Sykes’ Yeti Book Retitled?
Posted by: Craig Woolheater on November 20th, 2014
Originally titled The Yeti Enigma: a DNA detective story, as shown on the cover artwork below:
It is now titled: Nature of the Beast: The First Scientific Evidence for the Survival of Apemen into Modern Times
On Facebook, Dr. Meldrum was asked “if you knew why he’d changed his book title from ‘The Yeti Enigma’ to ‘The Nature of the Beast: The first scientific evidence for the survival of ancient hominids in modern times.’?
That sounds like he may have something?”
I think you are reading too much into the post. He hasn’t renamed the book. The publishers simply titled their blurb that way. Their use of “for” most likely implies”addressing.” There is nothing in the abstract to suggest any breakthrough — unfortunately. I look forward to read what he concludes from his results.
~ Don Jeffrey Meldrum
Nature of the Beast: The First Scientific Evidence for the Survival of Apemen into Modern Times is available for pre-order now from Amazon.co.uk with a publish date oh April 9th, 2015.
Almost, but not quite human, the yeti and its counterparts from wild regions of the world, still exert a powerful atavistic influence on us. Is the yeti just a phantasm of our imagination, or is it a real creature? A survivor from our own savage ancestry? This is the mystery that Bryan Sykes set out to unlock.
Three hair samples from the remote Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan are the cause of the investigation. The hair samples were from the miogi, the Bhutanese yeti, that legendary creature of the high snows that has haunted the imagination of travellers for centuries. Professor Sykes was asked to identify the hairs using DNA analysis. The miogi hairs did not surrender their secrets easily, but eventually two were identified as known species of bear. The third remained a mystery.
Ten years later two scientific developments caused the migoi to enter Professor Sykes’ thoughts again. The first, a purely technical improvement, meant that it was now possible to get a very good DNA signal from a single hair. The second development came from the surprising conclusion of an article published in 2010. This paper contained the details of the DNA sequence from another human species, Homo neanderthalensis, the Neanderthals, widely thought to be extinct. One of the many theories to account for the yeti legend is that there were small groups of Neanderthals that had managed to survive until recent times, or maybe even until the present day. If so, would it be possible to detect recent interbreeding between our own species and Neanderthals in the genomes of indigenous people living in remote regions. Locations where the yeti legends are strongest and the sightings most numerous?
Professor Sykes set a goal to locate and analyse as many hair samples as possible, with links the yeti. In doing so Professor Sykes found himself entering a strange world of mystery and sensationalism, fraud and obsession and even the supernatural. Protected by the ruthless vigour of genetic analysis he was able to listen to the stories of the yeti without having to form an opinion. The only opinion that mattered was the DNA.
Two years on the project is almost complete, and there have been some surprising and significant discoveries. The yeti remains an enigma. There is something out there. But what?
See also: The Quest for the Yeti
Co-founder of Cryptomundo in 2005.
I have appeared in or contributed to the following TV programs, documentaries and films:
OLN's Mysterious Encounters: "Caddo Critter", Southern Fried Bigfoot, Travel Channel's Weird Travels: "Bigfoot", History Channel's MonsterQuest: "Swamp Stalker", The Wild Man of the Navidad, Destination America's Monsters and Mysteries in America: Texas Terror - Lake Worth Monster, Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot: Return to Boggy Creek and Beast of the Bayou.
hows the book different than the tv show?