red in sunlight. The hair was analysed by Professor Frederic Wood Jones,^[29][30] an expert in human and comparative anatomy. During the study, the hairs were bleached, cut into sections and analysed microscopically. The research consisted of taking microphotographs of the hairs and comparing them with hairs from known animals such as bears and orangutans. Jones believed that the hairs were not actually from a scalp. He contended that while some animals do have a ridge of hair extending from the pate to the back, no animals have a ridge (as in the Pangboche "scalp") running from the base of the forehead across the pate and ending at the nape of the neck. Jones was unable to pinpoint exactly the animal from which the Pangboche hairs were taken. He was, however, convinced that the hairs were not of a bear or anthropoid ape. He suggested that the hairs were from the shoulder of a coarse-haired hoofed animal.^[31]

Sławomir Rawicz claimed in his book The Long Walk, published in 1956, that as he and some others were crossing the Himalayas in the winter of 1940, their path was blocked for hours by two bipedal animals that were doing seemingly nothing but shuffling around in the snow.

Beginning in 1957, wealthy American oilman Tom Slick funded a few missions to investigate Yeti reports. In 1959, possible Yeti feces were collected by one of Slick's expeditions; fecal analysis found a parasite which could not be classified. Cryptozoologist Bernard Heuvelmans wrote, "Since each animal has its own parasites, this indicated that the host animal is equally an unknown animal."^[32]

In 1959, actor James Stewart, while visiting India, reportedly smuggled remains of a supposed Yeti, the so-called Pangboche Hand, by concealing it in his luggage when he flew from India to London.^[33]

In 1960, Hillary mounted an expedition to collect and analyze physical evidence of the Yeti. He sent a supposed Yeti "scalp" from the Khumjung monastery to the West for testing, whose results indicated the scalp was manufactured from the skin of a serow, a goat-like Himalayan antelope. Anthropologist Myra Shackley disagreed with this conclusion on the grounds that the "hairs from the scalp look distinctly monkey-like and that it contains parasitic mites of a species different from that recovered from the serow."^{[citation needed]}

In 1970, British mountaineer Don Whillans witnessed a creature when scaling Annapurna. While scouting for a campsite he heard odd cries which his Sherpa guide attributed to a Yeti's call. That night he saw a dark shape moving near his camp. The next day, he found large human-like footprints in the snow and that evening viewed with binoculars a bipedal, ape-like creature for 20 minutes as it apparently searched for food not far from his camp.^{[citation needed]}

In 1984, famed mountaineer David P. Sheppard of Hoboken, New Jersey, followed by a large, furry "man" over the course of several days while he was near the southern Col of Everest. His sherpas, however, say they saw no such thing.^{[citation needed]} Sheppard took a photograph of the creature. Later study of the photo proved inconclusive.

There is a famous Yeti hoax, known as the Snow Walker Film, created by Fox television network, in an attempt to deceive the public. The footage was created for Paramount's UPN show, Paranormal Borderland, ostensibly by the show's producers. The show ran from March 12 to August 6, 1996. Fox purchased and used the footage in their later program on The World's Greatest Hoaxes.^[34]

21st century

In 2004, Henry Gee, editor of the prestigious journal Nature, mentioned the Yeti as an example of a legend deserving further study, writing, "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."^[35]

In early December 2007, American television presenter Joshua Gates and his team (Destination Truth) reported finding a series of footprints in the Everest region of Nepal resembling descriptions of Yeti.^[36] Each of the footprints measured 33 cm (13 in) in length with five toes that measured a total of 25 cm (9.8 in) across. Casts were made of the prints for further research. The footprints were examined by Jeffrey Meldrum of Idaho State University, who believed them to be too morphologically accurate to be fake or man made.^{[citation needed]} Meldrum also stated that they were very similar to a pair of Bigfoot footprints that were found in another area.^{[citation needed]}

On July 25, 2008, the BBC reported that hairs collected in the remote Garo Hills area of North-East India by Dipu Marak had been analyzed at Oxford Brookes University in the UK by primatologist Anna Nekaris and microscopy expert Jon Wells. These initial tests were inconclusive, and ape conservation expert Ian Redmond told the BBC that there was similarity between the cuticle pattern of these hairs and specimens collected by Edmund Hilary during Himalayan expeditions in the 1950s and donated to the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and announced planned DNA analysis.^[37] This analysis has since revealed that the hair came from the Himalayan Goral.^[38]

On October 20, 2008 a team of seven Japanese adventurers photographed footprints possibly made by a Yeti. The team's leader, Yoshiteru Takahashi claims to have observed a Yeti on a 2003 expedition and is determined to capture the creature on film.^[39]

In 2009, Joshua Gates and his team (Destination Truth) led another expedition to the Himalayas. They found a hair sample that did not appear to match any known species of animal, though it was confirmed a large primate. They also found an animal limb that had clearly been torn straight off of the animal. They suspected that this was the work of the Yeti.

