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1. What surprised me most was that the Abominable Snowman could be 5 to 8 feet tall, and kill a ram with one strike.

2. There are many real life examples that I have posted here that is interesting, such as the footprints in the snow. I find it interesting that these footprints have been showing up for more than a few decades apart, and that they keep getting discovered over the years.

3. I found the description of the Yeti to be the most interesting because I have never really thought of how scary it would be to see one in real life. I now understand why people would view this creature as a monster.

4. I am most likely to remember that the Abominable Snowman samples from the museum are not of the Abominable Snowman, but from different species of bear, and a dog.

5. The most harmful belief would be "all natural" because it is a very misleading term that can do lots of harm to a person. All natural could mean that a product is more likely to have mould in it, poison ivy, or some kind of herb that should not be put on or near the body. The least harmful belief would be the "unexplained" because it does not really matter if it is real or not because it just builds curiosity and really good movies.

6. The most important thing to pass on would be critical thinking and skepticism, because without it people would be more susceptible to getting scammed, or lied to. With this knowledge you can separate the good and the bad from each other.

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Description:
This image displays the climate conditions as well as the habitat in which the yeti thrives and lives on.

Connection:
The picture shown above is based on perception/observation as these mountains are the areas where people have sought out the Yeti and found the same giant footprints in the snow. People believe that the Abominable Snowman lives in these high altitude mountains mainly due to confirmation bias, as these people reside in their own beliefs of where the Yeti could live, but they do not always assume that hikers may be planting out these footprints for fun just to mess with nearby tourists. The pseudoscience watchlist related to this image would be that these mountains create mystery as these clues continue to engage the peoples' curiosity on where it could be and where it may be found. Skepticism and critical thinking should be kept in mind when coming across these beautiful mountains, because if you are going to go up there and look for the ominous creature, you have to think, "Is this a Yeti, a fake, or could it be an animal far more dangerous?"

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Description:
The image above is a section of a mural of the Abominable Snowman (the infamous "yeti") found within a Tibetan Temple.

Connection:
This mural relates to ancient wisdom because this image has been a legend that the locals in Nepal have known for many years. The image also connects to the unexplained as it is unknown of how the Yeti came to be, where it is, and why the myth has not been exposed to social media as a scientific study. The pseudoscience watchlist would be that the legend does not progress, as the belief in this creature has been the same for decades, maybe even centuries-long. Critical thinking and skepticism should be used to dissect these legends and find evidence of how these stories could make logical sense.

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Description:
This picture was taken by a man named Eric Shipton, who saw this footprint in the snow of Mount Everest in 1951 claiming that it was made by the Abominable Snowman.

Connection:
This image relates to patternicity because the indent in the snow looks like the shape of a footprint. Critical thinking and skepticism can be used by comparing the print to different types of mammal footprints to determine what the being could be related to. Since this is not a regular footprint, lots of research should be done to figure out what it could be and how it ended up in a mountain of such high altitudes. A pseudoscience watchlist that this could relate to would be that it deliberately creates mystery because there are very few animals that could live in mountains and walk barefoot without getting frostbite. It definitely cannot be a human footprint, so it could be possible that it was an Abominable Snowman, or a fake footprint pressed into the snow by a person who enjoys a good hoax.

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Description:
From this website, 24 field collected Abominable Snowman specimens were tested to determine the type of genome and species they belonged to, and if they actually belonged to a real life Yeti.

Connection:
The red flag connected to this website would be confusion of correlation with causation; this is because people assumed that since these hair/teeth samples were found near the mountains, it would mean that they came from the Abominable Snowman. However, that was not the case because once science was involved, tests suggested that the samples all came from local bear DNA, including Asian black bears, Tibetan brown bears, Himalayan brown bears, and a dog. Critical thinking and skepticism were involved when these researchers decided to test these ancient samples from museums to see if they were Yeti samples. As a result, they were just bear samples with a hint of dog, answering the question, "Is there proof that the Abominable snowman exists?" The pseudoscience watchlist would probably be that money was involved if those samples ended up in museums (only to find out that they did not come from a Yeti).

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Photographer N.A. Tombazi didn't know what to make of the towering, shaggy-haired creature he saw pulling up rhododendrons in the snow-topped Himalayan mountains in 1925. Tibetan locals said it was a mythological creature called the yeti or meh-teh; around the same time, British reporters writing about the region coined the enduring term "The Abominable Snowman." The name stuck, as did the mystery.

