A study of purported Yeti samples from the Himalayas indicates that the legendary creature may be, rather than something abominable, merely just a bear.
The remarkable findings arrive by way of a newly-published scientific paper which details how a team of biologists examined mitochondrial DNA extracted from nine different specimens said to have come from the cryptid.
Among the 'pieces' of Yeti that provided the genetic information were hair samples, a tooth, a bone, and some scat.
When researchers looked at that mtDNA, they found that an overwhelming eight out of the nine samples were revealed to have actually come from different species of bears that roam the Himalayas.
Sadly for those holding out hope that the one 'anomalous' specimen wound wind up being the Abominable Snowman himself, that outlier was just something that had come from a dog.
As one can imagine, the paper's findings have spawned a slew of headlines declaring the Yeti to be 'dead' thanks to what appears to be a thorough scientific debunking of the legendary creature.
However, fans of the creature should not start mourning just yet as the small sample size studied by the group does not necessarily speak for the whole of the Yeti legend.
Between eyewitness accounts and the simple fact that it's impossible to prove a negative, it's safe to say that the creature will live on, at the very least, in legend for a long time to come.
And, as its cryptozoological 'cousin' Nessie taught us this year, all it takes is a handful of sightings to resurrect an iconic beast from the proverbial grave.
Source: Science