FLICKR, U.S. EMBASSY PAKISTANLast year, researchers proposed that the yeti was a previously unknown species of bear. But their analysis failed to account for genetic variation among bears that could instead identify the mythical creature as the Himalayan brown bear, according to a study published this week (March 16) in ZooKeys.
The controversial 2014 study compared the DNA sequence of a small mitochondrial gene fragment from two supposed yeti samples—one obtained 40 years ago in northern India, plus a more modern sample from a Bhutanese forest—to that of other animals, and reported a 100 percent match to a 40,000-year-old Norwegian polar bear sample. The authors used the match to argue that the yeti may be a hybrid bear species resulting from an ancient mix of polar bear (Ursus maritimus) and brown bear (Ursus arctos). Later, a separate team suggested that the supposed yeti sample sequences actually matched a modern Alaskan polar bear and resembled those of Alaskan brown bears.
This latest study, led by researchers from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and the University ...
