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Yeti

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Myths

   Purported Yeti scalp at Khumjung monastery
   Purported Yeti scalp at Khumjung monastery

   The Yeti is an apelike cryptid said to inhabit the Himalaya region of
   Bhutan, Nepal and Tibet. The names Yeti and Meh-Teh are commonly used
   by the people indigenous to the region, and are part of their history
   and mythology.

   Most mainstream scientists, explorers and writers consider current
   evidence of the Yeti's existence to be weak and better explained as
   hoax, legend or misidentification of known species. Even today, the
   Yeti remains one of the most famous creatures of cryptozoology. As
   such, the Yeti can be considered an arctic version of the Sasquatch.

Etymology

Name variations

   The name Yeti is derived from the Tibetan yeh-teh ( Tibetan:
   གཡའ་དྲེད་;  Wylie: g.ya' dred), a compound of the words yeh ( Tibetan:
   གཡའ་;  Wylie: g.ya') meaning "rocky" or "rocky place" and ti, te or teh
   ( Tibetan: དྲེད་;  Wylie: dred) which translates as "bear", the full
   name being "rock bear".

   Pranavananda goes on to illustrate the root of the words "ti", "te" and
   "teh" in that they are derived from the spoken word 'tre' (spelled
   "dred"), Tibetan for bear, with the 'r' softly pronounced as to be
   almost inaudible, thus making it "te" or "teh".

   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"
     * Dzu-teh - 'dzu' translates as "cattle" and the full meaning
       translates as "cattle bear" and is the Himalayan Red Bear.
     * Migoi or Mi-go ( Tibetan: མི་རྒོད་;  Wylie: mi rgod) (pronounced
       mey-goo) translates as "Wild Man" (.
     * 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.
     * Kang Admi - "Snow Man"
     * Jo-bran - "Man-beast"

   Himalayan wildlife attributed to the Yeti sightings include the
   Chu-Teh, a Langur monkey living at lower altitudes, the Tibetan Blue
   Bear, the Himalayan Brown Bear and the Dzu-Teh (commonly known as the
   Himalayan Red Bear).

   The term Yeti is often used to describe various reported creatures:
     * A large apelike biped (that some suggest could be a
       Gigantopithecus)
     * Human-sized bipedal apes (the Almas and the Chinese wildman)
     * Dwarflike creatures (such as the Orang Pendek).

   The term is often used to refer to creatures fitting any of the
   aforementioned descriptions. For example, the fear liath has been
   dubbed as the "Scottish Yeti".

The "Abominable Snowman"

   The appellation "Abominable Snowman" was not coined until 1921, the
   same year Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Howard-Bury led the Royal
   Geographical Society's "Everest Reconnaissance Expedition" which he
   chronicled in Mount Everest The Reconnaissance, 1921 In the book,
   Howard-Bury includes an account of crossing the "Lhakpa-la" at 21,000
   feet (6400 meter) 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 barefooted 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". "Metoh" translates as "man-bear" and "Kang-mi"
   translates as "snowman".

   A bit of confusion exists between Howard-Bury's recitation of the term
   "metoh-kangmi" and the term used in H.W. Tilman's book Mount Everest,
   1938 where Tilman had used the words "metch" (which may not exist in
   the Tibetan language) and "kangmi" when relating the coining of the
   term "Abominable Snowman". Further evidence of "metch" being a misnomer
   is provided by Tibetan language authority Professor David Snellgrove
   from the School of Oriental Studies in London (ca. 1956), who dismissed
   the word "metch" as impossible to conjoin the consonants "t-c-h" in the
   Tibetan language." Documentation suggests that the term "metch-kangmi"
   is derived from one source (from the year 1921). It has been suggested
   that "metch" is simply a misspelling of "metoh".

   Like the legend itself, the origin of the term "Abominable Snowman" is
   rather colorful. It began when Mr Henry Newman, a longtime contributor
   to The Statesman in Calcutta (using the pen name "Kim") interviewed the
   porters of the "Everest Reconnaissance expedition" upon their return to
   Darjeeling,. Newman mistranslated the word "metoh" as "filthy" or
   "dirty", substituting the term "abominable", perhaps out of artistic
   license. As author H.W. Tilman's 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'".

   Tilman continues, "Whatever effect Mr Newman intended, from 1921
   onwards the Yeti... became saddled with the description "Abominable
   Snowman," an appellation which can only appeal to the music-hall mind
   than to mammalogists, a fact which has seriously handicapped earnest
   seekers of the truth", a view supported by Sanderson "It cannot be
   denied however that Mr Newman put the Yeti 'on the map'. During the
   twenties and thirties, sightings...of prints and of the animal itself
   occurred right across the Himalaya from the Burmese frontier to the
   Karakoram, not all of them by credulous witnesses."

Events & Studies

19th century

   In 1832, the Journal of the Asiatic society of Bengal published trekker
   B. H. Hodgson's account of the Yeti in northern Nepal. His native
   guides spotted a tall, bipedal creature covered with long dark hair,
   which seemed to flee in fear. Hodgson did not see the creature, but
   concluded it was an orangutan.

   An early record of reported footprints appeared in 1889 in L.A.
   Waddell's Among the Himalayas. Waddell reported his guide's description
   of a large apelike creature that left the prints, which Waddell
   concluded were actually 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."

