2012

Sasquatch in Siberia?
Hair found in Russian cave 'belonged to unknown mammal closely related to man'

By Will Stewart
Mail Online
October 30, 2012
Source

• Hair did not belong to any known animal from the region such as a bear, wolf, or goat

• Mysterious mammal more closely related to man than to monkeys

Astonishing claims were made in Russia today that DNA tests on suspected 'Yeti hair' reveals the existence of 'an unknown mammal closely related to man'.

The 'tests' were conducted on samples of hair found in a Siberian cave during an international expedition last year.

'We had ten samples of hair to study, and have concluded that they belong to mammal, but not a human,' said Professor Valentin Sapunov, of the Russian State Hydrometeorological Institute.

Nor did the hair belong to any known animal from the region such as a bear, wolf, or goat, he claimed.

Analysis was conducted in the Russia and US and 'agreed the hair came from a human-like creature which is not a Homo sapien yet is more closely related to man than a monkey', said the Siberian Times, citing claims made on a regional government website in Russia in the area where the hair samples were allegedly found.

It stated that long-awaited scientific tests were conducted on their hair at two institutions in Russia and one in Idaho in the US.

'All three world level universities have finished DNA analysis of the hair and said that the hair belongs to a creature which is closer by its biological parameters to Homo sapiens than a monkey. The Yeti's DNA is evidently less than one per cent different to that of a human.'

The tests were undertaken on hair found one year ago in the Azasskaya Cave in the Mourt Shoriya area of Kemerovo region in Siberia, it was alleged.

The 2011 expedition to the remote cave complex in Kemerovo when the alleged Yeti hair was found was led by Dr Igor Birtsev, seen as Russia's leading advocate of the existence of the abominable snowman.

He last night questioned the conclusions saying he was seeking more information about the alleged tests.

The Siberian Times said only 'scant' details were made available of the 'DNA findings'.

Sapunov claimed that the prestigious Zoological Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences was involved in the tests.

Yeti 'sightings' have been reported for centuries in most continents but the creature has evaded capture and no remains have ever been discovered.

Several 'sightings' of yetis have been made recently according to a Russian official and fishermen in Siberia.

'We shouted to them - do you need help?,' said fisherman Vitaly Vershinin.

'They just rushed away, all in fur, walking on two legs, making their way through the bushes and with two other limbs, straight up the hill.'

He continued: 'What did we think? It could not be bears, as the bear walks on all-fours, and they ran on two.... so then they were gone.'

Russia's leading researcher on yetis, Igor Burtsev claims around 30 of the 'abominable snowmen' live in the Kemerovo region, where these sightings were.

STILL AT LARGE - A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE YETI

The first accounts of Yetis emerged before the 19th century from Buddhists who believed that the creature inhabited the Himalayas.

They depicted the mysterious beast as having similarities to an ape and carrying a large stone as a weapon while making a whistling sound.

Popular interest in the creature gathered pace in the early 20th century as tourists began making their own trips to the region to try and capture the Yeti. They reported seeing strange markings in the snow.

The Daily Mail led a trip called the Snowman Expedition in 1954 to Everest (see photos below). During the trip mountaineering leader John Angelo Jackson photographed ancient paintings of yetis and large footprints in the snow.

A number of hair samples were also found that were believed to have come from a Yeti scalp. British mountaineer Don Whillans claimed to have witnessed a creature when scaling Annapurna in 1970.

The 2011 "Expedition":

Yeti Evidence Falls Flat: Scientist Says Local Officials Staged Siberian Snowman Hunt For Publicity

It was a very awkward feeling because here I was a guest and this was clearly orchestrated," said Idaho State University anthropologist and anatomist Jeffrey Meldrum.

"I thought that was kind of odd, and then someone picked up a little tuft of hair that was apparently pressed into the footprint. At that point, I wasn't comfortable with the situation and had an inkling of what might be happening," Meldrum said.

Adding to his growing feeling that the entire situation was a setup, the respected American scientist said that the trail leading to the cave had been well maintained and showed signs of being frequently visited, including graffiti on the cave walls, remnants of some campfires and discarded trash.

It was at this point that Meldrum said he realized that everything that happened in the alleged Yeti lair was likely completely staged for his and the media's benefit. The publicity certainly wouldn't hurt Kemerovo's skiing tourism activities.

