In Pokhara, Nepal, there is an International Mountain Museum where you can see everything about the mountain: mountaineers, alpine culture, alpine animals, and snowmen. The snowman is not scientifically recognized as a species, so the calendar uses one of the animals that may be the prototype of the yeti, the Ursus arctos isabellinus, as a stand-in for it.
Brown bears in Hluboka Zoo | Zoo Hluboka / Wikimedia Commons
Is the snowman a polar bear his second uncle?
Although the identity of the snowman is not recognized, there are scientific studies of the snowman. In 2014, Bryan C. Sykes and others published a paper in the Proceedings of the Royal Society saying they might have found the snowman's closest relative: the polar bear.
Sykes examined 30 "wild man hair" genes from different regions, most of them from living animals, but there were two Himalayan samples, similar to genetic samples from fossil polar bears. They speculated that this was an unknown bear, or an early hybrid offspring of the polar bear and brown bear species.
The Yeti model in the International Mountaineering Museum | MMuzammils / Wikimedia Commons
The following year, Eliécer E. Gutiérrez and Ronald H. Pine published an article in Zookeys refuting the view that the snowman is a special kind of bear. They compared the "snowman" genes with various bears, and the gene fragments that Sykes used to test were very short, with little difference between brown and polar bears. There is no need to assume that these hairs come from animals other than brown bears.
Stolen "Snowman Hand"
In 2011, a strange collection was found in the museum attached to the Royal College of Surgeons of England: the finger bone of a "snowman".
The origins of the thing are colonial: in 1958, mountaineer Peter Byrne discovered that a dry "snowman" hand was enshrined in a temple called Pangboche. The following year, at the instigation of his father, who sponsored the expedition, Bourne stole the beam for the pillar with a human finger and stole a "snowman" finger back to England for research. Now that the original of the "snowman's" hand is missing, it has been suggested that the finger should be returned to the temple so that arrogant Westerners can make up for their mistakes.
A photo of the "Snowman" hand bones, published in 1961 in Life magazine | Wikimedia Commons
However, the result of genetic testing is that the "snowman" finger does come from a large primate living in the Himalayas, humans. Before that, there were also "snowman" skins that proved to be capricornis sumatraensis (iguanas), and modern scientific tests have punctured the fantasy coat outside the remains of many "snowmen".
The snowman turned out to be "bear blind"?
So, what about the tracks of the snowman without the remains? One of the most famous "snowman" footprints was discovered by Eric Shipton during his expedition to Mount Everest, and in 1951 the expedition found a long, clear line of footprints at Melungtse, much like a human's bare feet, 13 inches (about 32.5 centimeters).
The footprints taken by Simpton are one of the most famous "snowman" photographs | Wikimedia Commons
Simpton took pictures of the footprints and published them in the newspaper, making the name of the snowman popular all over the world, and it can be said that the snowman became popular with the footprints. Daniel Taylor, an avid "snowman fan," used his life's experience to deny that the footprint was a snowman. Taylor had visited Nepal and had seen strange footprints in the Barun Vally, where he thought it must be a snowman. Local hunters told him that the footprints belonged to the Asian black bear, which is what we often call a dog bear. Hunters even recognize that the bear loves to climb trees — tree-climbing bears often grab branches with their thumbs, so the thumbs press down.
Asian Black Bear | Shiv's fotografia / Wikimedia Commons
Taylor's explanation of the "footprints of the snowman" is simple and crude: the Asian black bear. The bear's front half is light, and the front footprints are not pressed deeply, leaving no traces of claws. Then its hind feet are cut off on the front footprints, and the back half is cut off behind the front footprints, and the front and back footprints are stacked together to form a large footprint like a human foot. The "snowman" footprints resemble human toes, which are actually black bears that are used to climbing trees, with thumbs slightly separated from the soles of their feet. Because of the weight of the lower body, the bear's hind footprints are stepped deeper, leaving paw marks in the middle of the "snowman" footprints.
The snowman lives only in the human heart
Why are humans obsessed with snowmen? Folklorist Peter Dendle believes that mysterious animals such as the Snowman and the Loch Ness Monster are not scientific problems, but psychological needs. After the mid-19th century, the relationship between humans and nature underwent a radical change. Most of the area has been explored, most of the large animals have been discovered, and the awareness of species extinction and environmental protection is gradually emerging. We have achieved stage victories in the struggle against nature. But what a tragic victory it was, the unknown disappeared, the world became monotonous and boring, and the beautiful and magical things disappeared one by one.
The Yeti stamp issued by Kyrgyzstan | Wikimedia Commons
Human beings fantasize about mysterious animals, on the one hand, to rejuvenate the familiar land with mysterious charm, and on the other hand, to alleviate guilt. Many of the mysterious animals are based on extinct animals, such as the thylacine, and we hope they are not slaughtered.
Bhutan's Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary has an area dedicated to "Mirgu" (Bhutan's name for snowmen). While the intention may have been to attract curious tourists, it can also reflect a general nostalgia mentality that we do not want the mysterious departure of this land.
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