Bigfoot News Stories...

Wed October 31 2001

Explorers track Sumatran Yeti

By Jeanette Oldham
The Scotsman

A TEAM of British amateur explorers may have found evidence for the existence of the legendary Sumatran Yeti.

Preliminary analysis shows that samples of hair and footprints taken on the team’s trip to the Indonesian jungle have not come from any known primate in the region.

Some scientists believe that they may belong to the orang-pendek, or Sumatran, yeti.

Clumps of hair have been sent for DNA analysis in Oxford and Canberra in Australia, to determine whether they are those of a new species, which would most likely be a relative of the orang-utan.

Scientists hope the results of tests will provide valuable new information about the anatomical link between humans and apes.

The Sumatran Yeti, first mentioned by Marco Polo after he visited the island in 1292, is reputed to resemble the orang-utan.

It has orange hair and stands about 5ft tall, but walks with a more upright stance and is not supposed to be dangerous to people.

Three English explorers spent three weeks in the rainforests tracking the creature which features prominently in Sumatran legends.

One of the explorers, crypto-zoologist Andrew Sanderson, said: "Over the years there have been many sightings of the yeti, but no one has actually come up with any concrete evidence.

"We seem to be the first people to do that. We didn’t see the creature ourselves but we tracked it for several weeks and we managed to make a plaster cast of one of its footprints.

"It is absolutely perfect and experts are already beginning to get excited about it."

Despite the potential scepticism about the creature’s existence, the explorers are confident their discovery will make history.

Mr Sanderson added: "It doesn’t matter who you are, you could be a scientist with nine letters behind your name or you could go with a packed lunch and a camera for a day trip; if you are in the right place at the right time you can get lucky."

Copyright: Scotsman.com