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Investigator 63, 1998 November. (Reprinted courtesy of The Advertiser 1998, April 4)
LONDON. He is a fearsome sight – and, far from being mythical his descendants may still be stalking the Earth. Fossil evidence supports the claim that the yeti may be more than a folk legend. Tales of the abominable snowman have intrigued adventurers and baffled scientists for 150 years. Until now, any evidence has been inconclusive or obviously fake. But after
studying teeth
and bones unearthed
across Central Asia, Professor Chris Stringer of the Natural History
Museum
in London believes the elusive beast of the Himalayas could have been
inspired
by a prehistoric giant ape.
Up to 2.5m tall
with
massive arms, short
stumpy legs and striking red hair, the ape wandered across South-East
Asia
– probably balancing on its knuckles, gorilla style.
This week, the
museum
unveiled a slightly
larger-than-life robot model of the ape. Controlled by computer, it
glares,
snarls and chews on a piece of bamboo.
The model forms
part of
the Myths and Monsters
exhibition, which examines the evidence for beasts of legend. Other
animatronic models
show how giants
and dragons may have been inspired by fossilised remains of dinosaurs
and
mammals.
Scientists have
unearthed
four jawbones over
the past 50 years, along with hundreds of teeth.
"It overlapped
with humans
so our ancestors
would have seen these creatures," said Dr Stringer, an expert on human
evolution. He added that it would be wrong to assume that yeti-like
modern-day
descendants could not survive without being discovered.
"There are species of jungle deer and wild cattle that have only been found in the last ten years," he said.
– Daily
Mail Pic
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