Editing Yeti (section)

===20th century===
The frequency of reports increased during the early 20th century when Westerners began making determined attempts to scale the many mountains in the area and occasionally reported seeing odd creatures or strange tracks.

[[File:Yeti footprint, Singaleela ridge, 1944, photoed by CR Cooke.jpg|thumb|Purported Yeti footprint taken by C.R. Cooke in 1944]]

In 1925, [[N. A. Tombazi]], a photographer and member of the Royal Geographical Society, writes that he saw a creature at about {{convert|15000|ft|abbr=on}} near [[Zemu Glacier]]. Tombazi later wrote that he observed the creature from about {{convert|200|to|300|yd|abbr=on}}, for about a minute. "Unquestionably, the figure in outline was exactly like a human being, walking upright and stopping occasionally to pull at some dwarf [[rhododendron]] bushes. It showed up dark against the snow, and as far as I could make out, wore no clothes." About two hours later, Tombazi and his companions descended the mountain and saw the creature's prints, described as "similar in shape to those of a man, but only {{convert|6|to|7|in|abbr=on}} long by {{convert|4|in|abbr=on}} wide...<ref>{{convert|6|to|7|in|abbr=on}}, {{convert|4|in|abbr=on}}</ref> The prints were undoubtedly those of a biped."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Abell |first1=George Ogden |last2=Singer |first2=Barry|year=1981|title=Science and The Paranormal: Probing the Existence of The Supernatural|publisher=Scribner|page=32|isbn=0-684-16655-0}}.</ref>

[[File:Yeti footprint 2, Singaleela ridge, Darjeeling, 1944.jpg|thumb|Purported Yeti footprint taken by C.R. Cooke in 1944]]

During the autumn of 1937, [[John Hunt, Baron Hunt|John Hunt]] and Pasang Sherpa (later Pasang Dawa Lama) encountered footprints on the approaches to and at the Zemu Gap above the [[Zemu Glacier]] that were thought to belong to a pair of Yetis.<ref>{{cite book |title=Dust and Snow. Half a lifetime in India|author=Cooke, C. Reginald |year=1988 |publisher=C.R. Cooke|pages=327–328}}</ref>

In June 1944, [[C.R. Cooke]], his wife Maragaret, and a group of porters encountered very large bipedal prints in soft mud at {{convert|14,000|ft|abbr=on}} just below the [[Singalila Ridge]], which the porters said were of the "Jungli Admi" (wild man). The creature had come up through bushes on the steep hillside from Nepal and crossed the track before continuing up to the ridge. Cooke wrote "We laid Maragaret's sunglasses beside each print to indicate its size and took photographs. These prints were strange and larger than any normal human foot, {{convert|14|inches|abbr=on}} heel to toe, with the great toe set back to one side, a first toe, also large, and three little toes closely bunched together."<ref>{{cite book |title=Dust and Snow. Half a lifetime in India|author=Cooke, C. Reginald |year=1988 |publisher=C.R. Cooke|page=327}}</ref>

Peter Byrne reported finding a yeti footprint in 1948, in northern [[Sikkim]], India near the [[Zemu Glacier]], while on holiday from a [[Royal Air Force]] assignment in India.<ref name="sikkim">{{Cite book |last=McLeod |first=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_6FmjJYd13wC&pg=PA54 |title=Anatomy of a beast: obsession and myth on the trail of Bigfoot |publisher=University of California Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-520-25571-5 |page=54}}</ref>
[[File:Eric Shipton yeti footprint.png|thumb|One of the three photographs by Eric Shipton in 1951 with an ice axe being used for scale.]]
Western interest in the Yeti peaked dramatically in the 1950s. While attempting to scale [[Mount Everest]] in 1951, [[Eric Shipton]] took photographs of a number of large prints in the snow, at about {{convert|6000|m|abbr=on}} above sea level. Shipton took three photographs, one depicting the tracks, and other two of one particular print which was size compared by a pickaxe, and boot. The footprints had distinct two large toes, and three smaller digits close together. These photos have been subject to intense scrutiny and debate. Some argue they are the best evidence of Yeti's existence, while others contend the prints are those of a mundane creature that have been distorted by the melting snow. [[Jeffrey Meldrum]] examined a reconstructed form of the print in 2008, noting that one of the large toes was the result of [[Macrodactyly]]. He also stated the alignment of the toes matched that of a [[Hominidae|great ape]], and the Yeti would likely spend more time in the [[Subtropics|subtropical]] region of the Himalayas. Meldrum stated it was hard to conclusively say the prints were genuine since Shipton only took two photos of a single track.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wells |first=C. |title=Who's Who in British Climbing |publisher=The Climbing Company |year=2008 |isbn=978-0955660108}}</ref><ref name="randi-1995" />

