What if the so-called “Abominable Snowmen” weren't “men” at all?  A British geneticist says he has matched hairs attributed to the legendary Himalayan Yeti to a type of bear that roamed the earth tens of thousands of years ago.  First, you have to believe that the cryptids actually exist.

“All my colleagues think I'm taking a risk in doing this, but I'm curious, and I am in a position to actually do something to answer the questions,” says Oxford University's Bryan Sykes.

Professor Sykes conducted the DNA tests on hairs from two unidentified animals:  One was mummified remains of a creature shot by a hunter around 40 years ago near Ladakh, India, in the western Himalayas; The other was a single hair, found in a bamboo forest by an expedition of filmmakers around 10 years ago.

Sykes conclusively matched those samples to a polar bear jawbone found in Svalbard, Norway – from an ancient type of Polar Bear that lives between 40,000 and 120,000 years ago.  Back then, the Polar Bear and the Brown Bear were separating into distinct species. 

Is the “Abominable Snowman” really just a type of bear that has escaped science until this date?  Some of his Sykes’ colleagues say his explanation is as good as any other. 

These findings haven’t been peer-reviewed yet.  But Sykes has a good track record with humans, and so far is accepted as someone who isn’t a quack.  Sykes himself notes that more research is needed.