Tombazi later wrote an account of his strange experience, but for decades, nobody could figure out what the Yeti actually is. On Tuesday, however, a team of scientists led by University at Buffalo College biologist Charlotte Lindqvist, Ph.D. set the mythological record a little straighter in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

In the study, Lindqvist's team sequenced DNA from previously collected "Yeti" samples, comparing the results to the genomes of known, non-mythical animals. Perhaps unsurprisingly, their analysis didn't turn up any supernatural explanations, but it does point to animals most people have never seen in real life.

"Clearly, a big part of the Yeti legend has to do with bears," Lindqvist said in a statement on Tuesday.

A hair sample from a purported Yeti in Nepal. Icon Films Ltd.

The shaggy monster has been described for centuries as an, ape-like, bipedal creature that's leaves behind huge footprints in the Himalayan mountains in Nepal, Bhutan, and Tibet, and in some cases, locals have been able to collect samples. These stray bits of fur, bone, teeth, skin, and feces drove Lindqvist's genetic analysis.

Altogether, her team sequenced the DNA of 24 field-collected and museum Yeti specimens and compared them to the complete mitochondrial genomes of bears in the region, which include the Himalayan brown bear and Asian black bear, both of which were sequenced in this study for the first time.

The analysis revealed that Yeti DNA is largely local bear DNA, though there isn't a single species of bear that gets mistaken as a Yeti. Of the samples, eight were from Asian black bears, Himalayan brown bears, or Tibetan brown bears, and one belonged to a dog.

Bears are indeed known to walk on their hind legs, and, per Tombazi's description, the Asian black bear has been known to occasionally snack on rhododendron. Unlike pop culture portrayals of Yetis, none of the bears that turned up in the analysis are white - though one could imagine a snow-covered bear looking fairly abominable through distant, terrified eyes.

A femur bone from the decayed body of a purported Yeti found in a cave in Tibet. Icon Films Ltd.

"Our findings strongly suggest that the biological underpinnings of the Yeti legend can be found in local bears, and our study demonstrates that genetics should be able to unravel other, similar mysteries," said Lindqvist.

Her team isn't the first to study Yeti genetics and propose that the mythological creatures are simply local bears, but theirs was the most in-depth comparison ever made to existing animals. While sequencing the genomes of the bears, the team discovered that Himalayan brown bears, in particular, are genetically quite separate from their brown bear relatives in Tibet and North America, which may account for some of the mystery surrounding them. Glaciation that occurred 650,000 years ago, they explain, cut off this family of bears from their kin, and the resulting geographical isolation caused them to evolve a little differently. These days, Himalayan brown bears are considered vulnerable or critically endangered, and spotting them may be as rare an occurrence as a Yeti sighting.

A family of Himalayan brown bears, snapped in Pakistan. Some "Yeti" samples actually came from this species. Norwegian University of Life Sciences and Snow Leopard Foundation

Lindqvist's study may lay bare the science behind this long-running myth, but it's unlikely to decrease our fascination in the legend. If you can't make it all the way to the Himalayas to investigate for yourself, you can catch Channing Tatum, also a mythical white, towering creature, voicing an animated Yeti in in 2018.

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'Yeti' DNA Study Reveals Truth Behind Abominable Snowman Myth

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Photographer N.A. Tombazi didn't know what to make of the towering, shaggy-haired creature he saw pulling up rhododendrons in the snow-topped Himalayan mountains in 1925. Tibetan locals said it was a mythological creature called the yeti or meh-teh; around the same time, British reporters writing about the region coined the enduring term "The Abominable Snowman."

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Description:
This article discusses the different expeditions recorded in history that have been done to search for the mysterious Abominable Snowman. Some of these people have found some very convincing evidence, which could be proof the monster's existence, while others performed publicity stunts to rise in tourism.

Connection:
In this article, the reasons for belief would mainly be on simplicity and the unexplained as individuals have seen things like bones, footprints, and hair and thought to themselves that the only possible explanation for these would be that they came from the Abominable Snowman without any scientific research whatsoever. The unexplained part would be since it is uncertain where some of these clues have come from, allowing the mind to ponder the possibility of the Yeti being more than just a myth. The pseudoscience watchlist would be that money was involved because some of these people made it seem like an Abominable Snowman lived in these locations by building nests to attract tourists and fool them into seeing Yeti "proof." This is where critical thinking and skepticism have to be involved to prevent oneself from getting scammed by gimmicks like these.

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Depending on your sources, the Yeti (Dinanthropoides nivalis) is a mysterious, wild creature that lives in the steep, uninhabited mountainous regions of Russia, Nepal, Tibet and China.

