'Yeti' footprints seen by Indian Army raise ridiculous questions
Please tell me this a joke.
Yeti. The abominable snowman. Bigfoot's snow-loving cousin. The cryptid creature is getting some attention from the Indian Army, which sent out a tweet Monday saying a mountaineering team spotted mysterious Yeti footprints near a base camp at Makalu mountain in Nepal.
For the first time, an #IndianArmy Moutaineering Expedition Team has sited Mysterious Footprints of mythical beast 'Yeti' measuring 32x15 inches close to Makalu Base Camp on 09 April 2019. This elusive snowman has only been sighted at Makalu-Barun National Park in the past. pic.twitter.com/AMD4MYIgV7
— ADG PI - INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) April 29, 2019
It's hard to tell if the tweet from the branch of the Indian Armed Forces is meant to be humorous since it reads very deadpan. It also includes a serious group portrait of the army's Mountaineering Expedition team and a mention of a previous Yeti sighting at Makalu-Barun National Park in the past.
The Indian Army didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
The purported footprints are odd in many ways. For starters, the army says they measure 32 inches (81 centimeters) long and 15 inches (38 centimeters) wide, which is about twice as long as an elephant's footprint. There's a long distance between each print and they're laid out in a very straight line that doesn't correspond to a normal bipedal stride.
As to possible explanations, the indentations could be the work of snowshoes, a prank, a real animal, or maybe a Bigfoot on vacation in the Himalayas (jk).
Biologist Charlotte Lindqvist with the University at Buffalo led a 2017 DNA study that found so-called Yeti bones, skin and hair actually came from bears and a dog.
"So far, our findings and all genetic evidence extracted from claimed yeti remains have demonstrated that they came from bears that live on the region today," Lindqvist said. "No research has proven the opposite and I am not at all convinced these footprints provide any new evidence to prove otherwise."
Count me in with the skeptics on this one.