Possible explanations

Misidentification of Himalayan wildlife has been proposed as an explanation for some Yeti sightings, including the Chu-Teh, a Langur monkey^[40] living at lower altitudes, the Tibetan Blue Bear, the Himalayan Brown Bear or Dzu-Teh, also known as the Himalayan Red Bear.^[40] Some have also suggested the Yeti could actually be a human hermit.

One well publicized expedition to Bhutan reported that a hair sample had been obtained that, after DNA analysis by Professor Bryan Sykes, could not be matched to any known animal.^[41] Analysis completed after the media release, however, clearly showed that the samples were from the Brown Bear (Ursus arctos) and the Asiatic Black Bear (Ursus thibetanus).^[42]

In 1986, South Tyrolean mountaineer Reinhold Messner claimed to have a face-to-face encounter with a Yeti. He has since written a book, My Quest for the Yeti, and 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.^[43]

In 2003, Japanese mountaineer Makoto Nebuka published the results of his twelve year linguistic study postulating that the word "Yeti" is actually a corruption of the word "meti", a regional dialect term for "bear". Nebuka claims that the ethnic Tibetans fear and worship the bear as a supernatural being.^[44] Nebuka's claims were subject to almost immediate criticism, and he was accused of linguistic carelessness. Dr. Raj Kumar Pandey, who has researched both Yetis and mountain languages, said "it is not enough to blame tales of the mysterious beast of the Himalayas on words that rhyme but mean different things."^[45]

Surviving gigantopithecus

Some speculate that these reported creatures could be present-day specimens of the extinct giant ape Gigantopithecus. However, while the Yeti is generally described as bipedal, most scientists believe Gigantopithecus to have been quadrupedal, and so massive that, unless it evolved specifically as a bipedal ape (like Oreopithecus and the hominids), walking upright would have been even more difficult for the now extinct primate than it is for its extant quadrupedal relative, the orangutan.

In popular culture

The Yeti has become a cultural icon, appearing in movies, books and video games. The creature is usually depicted as the scary "Abominable Snowman" but is occasionally shown as being misunderstood or used as comic relief. Yeti is often associated with something big and reliable. Attributing to the same belief, the Czech automobile manufacturer Škoda Auto has named its new SUV 'Yeti.'

Film

Significant film appearances include the 1954 film The Snow Creature, the 1957 British horror film The Abominable Snowman; the 1990 Bollywood film Ajooba Kudrat Kaa, which tells the story of a girl who befriends a giant Yeti; the computer animated 2001 Disney-Pixar film Monsters, Inc. and in the 2008 American action film The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

Television

Appearances on television include the annual American Christmas broadcast special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer as "The Bumble", in various Looney Tunes cartoons; as the robotic Yeti in The Abominable Snowmen, a six-part serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who (they returned in The Web of Fear (a sequel) and The Five Doctors, and in a spinoff production, Downtime); in Expedition to Khumbu, a season one episode of The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, in the 2008 Sci Fi Channel movie Yeti as the main antagonist; and in the ScyFy 2009 season of Destination Truth. In Godzilla: The Series, a robotic Yeti was created to destroy King Cobra and, at first, Godzilla. Norg, a character in the 15th franchise of the Power Rangers series Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive was a Yeti. The yeti has also been featured in some investigation shows, such as Monster quest, and Destination Truth, where varying evidence has beem discovered.

Literature

In literature the Yeti has appeared in Tintin in Tibet, by Hergé, where the creature saves Tintin's friend Chang Chong-Chen; in The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena, the 38th book in R. L. Stine's Goosebumps franchise; and in a gamebook in the Choose Your Own Adventure series. The Abominable Snowman is a character in the Marvel Comics Universe and the Snowman is a character in the DC Comics Universe. In Christopher Moore's Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, Joshua (Jesus) and Biff meet the Yeti, who is characterized as a gentle, sinless creature and represents pure goodness, while studying at a Buddhist monastery in China.