In 1953, Sir [[Edmund Hillary]] and [[Tenzing Norgay]] reported seeing large footprints while scaling Mount Everest. Hillary would later discount Yeti reports as unreliable. In his first autobiography Tenzing said that he believed the Yeti was a large ape, and although he had never seen it himself his father had seen one twice, but in his second autobiography he said he had become much more sceptical about its existence.<ref>{{cite book |title=Man of Everest&nbsp;– The Autobiography of Tenzing|author=Tenzing Norgay (told to and written by James Ramsey Ullman) |year=1955 |publisher=George Harrap & Co, Ltd}}</ref>

[[File:Yetiscalp.JPG|thumb|Purported Yeti scalp at Khumjung monastery]]

During the ''[[Daily Mail]]'' Snowman Expedition of 1954,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cabernet.demon.co.uk/JAJ/snowman1954/1954-snowman-team.html |title=Daily Mail Team Will Seek Snowman |publisher=Cabernet.demon.co.uk |access-date=27 January 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070310233806/http://www.cabernet.demon.co.uk/JAJ/snowman1954/1954-snowman-team.html |archive-date=10 March 2007 }}</ref> the mountaineering leader [[John Angelo Jackson]] made the first trek from Everest to [[Kanchenjunga]] in the course of which he photographed symbolic paintings of the Yeti at [[Tengboche]] [[gompa]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Adventure Travels in the Himalaya |author=Jackson, John Angelo |pages=135–52, 136|year= 2005|chapter=Chapter 17|isbn=978-81-7387-175-7 |publisher=Indus Pub. Co. |location=New Delhi}}</ref> Jackson tracked and photographed many footprints in the snow, most of which were identifiable. However, there were many large footprints which could not be identified. These flattened footprint-like indentations were attributed to erosion and subsequent widening of the original footprint by wind and particles.

[[Image:pangcboche-19534-John-Jackson.jpg|thumb|Dr. [[Biswamoy Biswas]] examining the Pangboche Yeti scalp during the ''[[Daily Mail]]'' Snowman Expedition of 1954]]

On 19 March 1954, the ''Daily Mail'' printed an article which described expedition teams obtaining hair specimens from what was alleged to be a Yeti [[scalp]] found in the [[Pangboche]] monastery. The hairs were black to dark brown in colour in dim light, and fox red in sunlight. The hair was analysed by Professor [[Frederic Wood Jones]],<ref>{{cite journal|author=Dobson, Jessie | title= Obituary: 79, Frederic Wood-Jones, F.R.S.: 1879–1954 |journal=Man | volume=56 |date=June 1956 |pages=82–83}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author= Wilfred E. le Gros Clark| title= Frederic Wood-Jones, 1879–1954 |journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society | volume= 1 |date=November 1955 | pages=118–134| doi= 10.1098/rsbm.1955.0009| doi-access= free }}</ref> an expert in human and comparative anatomy. During the study, the hairs were bleached, cut into sections and analysed microscopically. The research consisted of taking [[Micrograph|microphotographs]] of the hairs and comparing them with hairs from known animals such as bears and orangutans. Jones concluded that the hairs were not actually from a scalp. He contended that while some animals do have a ridge of hair extending from the pate to the back, no animals have a ridge (as in the Pangboche scalp) running from the base of the forehead across the pate and ending at the nape of the neck. Jones was unable to pinpoint exactly the animal from which the Pangboche hairs were taken. He was, however, convinced that the hairs were not from a bear or [[Hominidae|anthropoid ape]], but instead from the shoulder of a coarse-haired hoofed animal.<ref>Izzard</ref>

