DNA Samples Studies to Know Detestable Snowman

A new paper showed the power of science and how it can help to explore the roots of folklore. It has been found that a creature named Yeti or Abominable Snowman seems to inhabit the high mountains of Asia.

This mysteriously, an ape – like structure looks to live in Nepal or Tibet area. A new DNA study of claimed Yeti samples from museums and private collections is showing insight into the origins of this Himalayan creature. Since centuries, various sightings have reported this. Also, footprints of this Himalayan legend have been spotted. About this, stories about this creature have been passed down from generation to generation. This research will get published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. This research work included analysis of nine “Yeti” specimens that consist of bone, tooth, skin, hair and fecal samples collected from the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau. Out of these, one came out from a dog. The rest eight were from Asian black bears, Himalayan brown bears or Tibetan brown bears. Lead scientist of this research, Charlotte Lindqvist, PhD, an associate professor of biological sciences in the University at Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences and also a visiting associate professor at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) also spoke about the findings of the study. Charlotte said that their findings strongly suggested that the biological foundation of the Yeti legend can be found in local bears and their study demonstrated that genetics should be able to solve other related mysteries. She said that the team of Lindqvist is not the first to research on this topic. She said that the past projects of “Yeti” DNA ran on simpler genetic analyses and it left many important questions unresolved. Lindqvist and her co – authors wrote in their new paper that this study represented the most rigorous analysis of the samples suspected till date.

By: Bhavna Sharma