Theme parks

Walt Disney World's attraction, "Expedition Everest" is themed around the yeti. The queue line displays many pictures and objects all having to do with the yeti, and a 25-foot-tall audio-animatronic yeti appears during the ride.^[46] At Disneyland, a theme park also made by the Walt Disney Company, a similar ride named the Matterhorn Bobsleds also has an animatronic yeti.

Video games

The Yeti made an appearance as a boss animal in Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2. There are also many yetis in World of Warcraft, appearing as creatures of many levels. In addition, the Yeti was also referenced in the renowned adventure epic The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess as a critical boss as well as future assistant in traversing the snowy retain; via a certain snowboarding race. Another game the yeti appeared was in Carnivores: Ice Age as the bonus creature. Yeti were also common enemies in certain levels of Tomb Raider 3. The Yeti is also a monster that appears in the dungeons of El Nath in Maple Story. In The Sims 2 for the Nintendo Gameboy Advance, the Yeti and his "cousin" Big Foot are two NPCs. In Primal Rage there is a playable character named Blizzard. Although he himself isn't the Yeti, he very closely resembles it although is more ape-like. He resides in an icy place, just as the Yeti supposedly does. He also has the ability to manipulate the power of ice.

Comics

Yeti was used in an Indian comics of Super Commando Dhruva. A yeti like creature living in deep Himalaya help hero to win against villain. Where Yeti is shown as a devotee of Hanuman (Monkey God of India). The name of the yeti in comics is Jingalu - Jingalu is a Yati. Dhruv and jingalu met each other in episode of "barf ki chita" (Grave of snow) and "Ninja Ka Kahar" (Ninja the destroyer).

See also

• List of cryptids
• List of legendary creatures
• Lourdes effect
• Tulpa

Similar alleged creatures

• Almas - Mongolia
• Amomongo - Negros, Philippines
• Ban-manush - Bangladesh
• Barmanou - Afghanistan and Pakistan
• Bigfoot - Pacific Northwest
• Chuchunaa - Siberia
• Fear liath - Scotland
• Fouke Monster - Fouke, Arkansas
• Hibagon - Japan
• Isnashi - South America
• Mande Burung - India
• Momo the Monster - Missouri, Louisiana
• Người Rừng - Vietnam
• Nuk-luk - Northwest Territories, Canada
• Sasquatch - Canada
• Orang Mawas - Malaysia
• Orang Pendek - Sumatra, Indonesia
• Pitt Lake Giant - British Columbia, Georgia, South Carolina, Pennsylvania
• Skunk Ape - Florida
• Woodwose, medieval Europe
• Yeren - Hubei, China
• Yowie - Australia

References

Footnotes

General references

• John Napier (MRCS, IRCS, DSC) Bigfoot: The Yeti and Sasquatch in Myth and Reality 1972 ISBN 0-525-06658-6.
• Sir Francis Younghusband The Epic of Mount Everest, 1926, Edward Arnold & Co. The expedition that inadvertently coined the term "Abominable Snowman"
• Charles Howard-Bury, Mount Everest The Reconnaissance, 1921, Edward Arnold, ISBN 1-135-39935-2.
• Bill Tilman (H. W. Tilman), Mount Everest 1938, Appendix B, pp. 127–137, Pilgrim Publishing. ISBN 81-7769-175-9.
• John Angelo Jackson, More than Mountains, Chapter 10 (pp 92) & 11, Prelude to the Snowman Expedition & The Snowman Expedition, George Harrap & Co, 1954
• Ralph Izzard, The Abominable Snowman Adventure, this is the detailed account by the Daily Mail correspondent on the 1954 expedition to find the "Snowman", Hodder and Staoughton, 1955.
• Charles Stonor, The Sherpa and the Snowman, recounts the 1955 Daily Mail "Abominable Snowman Expedition" by the scientific officer of the expedition, this is a very detailed analysis of not just the "Snowman" but the flora and fauna of the Himalaya and its people. Hollis and Carter, 1955.
• John Angelo Jackson, Adventure Travels in the Himalaya Chapter 17, Everest and the Elusive Snowman, 1954 updated material, Indus Publishing Company, 2005, ISBN 81-7387-175-2.
• Jerome Clark, Unexplained! 347 Strange Sightings, Incredible Occurrences, and Puzzling Physical Phenomena, Visible Ink Press, 1993.
• Bernard Heuvelmans, On the Track of Unknown Animals, Hill and Wang, 1958
• Reinhold Messner, My Quest for the Yeti: Confronting the Himalayas' Deepest Mystery, New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000, ISBN 0-312-20394-2
• Gardner Soule, Trail of the Abominable Snowman, New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1966, ISBN 0-399-6064