Hairs found in a Bhutan forest could be those of the legendary Yeti, say makers of a TV documentary.
The cluster of hairs was found in a cedar tree by scientists who accompanied the documentary team. Sonam Dhendup, a local Yeti-hunter and guide, said the tree was the animal鈥檚 lair.
On returning to Britain, the team handed the hair to Oxford geneticists for analysis.
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鈥淚t鈥檚 not a human, it鈥檚 not a bear, nor anything else that we鈥檝e so far been able to identify,鈥� says Bryan Sykes, professor of human genetics at the Institute of Molecular Medicine in Oxford.
鈥淲e鈥檝e never encountered any DNA that we couldn鈥檛 recognise before, but then, we weren鈥檛 looking for the Yeti,鈥� says Sykes, the first geneticist to extract DNA from archaeological bone specimens.
Peculiar sample
Sykes says that all other hairs handed in by the Yeti-hunting team were easy to identify, turning out to be pigs, for example.
An earlier, skin sample from Bhutan reputed to be from a Yeti was shown by Sykes to be that of a bear. But he is mystified by the hair sample. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 know what it is; it鈥檚 behaving most peculiarly,鈥� he says.
Rob McCall, an evolutionary biologist from the University of Oxford, reported finding scratch marks inside the cedar tree, which resembled claw rather than nail scratches.
McCall also discovered odd footprints just a couple of hours old. They revealed a short print with a narrow heel, plus toe pads rather than claws.
In Bhutan, locals call the Yeti the Migyur. One eyewitness, a former royal guard called Druk Sherrik, told the programme that it was an apelike creature about 3 metres tall. 鈥淭he face was red, with a nose like a chimpanzee鈥檚,鈥� he says.