British scientist "has solved the mystery of" Bigfoot - BBC Russian

polar bear and its close cousin the brown bear split into separate types of tens of thousands of years ago

legendary Himalayan yeti, also called Bigfoot, in fact may be a subspecies of brown bear.

to this conclusion in his study came Professor Bryan Sykes of Oxford University, compared the DNA of hair samples belonging to the yeti supposedly, with samples of wool ancient bear.

According to the scientist, the reason for the many myths surrounding Bigfoot may be that such an animal does exist – and it is a hybrid of the polar and brown bears.

“I think that this bear – which no one alive has seen – there is a lot of the polar bear, and he may still exist – says Sykes. – Maybe it’s a hybrid, and that his behavior as state witnesses is different from that of conventional bears, becomes a source of mystery and legends “.

For their study Sykes had a DNA test comparing the wool taken from two animals.

One sample belongs to the dweller of North India in the west of the Himalayas, the second sample was taken more than 1,200 kilometers from this place in Bhutan.

first sample is taken from the mummified remains of an animal killed by a hunter about 40 years ago.

second sample, only one hair was found by the crew in the bamboo forest about 10 years ago.

comparing the results obtained with samples of genes from other animals, the scientists found a 100 percent match with the model of the jawbone of an ancient polar bear, found in Norway.

jawbone of a polar bear dates back to the age of 40 000 to 120 000 years – during this period the polar bear and its close cousin the brown bear split into separate species.

These two closely related to each other and are known to sometimes crossed with each other.

scientist himself said the results “complete surprise”.

According to him, the results do not mean that the “ancient polar bears roam the Himalayas,” but there may be subspecies of brown bears, which were the ancestors of the polar bears.

“Or it could mean a later hybridization of brown bears and the descendants of the ancient polar bear” – he says.

In 2008, American scientists have studied hair samples from the north-eastern state of Meghalaya, India, which were produced by Bi-bi-si.

have been suggestions that might belong to the yeti fur, but scientists have come to the conclusion that this is the Himalayan goat wool, known as the Himalayan Goral.