Russian Yetis Migrating North

The United States is not the only country in the world to support a population of cryptozoologists. British researchers have been trying for years to prove that the Loch Ness Monster exists, the Chinese have tried to capture a specimen of a jungle ape-man called the Yaren, and Russian "hominologists" apparently study yetis, the so-called "abominable snowmen" of Asia. One of these researchers now claims that these creatures are being affected by climate change.

I suppose it should come as no surprise that if yetis indeed exist, they must be affected by the environment just like every other animal. Igor Burtsev, a Russian cryptozoologist, has announced that this is indeed the case - this year's hot Siberian summer has forced the mysterious creatures northward. He explained that while most of the yetis in Siberia live in near the caverns known as Azas Cave in the Mountain Shoria region, several have now been spotted further north of the area than in previous years.

Hominologists believe that the heat might have served as a reason for the migration of the Yetis north of the Azas Cave that was considered to be their home. The Director of the International Centre of Hominology in Moscow Igor Burtsev has been studying the Yetis for nearly half a century now. He has been cooperating with thousands of volunteer researchers all over the world: as you know, there is an opinion that there is no such science as hominology in the world today. The Yetis live everywhere but most of them live in Mountain Shoria, Igor Burtsev says.


"We have come to the conclusion that a Yeti is actually a human being since it can talk and communicate with people. And this is the main criteria for making such a statement. But the fact that they do not resemble people is quite another matter. They are well adapted to nature, and they lead the life of an animal. They use neither instruments of labour nor clothes or fire, but they are sufficiently intellectual. Besides, they are well known for their paranormal capabilities. And another thing of importance here. They live in almost inaccessible areas."

Reinhold Messner, in his book My Quest for the Yeti, makes what I found a pretty compelling argument regarding the yetis of Nepal. In that country the creatures are venerated and shrines are maintained that contain relics including alleged body parts. However, whenever western scientists get a chance to examine these remains, the usual conclusion is that they come from a known animal - the Himalayan bear. People in Nepal are also occasionally attacked by animals they describe as yetis, but they often have injuries that look like they were made by claws, which no known primate has. Messner finally tracked down some Nepalese individuals spoke his language well and who had seen the yeti, and those individuals told him in no uncertain terms that the Himalayan bear and the yeti were in fact the same creature. So is the mystery solved?

If this Russian researcher's claims are to be believed, it sounds like signs point to no. Bears cannot "talk and communicate" with people, and Siberia is outside the Himalayan bear's range. In fact, aside from the claims related to "paranormal capabilities" these Russian yetis sound more like primitive humans than anything else. If the area in which they live is truly inaccessible, could a tribe of prehistoric humans have endured into the modern era? It's certainly possible, and a remote area like Siberia is one of the few places in which it could have happened. It may very well be that these Russian yetis also belong to a known species - our own.