Yeti, snowman of Himalaya

MYSTERY OF THE YETI

INTRODUCTION:

Yeti or Meh- the are the names for a mythical huge species of the Himalayan and Sub Himalayan ranges. It is basically referred to as the abominable snowman, and is feared by the locals. But due to lack of hard evidence, Yeti is largely considered to be a mountain legend among the Scientific Community. Nevertheless some fact are still unexplained...

YETI SIGHTINGS:

The Yeti came to limelight in the accounts of various travelers who sometimes saw from a distance a big, hairy white bipedal creature in the obscurity of snow storms. Even though a number of travel memoirs have references to Yeti, no one has yet been able to find hard evidence to support their obvious existence.

FAMOUS REPORTS:

Yetis have been reported to have been as tall as 15000 ft ( references of N.A. Tombazi, 1925), and even similar to the size of the Orangutan. The most notable fact regarding Yeti was reported by the great Sir Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa, Tenzing Norgay. On their way to climbing the Mount Everest, they found large footprints on snow. Even though later, Hillary discounted the facts regarding Yeti as unreliable, Tenzing supposedly believed the existence of the abominable snowman. He even claimed that his father had seen Yetis not once but twice. Even though there are claims of a lot of monasteries having remains of Yeti, but the fact that none of them have been satisfactorily accepted by the forensics has not helped in garnering proof of their existence.

DISPARITY AND PRESENT BELIEF:

Even though Yetis have had tremendous popularity in the Modern culture, there also have been various explanations regarding the accounts of all the travelers regarding the sighting of Yeti. Scientists claim that almost 90% of all the Yeti sightings are actually other creatures like the T

Tibetan Blue Bear, which lives lives in the lower Himalayan region. Also, the Himalayan Brown Bear and the Langur Monkey of the Himalayan region (known as Chi-Teh) have similarity with some of the descriptions of the Yeti.

So, even though many think that the Yeti are real and mysterious creatures, another school of thought maintains that they are just a legend that sprawled due to the exaggeration of the travelers. What is truth might never be revealed, but it is for sure that Yetis have had a great effect on contemporary culture and on the lives of the local tribes of Nepal who believe these to be real, and not some made up stories.

POPULAR MEDIA:

From movies like “The Abominable Snowman”(1957) to “The Mummy”(2008), Yetis have been portrayed in a large number of movies both as friendly creatures and Violent Man-Hunters. Also a number of television shows have been based on this legend and countless others have made references to it. It has also been an influence on popular literature and music.

Yetis have also appeared in some of the most popular Video games like The legend of Zelda, Pokemon, Diablo, World of warcraft, Final Fantasy, Tomb Raider and numerous other games.

With such a massive influence on popular culture, real or not, the Yetis are something to be researched about.