19 July 2018

The Royal Society Affirms Captain Haddock's Yeti Hypothesis

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The Wife™ has recently been ethusiastically enjoying a book on cryptozoology and cryptids by Bryan Sykes, Bigfoot, Yeti, and the Last Neanderthal. She likes it because the author seems to be a skeptic who kinda wants to believe but is unafraid of exploring the subject anyhow. She says it's compelling reading.

In her own exploration of the subject, she stumbled on a report in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B (yes, that Royal Society) titled "Genetic analysis of hair samples attributed to yeti, bigfoot and other anomalous primates". This study reports on the effort to resolve the origins of a number of hair samples of 'anomalous primates'; the abstract at least dashes the hopes of cryptid-lovers early; the closest to outre it gets is that two samples were synchronous with the Paleolithic polar bear, the rest were traceable to a 'range of extant mammals'.

Now, I'm no real Tintinologist, but my spouse knew the following would delight me:


... confirmed Captain Haddock's suspions that the yeti was an ungulate.

Sure, Tintin was the main character, but not only did Captain Haddock steal the show most of the time, he's the one that got published in the scientific literature. Not bad for a reformed (although unwittingly-so) drunken sea captain, but then, Haddock was a genius at self-reinvention.

 Lest we forget, the cite:
One wonders what Herge would have thought. Probably would have been delighted.

Captain Haddock for the win.

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