WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: Are Yeti Just a Bunch of Bears?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Lorn mogel Bomb, and this is another classic episode

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<v Speaker 1>of the podcast. In this one, we look at what

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<v Speaker 1>a team of researchers found when they tested samples supposedly

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<v Speaker 1>collected from YETI spoiler alert, it wasn't all that mysterious.

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<v Speaker 1>Hey brain Stuff, I'm Lauren vogel Bomb. And you know

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<v Speaker 1>everybody loves a good cryptid. If the classic creatures of

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<v Speaker 1>legend and hearsay, the Luckness Monster, for example, or sasquatch

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<v Speaker 1>are too campy for your tastes, perhaps your interest would

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<v Speaker 1>be piqued by the grout slang, a giant snake with

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<v Speaker 1>an elephant's head said to hang out in caves of

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<v Speaker 1>northwestern South Africa, or the yowie, basically the bigfoot of

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<v Speaker 1>the Australian Outback, or the mepingaree, a giant sloth like

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<v Speaker 1>ape reportedly lurking in the Amazon rainforest on the border

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<v Speaker 1>between Brazil and Bolivia. If your game to dive into

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<v Speaker 1>the waters of cryptozoology, you'll be there a while because

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<v Speaker 1>they are fathomless. Science, however, will rarely dive in there

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<v Speaker 1>with you, but it has on occasion made an exception

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<v Speaker 1>for the Yeti. If you were to ask, hey, are

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<v Speaker 1>the Yeti just a bunch of bears, genetics would say yes.

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<v Speaker 1>The Yeti, or the great white abominable snowman of the Himalayas,

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<v Speaker 1>is one of the world's most beloved cryptids. It's a

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<v Speaker 1>major figure in the folklore of Nepal, and hikers are

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<v Speaker 1>constantly reporting to have seen a giant, white ape like

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<v Speaker 1>creature stalking around the mountains. Some even claim to have

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<v Speaker 1>brought home a piece of one of these beasts, a

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<v Speaker 1>tuft of hair, a bone, some skin, a tooth, or

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<v Speaker 1>some abominable dung. These Yeti souvenirs have made their way

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<v Speaker 1>into museums and private collections over the years, and now

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<v Speaker 1>nine of them formed the basis for a study investigating

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<v Speaker 1>the reality behind the folk tales. The study, published in

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<v Speaker 1>the Proceedings of the Royal Society b finds that of

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<v Speaker 1>the alleged Yeti bits genetically sequenced by the international team

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<v Speaker 1>of researchers, all revealed themselves to be of very commonplace origin,

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<v Speaker 1>eight bears and a dog. There was diversity in the

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<v Speaker 1>species of bears. One Asian black bear was represented, one

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<v Speaker 1>Himalayan brown bear and six Tibetan brown bears. The researchers

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<v Speaker 1>suggest that similar genetic studies should be able to help

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<v Speaker 1>unravel other cryptid legends. Where previous genetic studies of possible

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<v Speaker 1>cryptids looked only at mitochondrial DNA, this research team gave

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<v Speaker 1>those cave bones and wads of hair the full works,

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<v Speaker 1>applied PCR amplification, mitochondrial sequencing, mitochondrial genome assembly, and phylogenetic analysis.

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<v Speaker 1>According to the researchers, this makes it the most rigorous

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<v Speaker 1>analysis of anomalous or mythical hominid like creatures to date.

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<v Speaker 1>The team also sequenced mitochondrial DNA of twenty three Asian

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<v Speaker 1>bears and compared them with bears around the world. They

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<v Speaker 1>found the Tibetan brown bear to be more closely related

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<v Speaker 1>to American bears than they are to their neighbors, the

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<v Speaker 1>Himalayan bear. In fact, the two species probably split along

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<v Speaker 1>two separate evolutionary lineages around six hundred and fifty thousand

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<v Speaker 1>years ago during a major ice age. And just in

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<v Speaker 1>case you were wondering who compiled the bear parts that

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<v Speaker 1>the team used for their research, they were assembled by

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<v Speaker 1>a twenty sixteen Animal Planet Team for a special titled

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<v Speaker 1>YETI or Not, which explored the myths behind the monster.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode is based on the article are the Yetti

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<v Speaker 1>just a bunch of Bears? Genetics Says Yes? On HowStuffWorks

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<v Speaker 1>dot Com written by Jesslyn Shields. Brainstuff is production of

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<v Speaker 1>iHeartRadio in partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com and is produced

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<v Speaker 1>by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit

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