With only one confirmed sighting on record, the Yeti has been described to have a relatively wide range of physical characteristics. The creature is supposed to be very muscular and weighs between 200-400 pounds. Its fur is white, but some have reported it as having dark gray or reddish-brown hair.

The Yeti's existence goes back more than two millennia. When Alexander the Great conquered the Indus Valley in 326 B.C., he demanded to see a Yeti. Word had spread that this incredible creature roamed the mountains and the invading king wanted to see one.

Image of a Yeti from a Tibetan Temple Mural

The locals convinced, or conned, their new boss that this was simply not possible. While they wanted to show Alexander a Yeti, they couldn't. Yetis were high elevation creatures. They could not survive at low altitudes, and there was no way to transport one to the king without the beast dying.

Somehow, Alexander bought that great excuse.

While rumored Yeti sightings continued to pop up throughout the ensuing centuries, the first significant breakthrough came in 1921.

A group of British explorers had returned from a Mount Everest expedition and informed a reporter they found enormous footprints on the mountain. The expedition's local guide said the animal that created those tracks was called "metoh-kangmi," which is loosely translated to "man-bear snow-man."

The reporter mistranslated "metoh" to "filthy" but still didn't think that was sexy enough for his story. He replaced the adjective with "abominable," and the Yeti took on a new name in the Western media: The Abominable Snowman.

No other significant Yeti advancements took place until three decades later. That's when another British Explorer, Eric Shipton, photographed one of the Yeti's footprints on the Menlung Glacier west of Mount Everest.

The footprint looked eerily similar to an extra-large human print with one notable exception: it had a thumb.

While many thought this discovery was the proof they needed to prove the Yeti's existence, others dismissed the track as a flattened footprint eroded and widened by the wind.

So That's Who Stole the Last of the Team's Cookies

Among the more extraordinary efforts to prove the creature's existence was a 2011 Yeti conference in Siberia. Organized by the Russian government, the forum was meant to showcase groundbreaking recent discoveries. One group of scientists announced they had discovered "indisputable proof" that a clump of gray hairs found in a cave belonged to the Yeti. They also had evidence of Yeti building nests and shelters out of twisted tree branches.

Their evidence, however, was quickly declared a publicity stunt to increase tourism in the impoverished coal-mining region. Closer examination of the Yeti-built structures showed tool-made cuts. The nests and shelter were also found along a well-traveled trail. Hardly the habitat of an elusive animal.

In 2017, scholar Daniel Taylor published what many now consider to be the definitive treatise on this shy, high altitude creature, "Yeti: The Ecology of a Mystery" (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2017).

Taylor scoured Nepal's remote Barun Valley, an area that had several reported Yeti sightings. The valley is surrounded by dense jungle with rainfall so high that humans never settled there. For a Yeti, it was the perfect hideout place.

The Tibetan Blue Bear is One of Several Species of Bear that Live in the Himalayas and are known to walk on Two Feet

When Taylor reached the Barun Valley, he found fresh footprints that he thought belonged to the Yeti.

Taylor's question was, if those are real Yeti prints, what was the Yeti?

His answer came from more observation and a healthy dose of "street smarts" from local hunters.

The Yeti prints were made by indigenous tree bears.

These tree-climbing bears have an inner digit that is forced downward so they can have an opposable grip for scaling trees. That inner digit is the thumb seen in Yeti tracks.

Regular bears cannot do this with their toes.

Taylor's discovery fell in line with earlier research on Yeti artifacts. DNA analysis on purported Yeti hair, fingernails, bones, and fragments have shown more connections to bears than mysterious magical mountain creatures.

Free Acupuncture and Chiropractics Yeti Style

Has science finally put the Yeti question to rest or are there still mysteries in the high Himalayan mountain passes and unexplored valleys on the Roof of the World?

We think so!

" Field Facts " Finding The Yeti

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Depending on your sources, the Yeti (Dinanthropoides nivalis) is a mysterious, wild creature that lives in the steep, uninhabited mountainous regions of Russia, Nepal, Tibet and China. With only one confirmed sighting on record, the Yeti has been described to have a relatively wide range of physical characteristics.

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Description:
This article describes the average life of a Yeti, including its living conditions and diet.

Connection:
The information in this article connects to the pseudoscience red flag of confirmation bias because the website was specifically made to provide information on the Yeti alone, with no statements that say otherwise. People seem to believe this information due to agenticity, as it was brought up in legends, stories, and sometimes even conspiracy theories. Believers in the Yeti most likely go onto this website to feed their need to know more about the beast. Flaws and limitations on this website would be that it only has information that correlates to the Abominable Snowman; this information may not be 100% true as there are no citations as to where these details were obtained from and some of the images used were from Minecraft. Critical thinking and skepticism must be used when encountering websites like these as they may just be making it all up for people to feed off of.