Early 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, allegedly saw a creature at about 15,000 ft (4572
   meter) near Zemu Glacier. Tombazi later wrote that he observed the
   creature from about 200 or 300 yards, 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 what they assumed to be
   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... The
   prints were undoubtedly those of a biped."

The Pangboche Scalp

   The Pangboche Hand and Yeti "Scalp", 1954
   The Pangboche Hand and Yeti "Scalp", 1954
   Dr. Biswamoy Biswas examining the Pangboche Yeti scalp during the Daily
   Mail Snowman Expedition of 1954
   Dr. Biswamoy Biswas examining the Pangboche Yeti scalp during the Daily
   Mail Snowman Expedition of 1954

   The Daily Mail "Snowman Expedition" of 1954, on March 19 printed an
   article which described expedition teams obtaining hair specimens from
   a scalp found in Pangboche monastery. The hair was analysed by
   Professor Frederic Wood Jones, F.R.S, D.Sc., (who died on September 29
   1954) and an expert in human and comparative anatomy.

   The research consisted of taking microphotographs of the hairs and
   comparing them with hairs from known animals such as bears and
   orangutans. Professor Woods-Jones concluded that the hairs of the
   Pangboche scalp were not actually from a scalp. He contended that some
   animals do have a ridge of hair extending from the pate to the back,
   but no animals have a ridge (as in the Pangboche relic) running from
   the base of the forehead across the pate and ending at the nape of the
   neck.

   The hairs were black to dark brown in colour in dim light, and fox red
   in sunlight. None of the hairs had been dyed and were probably
   exceedingly old. During the study, the hairs were bleached, cut into
   sections and analysed microscopically. Wood-Jones was unable to
   pinpoint 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 not from the head of a coarse-haired
   hoofed animal, but from its shoulder..

Late 20th century

   Western interest in the Yeti peaked dramatically in the 1950s. 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
   (19,685 ft) above sea level. These photos have been subject to intense
   scrutiny and debate. Some argue they are the best evidence of Yeti's
   existence, while others contend the prints to be from a mundane
   creature, and have been distorted by the melting snow.

   In 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reported seeing large
   footprints while scaling Mount Everest. But Hillary would later
   discount Yeti reports as unreliable.

   During the Daily Mail Snowman Expedition of 1954, the largest search of
   its kind, the mountaineering leader John Angelo Jackson, made the first
   trek from Everest to Kangchenjunga during which he photographed
   symbolic paintings of the Yeti at Thyangboche Gompa. 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. The flattened footprint-like indentations were
   attributed to erosion and subsequent widening of the original footprint
   by wind and particles.

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

   In 1959, actor Jimmy 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.

   In 1960, Sir Edmund Hillary mounted an expedition to collect and
   analyse physical evidence of the Yeti. He sent a Yeti " scalp" from the
   Khumjung monastery to the West for testing, whose results indicated the
   scalp to be manufactured from the skin of the serow, a goat-like
   Himalayan antelope. But some disagreed with this analysis. Shackley
   said 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."

   In 1970, British mountaineer Don Whillans claims to have witnessed a
   creature when scaling Annapurna. While scouting for a campsite,
   Whillans heard some odd cries which his Sherpa guide attributed to a
   Yeti's call. That very night, Whillans saw a dark shape moving near his
   camp. The next day, he observed a few human-like footprints in the
   snow, and that evening, viewed with binoculars a bipedal, apelike
   creature for 20 minutes as it apparently searched for food not far from
   his camp.

In Shamanism

   In South America, the Yeti is known not as a creature, but as a
   shamanist god by the name of Banjankri. The Yeti is encountered only in
   a trance state.

Analysis

   In his book Bigfoot: The Yeti and Sasquatch in Myth and Reality,
   primatologist John Napier provides firsthand reports and analysis on
   the subject, and argues that amongst the evidence for the Yeti, "unlike
   the Sasquatch, there is little uniformity of pattern, and what
   uniformity there is incriminates the bear."

   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". As in other traditional cultures, the ethnic Tibetans fear and
   worship the bear as a supernatural being. Nebuka's claims were subject
   to almost immediate criticism, and 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."

   After reviewing eyewitness accounts and physical evidence, many
   cryptozoologists have concluded that Yeti reports are misidentification
   of mundane creatures. Well-financed expeditions have turned up little
   positive evidence of its existence, although one expedition to Bhutan
   did retrieve a hair sample that, after DNA analysis, could not be
   matched to any known animal.

   In 1997, 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.

   Enthusiasts speculate that these reported creatures could be
   present-day specimens of the extinct giant ape Gigantopithecus, as the
   only evidence recovered from Gigantopithecus (other than teeth) are
   jawbone remains indicating a skull atop a vertical spinal column (as in
   hominines and other bipedal apes such as Oreopithecus). However, while
   the Yeti is generally described as bipedal, most scientists believe
   Gigantopithicus to be 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 used as comic relief. In 2006, Disney
   opened a ride called "Expedition Everest" in Walt Disney World's Animal
   Kingdom. Inside the waiting area is a Yeti museum, complete with
   "Yeti-damaged" items and cement-cast footprints.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeti"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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