The Search for Bigfoot

Yeti, Sasquatch, Bigfoot, and the Abominable Snowman are all names for the same mythological creature, depending on where the sightings take place. Not often a topic written on in science current events, these creatures continue to get attention from people in many areas around the world. After thousands of reported sightings, and no scientific evidence of the creature’s existence, a geneticist thinks he has found the answer to the riddle. In the Himalayas, the Abominable Snowman has been spotted by many people, including respectable individuals who swear to having seen the creature, covered with hair and walking upright. University of Oxford geneticist, Bryan Sykes, used two different hair samples, from a strange animal that was shot in the northern India Ladakh region and one that was found in a bamboo forest in Bhutan, to perform DNA analysis. The results showed a link between both samples with the jawbone from an ancient polar bear from Norway. During his studies, Sykes compared the two samples collected against an animal DNA database. Those that showed links to the samples were from the ancient polar bear, showing an incredible 100% match to both. Although Sykes’ research has not been published in any science journal, scientists believe that more work needs to be done before concluding that an ancient breed of polar bear has survived in the Himalayas. Regardless, this is the first time that science has produced a more plausible theory than the potential for a species that has continued to avoid detection.