Photo: inhauscreative (Getty)
Damn science, you’re no fun at all!
I love the thought that there are mysterious creatures out there that may or may not exist. And sure, some of them are just folklore, but I’d like to think some are real. Like no one is going to tell me the Mothman isn’t real. It is. But now science has bummed everyone out by revealing that the legendary Yeti are just bears.
According to DNA tests on hair and teeth specimens that allegedly belonged to the abominable snowman, that snowy creature is just a bear. Scientists analyzed nine “yeti” samples from sources like mummified animals and a stuffed yeti in museums (samples belong to a company making a film about yetis).
Researchers compared the DNA of these purported yeti samples to 15 samples of genetic material from brown bears. Eight of the “yeti” turned out to be just local bears, according to a study published in the journal Proceedings of Royal Society B. The ninth sample, the one that belonged to the stuffed yeti, was actually a stuffed bear with the teeth of a dog.
So, for example, the “yetis” from Tibet were Tibetan bears, and the ones from Himalaya were just Himalayan bears, said co-author Charlotte Lindqvist, a University at Buffalo geneticist, according to The Guardian. She added that the results would be “perhaps slightly disappointing to the film company.”
Well, that’s crummy news for folks who were hoping that good old Yeti was real. But now it’s on to making sure the Loch Ness monster is real or fake. Sure, it’s probably fake, but it’s fun thinking there’s a massive dinosaur in the waters.