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The Himalayan mountains are a rough and harsh place to live.

Overview:
The biggest struggle within the Himalayas is the climate. Other than the harsh and frigid weather, the Yeti does not have trouble surviving. The Yeti will usually find its home in a decently-sized cave, which they find in the sides of mountains.
Climate:
The average annual temperature for the Himalayan mountains is 47 degrees Fahrenheit. Although this may not sound too cold, the temperature in this mountain range is constantly changing according to the elevation. The lower the elevation, the lower the temperature will be. This constant variation of temperature is something the Yeti has evolved to with its thick fur coat.
The Yeti's Home:
The Yeti will usually claim a cave found in the side of a mountain. The Yeti is an intelligent being, having the mind and mental capability similar to apes. As a result and mostly after trial and error in the Yeti's free time, their home usually ends up well organized. Snow could be piled in a corner as a bed.
Diet:
The Yeti does not have much problem in obtaining food since it is rather strong and fast. It is primarily carnivorous, but will consume plants if necessary. In a dire situation, it is not very picky about its meal. For a meat course, the Yeti will typically feed on non-predator animals, such as the Argali sheep, the Bharal, the Markhor, which are both either in sheep or goat families. If meat is scarce, the Yeti will usually turn to any bamboo that's around, but little else due to lack of availability. The Yeti has no predators and is at the top of its food chain.

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The Himalayan mountains are a rough and harsh place to live. Overview: The biggest struggle within the Himalayas is the climate. Other than the harsh and frigid weather, the Yeti does not have trouble surviving. The Yeti will usually find its home in a decently-sized cave, which they find in the sides of mountains.

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Description:
This video displays scientists and yeti enthusiasts coming together to observe physical evidence that may prove the existence of the Abominable Snowman.

Connection:
Patternicity is involved as people continue to see these giant footprints in the snow (which are too big to claim that they come from humans or apes). Any DNA samples tested in the lab were found to be from an ancient polar bear, not the Abominable Snowman; this could connect to the confusion of correlation with causation because people are saying that this could be a distant cousin to the Yeti, even though there hasn't been any concrete evidence proving the being's existence. These results cannot verify the existence of the Abominable Snowman, which is why critical thinking and skepticism should be involved to find out the authenticity of any proof people may find of this creature.

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Yeti mystery: Research finds genetic match of Abominable Snowman

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Description:
The video seen above contains a shaky, short lived video of what seems to be the Abominable Snowman, filmed by a local witness. The figure was seen to be walking in the Pyrenees Mountains, located in Spain.

Connection:
The figure in the video would connect to the unexplained as there was no telling of where the creature went off to after an investigation was put into place. Using critical thinking and skepticism will allow you to determine if the figure was the Abominable Snowman. Doing things such as finding more video proof and comparing them to each other will aid in the question of "is this the Abominable Snowman or a person in a costume?" Flaws and limitations within this video are that it only lasted three seconds, and the face of the beast was never seen; thus, the possibility of the video being fake could be quite high. The pseudoscience watchlist for this video would be that it deliberately creates mystery, as it cannot be explained and appeals to our need for excitement.

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Yeti, bigfoot, sasquatch or abominable snowman spotted in Pyrenees Mountains of Spain - TomoNews

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PYRENEES MOUNTAINS, SPAIN - New video footage has surfaced online that some believe confirms the existence of the mythological creature known as the yeti. The images and video were captured at a ski resort in the Pyrenees mountains of Northeastern Spain on Jan. 29.

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Description:
This video describes the appearance of the Abominable Snowman using a collection of eye witness accounts; from characteristics such as the hair on the creature's back to the sound of its roar.

Connection:
The red flag in this video is an appeal to authority as one of the people describing these attributes of the Yeti seems to portray himself as some sort of Yeti professional. The man had a plaster cast of an Abominable Snowman foot in the background of his room to show that he knows this subject (but is displayed as authoritative imagery). This video uses the reason for belief of perception and observation because the beast was described by various people who have claimed to have seen it. In terms of the pseudoscience watchlist, the results cannot be reproduced, nor verified because there was no physical evidence presented to show that the being exists; all of the evidence presented was verbal, thus the results cannot be measured, with no way of being able to verify the accuracy of these statements. Critical thinking and skepticism must be applied before believing witness statements to prevent oneself from being fooled into a fairytale. You cannot trust an individuals' word alone because you never know if they are lying to your face or telling the truth.

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Made by Elise Senis (working individually)