Scientists to do DNA analysis on 'yeti hair'

[Shar*Chi]

http://newslite.tv/2008/07/27/scientist ... lysis.html

DNA tests are being carried out in the UK on what is claimed to by 'yeti hairs' from India.

The hairs were collected by a yeti believer in a dense Indian jungle where the yeti (also known as Bigfoot, abominable snow man and forestman) had been spotted three days in a row.

Experts at Oxford Brookes University tested the hair and say it is not from any of the 'obvious' animals and it could belong to a currently unknown species of primate.

The hairs will now be sent to separate labs for DNA analysis.

Mr Redmond from primatology department at the Oxford university also says the hairs bear a "startling resemblance" to those collected by Everest conqueror Sir Edmund Hillary.
Some people claim to have seen the a black and grey ape-like animal which stands about 3m (nearly 10ft) tall in the West, South and East Garo hills in Meghalaya, India.

From sighting it is estimated the creature weighs about 300kg and lives on fruit, roots and tree bark.

[forestguy]

I just finished reading a Sir Edmund autobiography, and in it he said that the hairs he collected from the Khumjung monastery scalp were tested and were from a Himalayan goat/antelope (I forget what it's called).

[Steve Mason]

British scientist hopes for 'yeti hair' breakthrough
11 hours ago

LONDON (AFP) — A British scientist said Monday he was anxiously awaiting the results of DNA tests on hair claimed to be from a yeti after initial examinations showed it had human and ape-like characteristics.

Ian Redmond, a biologist and expert in ape conservation, said the hairs found in the Indian jungle resembled samples collected by the conqueror of Everest, Sir Edmund Hillary, in the 1950s.

"Under the microscope, they look slightly human, slightly like an orang utang and slightly like the hairs brought back by Edmund Hillary," Redmond told AFP.

"These hairs remain an enigma. They could be a new species, but the DNA tests will hopefully tell us more."

The hairs were brought back from India this year by a BBC journalist, Alastair Lawson, who contacted Redmond and was put in touch with a team at Oxford Brookes University in south central England.

Lawson was given the hairs by yeti believer Dipu Marak, who retrieved them them in dense jungle in the Meghalaya state of India after a forester allegedly spotted the creature on three consecutive days in 2003.

Marak believes the hairs come from an ape-like Indian version of the fabled yeti, or abominable snowman, called mande barung, which he believes stands about three metres (10 feet) tall.

Redmond and scientists from Oxford Brookes examined the hairs on Thursday under powerful microscopes, comparing them with samples taken from an Asiatic black bear, yaks, orang utangs and gorillas at Oxford's Natural History Museum and even a hair from Redmond's beard.

"The hairs are complete with the cuticle, and between 3.3 centimetres (1.3 inches) and 4.4 centimetres long and thick and wiry and curved," Redmond said.

"At one point we thought they looked like they came from a wild boar. That was quite a tense moment, but when we got a sample from the museum it turned out they were quite different."

Redmond also contacted the English laboratory that analysed the hairs brought back by Hillary in the 1950s from his Everest expedition and found they were similar in appearance.

While the microscope tests were inconclusive, the hairs are now undergoing DNA tests in separate laboratories in Oxford and Cardiff.

Redmond admitted his excitement at a potential scientific breakthrough was tinged with fear.

"My concern is that if we do find something unusual, it will be from a very small population of animals and I would want to talk to the state government and Indian government so they are not inundated with people trying to catch one for a museum.

"I want us to approach this in a 21st century and not a 19th century way."

[Dion]

My bet is the results come back saying human DNA structure or they say the results were contaminated in some way.

I say that because I remember watching a Bigfoot doco on Foxtel where they did some analysis on some possible Sasquatch blood (I think that was the case) and the results came back human almost identical in Human DNA structure but with some minor variances.

I believe and it’s just a personal belief, that our hairy friend has DNA closer to Humans than the DNA of Apes.

Just a personal belief, I could be wrong.