1a. Yeti Although the North American Bigfoot may be slightly more famous, the Yeti of the Himalayas probably merits distinction as the great-granddaddy of the missing links. The giant, dark-furred creature that leaves mammoth footprints in the snow has been described in the folklore of Nepal and Tibet for countless generations. Its name is derived from the Sherpa term yeh-teh, which loosely translates as "that-there thing." The first European to encounter evidence of a Yeti was British explorer L.A. Waddell, who saw large footprints in the snows on a Himalayan peak. But the creature would not become internationally known until 1921, an expedition led by Charles Kenneth Howard-Bury found footprints while climbing Mt. Everest, and Howard-Bury spotted distant dark figures through his binoculars. The explorer later told journalists that his Sherpa guides had called the creatures metoh-kangmi, a generic Nepalese term for mountain beasts. This word was accidentally mistranslated, and suddenly news reports were claiming that explorers had seen a man-monster the natives called the "abominable snowman." The erroneous phrase had a certain ring that aroused people's imagination around the world, and the myth of the Yeti was instantly immortalized. The popularity of the "snowman" term probably helped generate the misconception that the Yeti has white fur, sort of like the Wampa snow beast in The Empire Strikes Back, when in fact most sightings specify that the creature has a coat of black or dark brown hair. In 1951, mountaineer Eric Shipton, the leader of the Everest Reconnaissance Expedition, discovered a well-preserved giant footprint at 18,000 feet. It was longer than an axe handle (as shown in the photo on this page), measuring 18 inches long by 13 inches wide, and appeared to bear only four toes, which were extremely broad. Skeptics analyzing his photo argued that such oversized prints can be formed by normal tracks that melt and spread out in the snow. That's a logical hypothesis in snowy areas that are easily accessible, but in this case, no one could say what man or animal might possibly have left the original, pre-melted print at such a high elevation on Mt. Everest. Next: The Pangboche Hand Missing Links Primate Center Index Back to Cryptozoo Entrance