The Riddle of the Yeti

I came across an interesting Yeti photograph which I had not seen before. The website of British news outlet The Times featured a slideshow of relevant pictures with captions under the heading "The riddle of the yeti may have finally been solved". Flicking through them:

1 - a still from the famous film by Roger Patterson in 1967 (most likely a fake - definitive evidence either way is lacking),

2 - Dr. Bryan Sykes examines a purported Yeti scalp (fake - made from the hide of a serow),

3 - a misidentified tree stump from Pennsylvania,

4 - (left) a pic from the infamous Georgia Bigfoot hoax of 2008,

5 - Chief Lama holding a yeti scalp (still fake),

6 - (right) a cast of an alleged Orang-Pendek footprint (interesting - I hadn't seen that one before),

7 - unidentified tracks from a 1954 Himalayan expedition (look like from a animal with hooves),

8 - the famous track found by Eric Shipton during a 1951 Himalayan expedition,

9 - (below) a melted track in snow found in Nepal by Japanese enthusiast, Yoshiteru Takahashi (2003),

10 - (left) a cast of a dubious print found by the host of TV show Destination Truth, Josh Gates,

11 - movie poster forThe Abominable Snowman (1957),

12 - a scene from the above mentioned movie,

13 - an April Fools joke from 1992,

14 - (right) a preserved Yeti foot found on a Siberian glacier in 2003 by Russian biologist Serghiei Semionov,

15 - Sir Edmund Hillary displays a likeness of Abominable Snowman (later also debunked by Hillary),

16 - a photo of mountaineer,Reinhold Messner, who claims a face-to-face encounter in 1986 (which he believes to be some sort of bear).

So, a collection of fakes, fictions, misidentifications, dubious footprints... and one preserved Yeti foot! I had not seen that one before nor read nor heard anything about it. The caption reads:

Russian biologist, explorer and mountaneer Serghiei Semionov in Moscow displays an hairy and clawed leg which was found on a glacier of the Siberian chain of Altai in 2003, in the area where the yeti lives, according to the traditions. Semionov, 40, from Siberia himself, found the whole limb in two successive expeditions, together with some ribs and fragments of the pelvis. The limb shown in Moscow is the whole leg from the foot to the knee, the most important part because both its articulation and the shape of the foot demonstrates that belongs to a walking upright being.

That's an astonishing find... if true. Yet a quick Google image search revealed very little and the only thing in English about it was this very same online slideshow from The Times. Not a promising start in my quest to validate (or otherwise) this "Yeti foot".

After searching for articles featuring the terms "Sergio Semionov" and "Altai" I fortunately came across a blog by Italian writer, Lorenzo Rossi, who followed the story:

(9 September 2003)

Limb "fossil" discovered in the Altai Mountains.

RUSSIA - The well-preserved limb of a "mysterious" creature was discovered at an altitude of 3,500 meters in permafrost of the Altai mountains, in a remote region of Siberia.

The climber who made the discovery, Sergey Semenov, said that the find was unusual appearance so that she decided to take him to subject it to the expert examinations.

The vice president of the Russian veterinary anatomy, said, after examining the X-ray plates, the leg seems to be human and who owns this many similutidini. The foot which would amount roughly to a number 36, appears to belong to a creature that moved with an upright gait.

Of course, the discovery of the limb, which was declared to be older than a few thousand years, has turned the usual debates about the existence of the yeti, but the most mysterious thing, in my opinion, is the fact that the veterinary medical experts do not I have never seen the paw of a bear ...

[Note: translated via Google]

Rossi later provides an update:

(14 January, 2004)

Continue limb farce of Altai

[It] has long been established and proved by the experts that the alleged yeti limb, in this case a "leg", found near the Altai mountains a few months ago by mountaineer Sergey Semenov, is nothing more than a bear's paw.

Nevertheless much of the media, both on paper and on the network, have recently returned to the case using high-sounding tones and bringing false statements reported by the Russian experts. Statements manipulated specifically, among which are those of an alleged (and never happened) DNA testing, which showed that the limb does not belong to any known species.

Always treat the press with regard to cryptozoology borders on the ridiculous bringing out all ignorance (when it comes to label everything as "buffalo") and bad faith (when it comes to peddle false information, such as the recent a python 15 meters exhibited in a zoo in Indonesia, which in reality is long barely 7) of the information agencies and journalists.

Although aware that these hoaxes more attractive public attention than the disclosure of the truth, I personally think this behavior and this lack of edifcanti [?] very little intelligence.

Returning on the alleged limb yeti, one can easily deduce, from the vision of the slabs, which is unquestionably the hind is a bear. The presence of claws also, is absolutely incompatible with any higher primate.