'Oriental Yeti' found in China is no Yeti
Hunters in central China have trapped a strange-looking beast dubbed the 鈥淥riental Yeti,鈥� though one of the world鈥檚 preeminent Bigfoot experts says the animal in question is no Yeti.
Anybody whose seen the movie 鈥淗arry and the Hendersons鈥� (or episode 13 in the third season of 鈥�30 Rock鈥�) could tell you that.
鈥淭his is not a true yeti. This is more media madness,鈥� says , author of more than 30 books on mythical creatures, including 鈥淏igfoot! The True Story of Apes in America鈥� published by Simon and Schuster.
Photos today show a four-legged, thick-tailed, hairless animal caught in Sichuan province, reports . The mystery beast is now being sent to scientists in Beijing for DNA testing.
"It looks a bit like a bear but it doesn't have any fur and it has a tail like a kangaroo,鈥� one of the Chinese hunters said. "It also does not sound like a bear 鈥� it has a voice more like a cat and it is calling all the time 鈥� perhaps it is looking for the rest of its kind or maybe it's the last one?鈥�
If it sounds like a cat, then it probably is a cat, says Mr. Coleman, who opened the in November in downtown Portland, Maine. The museum features and some 150 foot casts credited to Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and the yeti.
China鈥檚 so-called 鈥淥riental Yeti鈥� appears to be either an Asian palm or common civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus), or a masked or Himalayan palm civet (Paguma larvata), says Coleman, who spoke by phone today with the Monitor. The cat looks to have lost its hair because of a bad case of mange 鈥� the skin disease caused by parasitic mites. Similar-looking animals in the American southwest have come to be called , a hairless quadruped that is likely no more than a dog or cat with mange.
In the past 60 years cryptozology 鈥� the study of mythical or legendary animals 鈥� has grown into somewhat reputable science, with several universities now offering courses in the subject. Coleman created one of the first, at the University of Southern Maine, where he taught in the zoology department for two decades.
鈥淚f the Asian press starts using the word 鈥榶eti鈥� for every unidentified animal it鈥檚 going to muddy the waters of cryptozoology,鈥� Coleman says.
鈥淓ven though we haven鈥檛 found the yeti, we have a body of literature on the yeti going back 3,000 years,鈥� he adds. The yeti of central Asia and the Sasquatch of the Pacific Northwest are an ape-like biped between 4 and 7 feet tall, and a version of it exists in many regions worldwide: China's yeti is normally called the yeren; in Australia, it's the yowie; in Malaysia, it's the sejarang gigi; and in Brazil, they call it the mapinguari.
Coleman says the field of cryptozoology has grown from a handful of people into tens of thousands of followers, and he alone gets hundreds of emails daily from self-proclaimed cryptozoologists. Even chimpanzee researcher says she is sure that undiscovered primates, such as the Yeti or Sasquatch, exist.
鈥淲hen I鈥檓 asked do I believe in yeti or Bigfoot, I say 鈥榥o,鈥� because belief is the realm of religion. I consider that there is good evidence for the yeti, enough for us to pursue it. But I鈥檓 not convinced it鈥檚 a folklore tradition or a zoological tradition.
鈥淚 occupy the skeptical, open-minded middle,鈥� he continues. 鈥淭he blind debunkers are just as dangerous as the true believers. I鈥檓 a skeptical, open-minded cryptozoologist.鈥�
