Scientists claim yeti is probably just a brown bear

THE myth of the Abominable Snowman has intrigued people for generations. Now scientists believe they have an explanation.

SCEPTICS have a reason to rejoice with scientists claiming to have solved the mystery of the yeti.

In 2013, Oxford University professor Bryan Sykes completed a DNA analysis of hair taken from two Himalayan animals identified as by the local community as Yetis.

Skyes claimed the hair fibres belonged to a previously undiscovered ancient hybrid of polar bears and brown bears that roamed the earth 40,000 years ago.

Now, a new study refutes those findings by claiming the wild human-like beast known as the Abominable Snowman is nothing more than a Himalayan brown bear.

The analysis by Eliécer E. Gutiérrez of the National Museum of Natural History and Ronald H. Pine of the Biodiversity Institute suggests there is no way the hair could be attributed to an unknown primate.

They said the relevant genetic variation in bears makes it impossible to know with any kind of certainty which species the hair belonged too.

However, because brown bears are known to live in the Himalayas, the researchers concluded there was “no reason to believe that the samples in question came from anything other than ordinary Himalayan Brown Bears.”

The research was published in the journal, ZooKeys.

The study can explain the hair, but what about the footprints?