(National Geographic) "Yeti: Hunt for the Wildman" In our search for apemen, other species of humans, human-hybrids, and
cryptoids, Western researchers get more than they bargained for -- the preserved body of a Yeti [
Migoi, pronounced meh-goor
, a
Yakṣī (यक्षी)] in Buddhist Bhutan. What is a Yeti to the Bhutanese, inhabitants of the world's last Himalayan Buddhist kingdom? A
Nat Geo team of investigators went looking for concrete evidence "like DNA," says Oxford's Dr. Bryan Sykes. Strange tissue so far recovered turned out to be a subspecies of brown bear never before seen. Of course, that sample does not explain the five-toed, clawless footprints and the many eyewitness accounts of something that is much more than a bear. Bhutanese Vajrayana Buddhists call them "demons" (
rakshasas) and consider Yetis killers. As a result more than one has been killed, and their remains are kept as cautionary relics, 100% proof for locals who fear them alive.
Nat Geo goes to Buddhist Bhutan |
| Mark Evans with cast of Bigfoot print (NG) |
But wait.
Nat Geo now believes in the firm scientific basis for Yeti? Yes, but to please the powers that be, the question has been shifted to, Is it a type of officially extinct bear? To find out for sure, Nat Geo sent Mark Evans and a team to the spectacular Himalayas. They went in search of the legend and discovered that Yeti creatures are deeply embedded in local legend. Meanwhile, Oxford Professor Bryan Sykes had some extraordinary samples to test: hairs from a Nazi Yeti killed in Tibet in the 1930's, samples from a
Tengmo (the Yeti of
Ladakh, in Buddhist India) shot in the early 1970's, and a mystery hair collected in Bhutan in 2001. When Prof. Sykes reveals the results, they are surprising, and could potentially identify the biological identity behind the Yeti legend.
More The World's Missing Apemen (MW) "Hunt for the World's Missing Apemen" with Arthur C. Clarke from Buddhist Sri Lanka
This classic episode of
Mysterious World is a lively documentary investigating evidence for the Himalayan Buddhists' Yeti and the North American "Bigfoot" (Sasquatch). Lester Davies talks about finding Yeti footprints that lead from snow, across water, to snow on the other bank. Davies estimates the Yeti to be 840 lbs. (60 stone) and 8 feet tall, for it crossed the waterway by simply stepping out onto two legs after having been in frigid water in which Davies sank down to his armpits. Dr. Grover Krantz, an anthropologist at Oregon State University, tracks Sasquatch. The academic is attempting to kill a single specimen for science after carefully studying footprint evidence and sightings by reputable witnesses.
 |
| In 2013 Oxford scientist Dr. Bryan Sykes reported on his DNA analysis of samples. |
"Yeti lives"! Abominable Snowman still roams the HimalayasTelegraph.co.uk |
| Some Yetis are brute cannibals (yakshis) |
Research by an University of Oxford scientist has found a genetic match between an ancient polar bear and samples
said to come from the Yeti -- suggesting the creature known as the "Abominable Snowman" is definitely still living in the Himalayas.
More  |
| Man-bears are humans not bears (wired.com) |
But the word for "bear" is widely used for black bears in lower altitudes, brown bears in higher altitudes, the Wildman (
Migoi) or "man-bear," and also the
Mitchim. This use of the general word "bear" does not limit it to our Western nomenclature or classification system. There are human creatures that are not bears, ogres who are much bigger with human features, conical heads, chimp noses and otherwise bare human faces, with bodies covered in hair. They have their own language and calls, which ordinary humans are incapable of making.
Woman found who lives with Yeti |
| This woman lived with a giant Yeti (NatGeo) |
Moreover, Sarah Seymour of the Nat Geo Team found a woman who for six years periodically
lived with a
Migoi or "Abominable Snowman." Villagers searched for her but could not find her because the creature hid her in a cave. She would go missing for days at a time in the wilderness, where she was unable to fend for herself, yet she would return in perfect condition each time. She claims the creature she stayed with would bring and give her whatever she wanted. (This is exactly like
the Buddhist sutra where the Buddha interacted with the
Yakkha Alavaka, a
Yeti, who had language, preternatural strength and powers, as well as human wives and was called a "cannibal" because of its penchant for eating humans). It is no bear, and she would gladly return to it now to sleep with it in its cave, but the villagers would worry and search for her if she did. It did not harm her and may even, one imagines, have mated with her.
There is a school in Buddhist Sri Lanka named
Visakha Vidyalaya. Its motto comes from the
Alavaka Sutra. When this creature first confronted the Buddha, he threatened to kill him. The ogre said he would utterly destroy him unless the Buddha correctly answered its questions. One of the questions was, "How is one cleansed?" (
Kathansu Parisujjhati?) to which the Buddha replied, "By wisdom is one cleansed" (
Paññaya parisujjhati).
Q's Jian Ghomeshi speaks with Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq about her new album, "Animism," and how she went from being a self-taught throat singing vocalist, honing her skills in the shower, to collaborating with the likes of the Kronos Quartet and Björk. Indeed, it was her lack of formal training that attracted Björk to her, says Tagaq, adding that the Icelandic artist didn't think she was "supposed to" sound a certain way. That's a perspective Tagaq shares.
