1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:07,680 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,720 --> 00:00:10,680 Speaker 1: I'm Lorn mogel Bomb, and this is another classic episode 3 00:00:10,680 --> 00:00:13,840 Speaker 1: of the podcast. In this one, we look at what 4 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:18,000 Speaker 1: a team of researchers found when they tested samples supposedly 5 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:23,000 Speaker 1: collected from YETI spoiler alert, it wasn't all that mysterious. 6 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:27,639 Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, I'm Lauren vogel Bomb. And you know 7 00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:31,040 Speaker 1: everybody loves a good cryptid. If the classic creatures of 8 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:34,760 Speaker 1: legend and hearsay, the Luckness Monster, for example, or sasquatch 9 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:37,760 Speaker 1: are too campy for your tastes, perhaps your interest would 10 00:00:37,760 --> 00:00:40,080 Speaker 1: be piqued by the grout slang, a giant snake with 11 00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:42,199 Speaker 1: an elephant's head said to hang out in caves of 12 00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:46,360 Speaker 1: northwestern South Africa, or the yowie, basically the bigfoot of 13 00:00:46,400 --> 00:00:50,600 Speaker 1: the Australian Outback, or the mepingaree, a giant sloth like 14 00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:53,480 Speaker 1: ape reportedly lurking in the Amazon rainforest on the border 15 00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:56,920 Speaker 1: between Brazil and Bolivia. If your game to dive into 16 00:00:56,960 --> 00:01:00,000 Speaker 1: the waters of cryptozoology, you'll be there a while because 17 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:04,400 Speaker 1: they are fathomless. Science, however, will rarely dive in there 18 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:07,720 Speaker 1: with you, but it has on occasion made an exception 19 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:11,760 Speaker 1: for the Yeti. If you were to ask, hey, are 20 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:15,039 Speaker 1: the Yeti just a bunch of bears, genetics would say yes. 21 00:01:16,120 --> 00:01:19,479 Speaker 1: The Yeti, or the great white abominable snowman of the Himalayas, 22 00:01:19,680 --> 00:01:22,240 Speaker 1: is one of the world's most beloved cryptids. It's a 23 00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:25,000 Speaker 1: major figure in the folklore of Nepal, and hikers are 24 00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:28,080 Speaker 1: constantly reporting to have seen a giant, white ape like 25 00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:31,760 Speaker 1: creature stalking around the mountains. Some even claim to have 26 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:33,560 Speaker 1: brought home a piece of one of these beasts, a 27 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:36,240 Speaker 1: tuft of hair, a bone, some skin, a tooth, or 28 00:01:36,280 --> 00:01:39,840 Speaker 1: some abominable dung. These Yeti souvenirs have made their way 29 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:42,800 Speaker 1: into museums and private collections over the years, and now 30 00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:45,840 Speaker 1: nine of them formed the basis for a study investigating 31 00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:49,280 Speaker 1: the reality behind the folk tales. The study, published in 32 00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:52,600 Speaker 1: the Proceedings of the Royal Society b finds that of 33 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:55,960 Speaker 1: the alleged Yeti bits genetically sequenced by the international team 34 00:01:55,960 --> 00:02:00,000 Speaker 1: of researchers, all revealed themselves to be of very commonplace origin, 35 00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:03,920 Speaker 1: eight bears and a dog. There was diversity in the 36 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:07,240 Speaker 1: species of bears. One Asian black bear was represented, one 37 00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:11,880 Speaker 1: Himalayan brown bear and six Tibetan brown bears. The researchers 38 00:02:11,919 --> 00:02:14,440 Speaker 1: suggest that similar genetic studies should be able to help 39 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:19,200 Speaker 1: unravel other cryptid legends. Where previous genetic studies of possible 40 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:23,359 Speaker 1: cryptids looked only at mitochondrial DNA, this research team gave 41 00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:26,400 Speaker 1: those cave bones and wads of hair the full works, 42 00:02:26,639 --> 00:02:33,440 Speaker 1: applied PCR amplification, mitochondrial sequencing, mitochondrial genome assembly, and phylogenetic analysis. 43 00:02:33,840 --> 00:02:36,240 Speaker 1: According to the researchers, this makes it the most rigorous 44 00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:39,880 Speaker 1: analysis of anomalous or mythical hominid like creatures to date. 45 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:44,200 Speaker 1: The team also sequenced mitochondrial DNA of twenty three Asian 46 00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:47,200 Speaker 1: bears and compared them with bears around the world. They 47 00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:49,640 Speaker 1: found the Tibetan brown bear to be more closely related 48 00:02:49,639 --> 00:02:52,080 Speaker 1: to American bears than they are to their neighbors, the 49 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:55,880 Speaker 1: Himalayan bear. In fact, the two species probably split along 50 00:02:55,960 --> 00:02:59,440 Speaker 1: two separate evolutionary lineages around six hundred and fifty thousand 51 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:02,880 Speaker 1: years ago during a major ice age. And just in 52 00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:05,640 Speaker 1: case you were wondering who compiled the bear parts that 53 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:08,280 Speaker 1: the team used for their research, they were assembled by 54 00:03:08,320 --> 00:03:11,440 Speaker 1: a twenty sixteen Animal Planet Team for a special titled 55 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:14,560 Speaker 1: YETI or Not, which explored the myths behind the monster. 56 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:23,840 Speaker 1: Today's episode is based on the article are the Yetti 57 00:03:24,040 --> 00:03:27,200 Speaker 1: just a bunch of Bears? Genetics Says Yes? On HowStuffWorks 58 00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:30,560 Speaker 1: dot Com written by Jesslyn Shields. Brainstuff is production of 59 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:33,560 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio in partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com and is produced 60 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:36,960 Speaker 1: by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit 61 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:39,960 Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 62 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:50,680 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.