Yeti: Bear Man of Buddhist Lore (PBS)

The Crazed Hunt for the Himalayan Yeti

(Monstrum, 3/11/20) The yeti is one of the world’s most notorious cryptids, one searched for in earnest and with great enthusiasm.

The huge, hairy bear-man monster is said to roam the valleys of the Himalayas, and some people out there are convinced the “abominable snowman” (actually man bear snow man) is real.

Does this snow monster really exist? Is it a type of bear or Bigfoot? An unidentified humanoid species (Almas, Gigantopithecus)? Himalayan Buddhist lore? Complete fiction?

Let’s find out in this episode of Monstrum. Host Dr. Emily Zarka examines the yeti’s origins, from the ancient Tibetan Buddhist folklore to the modern Westernized "abominable snowman" version.

These ogres are filthy, stink and live in the snow

She explains how Buddhist beliefs, a series of intrepid 20th-century explorers, and a creatively translated word make the yeti the creature we recognize today — and how it led to some pretty incredible scientific discoveries.

• Written and hosted by Dr. Emily Zarka. Director: David Schulte. Executive Producer: Amanda Fox. Producer: Stephanie Noone. Illustrator: Samuel Allen. Editor: Derek Borsheim. Produced by Spotzen for PBS Digital Studios.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gigantopithecus looks just like a yeti that goes on all fours (Concavenator/wiki)

• Bellezza, John Vincent. Spirit-mediums, Sacred Mountains and Related Bon Textual Traditions in Upper Tibet: Calling Down the Gods. BRILL, 2005.
• Capper, D. S. (2012). The Friendly Yeti. Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture, 6(1), 71-87. Available at: aquila.usm.edu/fac_pubs/14855.
• Choi, Charles Q. “‘Yeti Hair? Nothing so Abominable, Scientists Find.” Live Science, Nov. 29, 2017. livescience.com/61048-yeti....
• Hodgson, B. H. "Summary Description of Four New Species of Otter. By B. H. Hodgson, Esq., Resident at Catmandu, Nepal." Annals of Natural History, vol. 5, no. 28, 1840, p. 27+
• Hodgson, B. H. “On the Mammalia of Nepal.” Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. 1 (1832): pp. 335-349.
• Howard-Bury, Lieut.-Col. C.K and Other Members of the Mount Everest Expedition. Mount Everest: The Reconnaissance, 1921. Longmans, Green and Co., 1922.
• Kets de Vries, Manfred F. R. "Abominable Snowman or Bigfoot: A Psychoanalytic Search for the Origin of Yeti and Sasquatch Tales" Fabula, 23.1 (2009): 246-261.
• Lan, Tianying, et. al. “Evolutionary history of enigmatic bears in the Tibetan Plateau‑Himalaya region and the identity of the yeti.” Proceedings Royal Society, 284: 20171804.
• Loxton, Daniel, and Donald R. Prothero. Abominable Science!: Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids. Columbia University Press, 2013.
• Regal, Brian. Searching for Sasquatch: Crackpots, Eggheads, and Cryptozoology, Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.
• Ward, Michael. “Everest 1951: the footprints attributed to the Yeti—myth and reality.” Wilderness and Environmental Medicine, 8 (1997): pp. 29–32.
• Waddell, Laurence Austine. Among the Himalayas. 2nd edition. Westminster: Archibald Constable and Co., 1900. "Yeti." Chambers Dictionary of the Unexplained, edited by Una McGovern, Chambers Harrap, 1st edition, 2007.

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