'They have an acute sense of danger'
Yeti expert defends lack of sasquatch sightings as row erupts over his claims that 200 live in Siberia

By Will Stewart
Mail Online
November 2, 2012
Source

• Professor claims scientific tests, such as DNA checks, prove hair samples from remote cave belonged to human-like mammal unknown to man

A row has erupted in Russia over a biological scientist's claim that some 200 Yeti live in a large area of southern Siberia.

Professor Valentin Sapunov has infuriated academics with his assertion that scientific tests, including DNA checks, found that hair samples from a remote cave belonged to a human-like mammal unknown to man.

Now he has gone further by claiming a population of 200 Yeti exist in the forested Kemerovo, Khakassia and Altai regions of Siberia.

This number allows them to successfully reproduce, said the academic from the Russian State HydroMeteorological University.

'He claims there have been no confirmed sightings of the Yeti because they have an acute sense of danger,' reported the Siberian Times.

But other Russian experts are deeply unimpressed by Professor Sapunov's theories, saying he has put his Big Foot in it with claims that there is DNA backing for the existence of the Yeti.

Far from finding the Abonimable Snowman, his scientific claims on the subject amount to abominable lies, Oleg Pugachev, director of the Zoological Institute of Russian Academy of Science, told state-run newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

This institute was one of three where Professor Sapunov claimed the 'Yeti hair' - found a year ago - was tested.

Mr Pugachev said: 'Let me make it clear - Sapunov is blatantly lying.

'He came with some bits of hair to the Institute, and spent a lot of time in my office complaining that official science want nothing to do with it and no-one wants to test them.

'He asked me to help. I took a pity on him and ordered our DNA specialists to carry out a test.

'They did not manage to extract any genealogical material because there were no hair bulbs.

'The structure of the hair showed that they could have belonged to a goat, and a bear, and to other animals.

'That's the end of it. What Snowman is he talking about? If he ever appears close to our Institute I will not let him anywhere near the doorstep.

'I don't know how to stop the rubbish he is spreading in the media.'

Svetlana Borinskaya, a doctor of Biological Sciences at the Institute of General Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said: 'I know Sapunov personally. He never worked with DNA - or if he did, I've never heard of such works.

'But I do know that he is obsessed with the Yeti since his early years.'

If he had done serious work, he should have published it in a scientific journal, she added.

Professor Sapunov has hit back, saying there is more evidence of the Yeti than for many officially documented species, some of which are reported to exist on the basis of a single bone.

'Every science needs its Yeti,' he said, adding that Fermat's Last Theorem led to advancements in mathematics for more than 350 years before it was solved in 1995.

Svetlana Borinskaya

She graduated from the Department of Molecular Biology, Faculty of Biology. Initiator and participant of Russian and international projects integrating the humanities and natural approaches to the study of human evolution and why people are different.

Author of several scientific articles and winner of the competition for popularizing science.

Press secretary of the Institute of General Genetics. NI Vavilov Sciences. Leading Researcher, Laboratory analysis of the genome of the same institute.

Bigfoot’s birthday has been celebrated in Kemerovo in Siberia where residents believe its one of the few places where the mysterious ape-like creature lives. A tune inspired by Psy’s ‘Gangnam Style’ hit was created to mark the occasion.
     During the celebrations a flash mob performed a dance choreographed to mimic the South Korean rapper's signature ‘horse-riding’ dance that has become the latest craze across the world.
     Kemerovo residents, dressed in costumes to look like the elusive Bigfoot couldn’t stand still either and joined the flash mob dancing to ‘Yeti-style’ song.
     Bigfoot, aka the Yeti, has been exciting scientists and enthusiasts worldwide for over a century. Siberia’s mountainous forests are among the few places on Earth thought to be roamed by Yetis, along with the Himalayas, the American Pacific Northwest and some other remote regions.
     Some estimate the population of the elusive animals in Kemerovo as high as 30.
     Since 2009, hunters have reported seeing two-meter-tall ape-like animals in the Tashtagol area. Footprints believed to belong to the mysterious creatures have been found in the Azass Cave.
     Meanwhile, the local administration has been promoting Bigfoot as a tourist attraction. It has even created a “Day of the Bigfoot” in the region.
     Among the adventurers visiting Kemerovo in search of the hominids was giant Russian boxer Nikolay Valuev who compared the size of his foot with the alleged yeti footprint only to find his was bigger.
     Kemerovo has also drawn on international help in its quest to track down the Bigfoot. The region hosted a conference for specialists hunting for traces of the relic hominid, the event attracting visitors from China, America, Canada and Sweden.