evidence for their existence is mostly hair samples, footprints, and vague sightings. Scientists believe the Alma and Yeti are surviving ancestors of our
own species; but until specimens are caught, living or dead, final proof is missing.
The Alma and Yeti: Wildmen of Asia
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In the forests and plains of Siberia and China and
in the mountains of the Himalayas, live two races of mysterious hairy
wild people. Called "Alma" by the
Chinese and Soviets and "Yeti" by the Nepalese and Tibetans,
these creatures average five feet in height
and are covered from head to toe by a coarse hair
-- silver and white in the mountainous regions,
and orange and brown in the forests.
These creatures are seen only at random, and the
evidence for their existence is mostly hair samples, footprints, and
vague sightings. Scientists believe the Alma and Yeti are surviving ancestors of our
own species; but until specimens are caught, living or dead,
final proof is missing.
There is much disagreement on both what the
word 'Yeti' means, and where the name 'Abominable Snowman' -- the common
Western and European
name for the beasts -- came from (there doesn't
appear to be any explaination of the word 'Alma' yet). According to Sir
Edmund Hillary in his article
in the 1961 World Book Encyclopedia 'Yeti' is believed
to have originally meant "all-devouring creature"; however,
according to Jenny Randles in her book:
Strange & Unexplained Mysteries of the 20th
Century, the word is from the Sherpa Yeh-teh
meaning 'rock thing.'
As for the title 'Abominable Snowman', in
Stranger Than Science, Frank Edwards asserts that
it is said to either be from a translation of the
word 'Yeti', or a translation of the Tibetan name
for the creatures, metoh kangmi; but the authors
of the Webster's Third New International Dictionary
feel the phrase is a mistranslation of the Tibetan
'mi-te', or 'man-bear'. While Jenny Randles states
that it comes from a mistranslation of a Tibetan
phrase that actually translates as 'manlike creature
that is not a man.'
As for the legend itself, there is only little variation.
The Yeti is said to have a horrible scent and
white or gray hair, though most other sources
describe these creatures as having dark hair.
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