Y is for Yeti
The Yeti, also known as the Abominable snowman, is an ape-like creature that prefers the frozen mountain ranges of Himalaya, Nepal, India and Tibet. Meh-Teh is the common term it’s known as in the region.
While similar to Bigfoot, the Yeti’s North American counterpart, the Yeti differs in both preferred terrain, temperature and general surroundings. Men have hunted the Bigfoot with fervor, but the Himalayan mountains give plenty of cover and peace to the Yeti, as well as act as a natural deterrent to eager hunters.
The few eyewitness reports available say that the Yeti is a large creature that walks on two legs. It has a massive frame and ape-like features. The size of markings found in the snow suggest a creature, or creatures, able to walk great distances and reach to heights that normal humans, and sometimes even Sherpas, would have difficulty reaching.
- In 1960, Sir Edmund Hillary, a New Zealand mountaineer, went in search of physical evidence of the Yeti existence. After sending a Yeti scalp from the Khumjung monastery to the West to be tested, the results showed it was probably the scalp from a Himalayan antelope. Anthropologist Myra Shackley didn’t agreed saying that the “hairs from the scalp look distinctly monkey-like and that it contains parasitic mites of a species different from that recovered from the serow.” (The Himalyan antelope is a serow.)
- Walt Disney World’s roller coaster Expedition Everest contains a 25-foot-tall audio-animatronic Yeti during the ride.
- For a list of movies, songs, and other popular culture items that feature the Yeti: click here.