Kaiser-Wilhelm-Allee 51368 Leverkusen
Adempas 2 mg comprimidos recubiertos con película ,5 mg comprimidos recubiertos con película
Few cryptozoological specimens have a greater claim to fame than the Himalayan Yeti or "Abominable Snowman." Excepting Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster, the Yeti is probably the most "well-known" unknown creature in the world. It is also probably the least well under- stood of the more famous subjects in cryptozoology. There have been so many portrayals of the creature in popular fiction, movies, and car- toons, that the distance between the actual evidence and the myth has become quite large. For example, the term Abominable Snowman itself is very misleading, and stems from a mistranslation made over a centu- ry ago. Yet the term is so loaded with false meaning that it has come to overshadow the true nature of these elusive hominids.
Truth be told, the Yeti is probably neither abominable nor a snowman, at least in any conventional sense of the terms. The appellation "abom- inable" conjures up horrifying images of gnashing fangs and rending claws. In fact, there is no evidence that the Yeti have ever attacked another living being, much less a human being. They are, if they exist, shy, reclusive herbivores who probably want nothing more than to be left alone. “Snowman” brings to mind a whole set of strange images, and has led to some interesting, if entirely fictitious renditions of the Yeti. It is supposed that something called a snowman must be white, and popular images often show a gigantic beast standing ten feet tall, covered with long white hair. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Reports of the Yeti universally agree that the animal has dark hair, rang- ing from an orange-red to dark brown. Likewise, they are seldom if ever described as being more than eight feet tall, although most often they stand around six feet in height.
As a matter of fact, two kinds of Yeti have been reported: the me-teh and the dzu-teh. The me-teh are the more commonly spotted variety, and they stand somewhere between five and six feet in height on average. The dzu-teh are larger and rarer, standing as tall as seven feet and hav- ing a wider build. Both are said to live in the same region: the mountain forests of the Himalayas in Tibet, India , and Nepal. Contrary to popu- lar opinion, the Yeti in all likelihood dwell within the forests where food and shelter are more plentiful. It is only on rare occasions that they stray out into the open snow of the higher elevations, although this is where they are more often spotted. This is only natural, of course, since fewer hiding places exist above the tree line.
Reports of the Yeti among the local population date back for hundreds of years. Buddhist temples and monasteries in the area have long incor- porated the Yeti into their rituals, and in some cases even use so-called Yeti pelts to dress up as the reclusive creatures in certain rituals. However, it has been shown time and again that these pelts are actually from goats rather than some sort of hominid or primate. Nevertheless, some of the pelts date back hundreds of years, showing that there has long been an abiding interest in the yeti.
Despite these many "fakes," one monastery has provided one of the most compelling pieces of evidence in the pursuit of the Yeti: a hand. Long preserved as a holy relic, the hand was stolen by a group of west- erners seeking evidence of the Yeti's existence. It was smuggled out of Asia and back to London where it was examined by several scientists, all of whom ultimately agreed that it came from some unknown hominid. It had an opposable thumb and was very hairy. Blood typing showed that it was from no known living creature. Unfortunately, the hand was soon lost and no one knows what became of this important and only piece of physical evidence.
Cryptozoologists are left with only secondary evidence of the Yeti's existence: footprints and eyewitness sightings. Footprint evidence has been relatively common in the pursuit of the Yeti. The snow is an excellent source for footprints, and has revealed on dozens of occasions the spoor of a large, bipedal animal walking across the snow fields. The foot is undoubtedly not human, but has many sim- ilarities to a human footprint. Unfortunately, footprints are not conclusive proof, and even when they are seen in conjunction with an actual sighting of a living Yeti, they draw skeptical dismissal. The most common explanation is that the footprints are left by
THE
YETI
Cryptozoology
Cryptozoology
8181
T
T hh ee SS ii gg hh tt ii nn gg ss
some smaller animal, and that as the snow melts it widens the foot- print. This theory has become so pervasive that it is the standard dis- missal for any footprint evidence found of the Yeti. The fact of the mat- ter is, there is no evidence to support the melting footprint explanation. Why would the melted footprint retain the definition and detail shown in many Yeti footprints? The explanation also fails since many of the footprints are examined immediately after a Yeti sighting, long before the weather would have had a chance to melt the print.
Sightings are some of the best evidence of the Yeti, and yet also the most easily discounted. Skeptics seem to find it amazingly easy to disregard to word of an eyewitness, even if they have no cause to believe the per- son is telling a lie. Furthermore, it is sad to say that racism and preju- dice are also large factors in the disbelief shown by Western scientists. For whatever reason, they are loathe to accept any local accounts as truth, and attach more credence to the accounts of explorers of European descent. Never mind that the local peoples, the Sherpas, have been seeing the reclusive Yeti for hundreds of years and are the source of dozens of eyewitness accounts.
Despite Western prejudice, plenty of white men have seen the Yeti as well, dating back to the nineteenth century. These accounts comple- ment the local sightings, and all agree on some basic aspects of the Yeti. They are bipedal herbivores, covered with long dark hair and possessing a rather conical skull. Although they walk about on two legs, they have been known to go down on all fours in order to move quickly. They have long arms, longer than those of a human, and have opposable thumbs. Unfortunately, no pictures of the Yeti have ever been taken. A popular photo made the rounds several years ago, but what was thought to be a blurry bipedal figure turned out to be an outcropping of rock.
One last piece of evidence also points to the existence of the Yeti: feces samples. These have been examined thoroughly, and found to contain parasites unknown in other species. Since individual species of animals have specialized parasites in their system, the presence of unknown parasites points to the existence of an unknown animal of some sort. Between the recovered hand (now lost), the sightings, the footprints, and feces analysis, there can be little doubt that there is some sort of creature active in the Himalayan forests. But what is it?
There are several explanations for the Yeti, some more plausible than others. One explanation for the footprints is that they were left behind by wolves or other creatures moving in a loping gait, thus leaving behind tracks that appeared to be made by a bipedal creature. Such the- ories are untenable at best, and do not take into account eyewitness reports or any of the other evidence. This leaves us with several bipedal or sometimes bipedal alternatives, none of which can be proved or dis- proved. A likely candidate for the larger Yeti is the local strain of bear which is known to stand on its hind legs. This would explain the dis- crepancy in sizes between the me-teh and dzu-teh. Another possibility is some variety of previously unknown orangutan that has adapted to life in the mountain forests by walking on its hind legs. The long shag- gy hair of the Yeti certainly resembles that of an orangutan, and many Yeti have been described as having orange-colored hair. In the same vein, the Yeti could be some strain of forest ape.
A fourth alternative is that the Yeti is a surviving strain of the bipedal Gigantopithecus, a species thought long dead. Gigantopithecus skele-
tons and remains have been found in the Himalayas, and it is not impossible to believe that a strain of the proto-human could have survived for so long in so desolate and unexplored an area. The Gigantopithecus Yeti explanation is the most interesting and most compelling. It alone would count for all of the evidence, including the now lost Yeti hand. Hairy hominids from around the world, including Bigfoot, have been theorized as Gigantopithecus survivors. It seems possible that there is a correlation between the various rumors and sightings of hairy hominids from around the world. Certainly a surviving Gigantopithecus, if one could be found, would answer a lot of questions.