Abominable Snowman

The yeti, also known as the Abominable Snowman and as a result has been over dramatized as a large primate-like creature supposedly living in the Himalayas. more...

The Western name is derived from the Tibetan yeh-teh (transliterated: gYa' dred), "little man-like animal"; it is a false cognate with Old English geottan (or yettin in Modern English), an antiquated word for an orc or troll (see also jotun).

Most mainstream scientists and experts consider current evidence of the yeti's existence to be weak and better explained as hoax, legend, or misidentification of known species. Nevertheless, certain physical evidence, such as tracks and nests, have suggested to some that yeti is an unknown primate, a remnant hominid, or a type of bear, and the yeti remains one of the most famous creatures of cryptozoology.

The term yeti is often used to describe a number of very different reported creatures:

• A large ape-like biped (that some suggest could be Gigantopithecus blacki)
• Human-sized bipedal apes (the Alma and the Chinese wildman)
• Dwarf-like creatures (such as the Orang Pendek).

The yeti is sometimes referred to as the "Abominable Snowman". This name was popularized by the press after Henry Newman, a reporter, related a mistranslation of a Tibetan name Metoh-Kangmi for the yeti, "Kangmi" meaning "Man of the Snow" and Metoh meaning "dirty", or "filthy". Migoi or Mi-go (pronounced Mey-Goo) is another name for such a creature, other names are Mirka, Kang Admi, and eventually Meh-Teh which is the true name given to the snowman by the Sherpas. Other animals known to Tibetans which could have been construed as the yeti are the Chu-Teh, a monkey-like animal and the Dzu-Teh which is the Himalayan Red Bear.

The term is also often used to refer to reported ape-like creatures that fit any of these descriptions: for example, the fear liath may be referred to as the "Scottish yeti". They are known throughout the world with various different names and description - most notebly in the middle-east as "Jobran", which means "the Beast" in Urdu.

History

Reports prior to 20th century

For hundreds of years, natives in the Himalayas have been telling stories about a humanoid monster that wanders around the mountain range. However, occasional reports of an ape-like creature in the Himalayas only began filtering to the west in the 1800s, mainly by British explorers .

In 1832, Journal of the Asiatic society of Bengal published the account of B. H. Hodgson, who wrote that while trekking in northern Nepal, his native guides spotted a tall, bipedal creature covered with long dark hair, then fled in fear. Hodgson did not see the creature, but concluded it was an orangutan.

Perhaps the first formal record of reported yeti footprints was in 1889's Among the Himalayas, by L.A. Wadell. Waddell reports his native guides described the large apelike creature that left the prints; he concluded the prints were a bear's. Waddel heard stories of bipedal, apelike creatures, but wrote that of the many witnesses he questioned, none "could ever give me an authentic case. On the most superficial investigation it always resolved into something that somebody had heard of."

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