[[Sławomir Rawicz]] claimed in his book ''The Long Walk'', published in 1956, that as he and some others were crossing the Himalayas in the winter of 1940, their path was blocked for hours by two bipedal animals that were doing seemingly nothing but shuffling around in the snow.<ref>{{cite book|author=Rawicz, Sławomir|year=1956|title=The Long Walk|publisher=Globe Pequot Press|chapter=22|pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780762761296/page/258 258–60]|isbn=978-1-59921-975-2|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780762761296/page/258}}</ref>

Beginning in 1957, the Texas oil businessman and adventurer [[Tom Slick]] led an expedition to the Nepal Himalayas to investigate Yeti reports, with the anthropologist prof. [[Carleton S. Coon]] as one of its members.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Times |first=A. m Rosenthal Special To the New York |date=5 February 1957 |title=TEXAN WILL LEAD 'SNOWMAN' HUNT; Will Investigate Tales That Strange Creature Roams Himalayas in Nepal |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/02/05/archives/texan-will-lead-snowman-hunt-will-investigate-tales-that-strange.html |access-date=14 February 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=24 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124051002/https://www.nytimes.com/1957/02/05/archives/texan-will-lead-snowman-hunt-will-investigate-tales-that-strange.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1959, supposed Yeti [[feces]] were collected by one of Slick's expeditions; fecal analysis found a [[Parasitism|parasite]] which could not be classified.{{citation needed|date=October 2019}} The United States government thought that finding the Yeti was likely enough to create three rules for American expeditions searching for it: obtain a Nepalese permit, do not harm the Yeti except in self-defense, and let the Nepalese government approve any news reporting on the animal's discovery.<ref name="bedard20110902">{{cite news|url=https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2011/09/02/documents-show-feds-believed-in-yeti?google_editors_picks=true|title=Documents Show Feds Believed in the Yeti|work=U.S. News & World Report|date=2 September 2011|access-date=2 September 2011|author1=Bedard, Paul|author2=Fox, Lauren|archive-date=19 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619215612/https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2011/09/02/documents-show-feds-believed-in-yeti?google_editors_picks=true|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1959, actor [[James Stewart]], while visiting India, reportedly smuggled the so-called [[Pangboche Hand]], by concealing it in his luggage when he flew from India to London.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anomalist.com/milestones/stewart.html|title=Milestones – Jimmy Stewart|publisher=Anomalist.com|date=2 July 1997|access-date=27 January 2012|archive-date=3 January 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110103041638/http://www.anomalist.com/milestones/stewart.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1960, [[Edmund Hillary|Sir Edmund Hillary]] mounted the [[1960–61 Silver Hut expedition]] to the Himalayas, which was to collect and analyse physical evidence of the Yeti. Hillary borrowed a supposed Yeti scalp from the Khumjung monastery then himself and Khumjo Chumbi (the village headman), brought the scalp back to London<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/dec/23/yeti-scalp-nepal-edmund-hillary|title=From the archive: Yeti Scalp (They Say It's 240 Years Old) Is Here – by Air|date=22 December 2009|orig-date=23 December 1960|work=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=12 March 2019}}</ref> where a small sample was cut off for testing. Marca Burns made a detailed examination of the sample of skin and hair from the margin of the alleged Yeti scalp and compared it with similar samples from the [[Himalayan serow|serow]], [[Tibetan blue bear|blue bear]] and [[Asian black bear|black bear]]. Burns concluded the sample "was probably made from the skin of an animal closely resembling the sampled specimen of Serow, but definitely not identical with it: possibly a local variety or race of the same species, or a different but closely related species."<ref>{{Cite journal|jstor=29787501|title=Report on a Sample of Skin and Hair from the Khumjung Yeti Scalp|journal=Genus|volume=18|issue=1/4|pages=80–88|last1=Burns|first1=Marca|year=1962}}</ref>

Up to the 1960s, belief in the yeti was relatively common in Bhutan and in 1966 a Bhutanese stamp was made to honour the creature.<ref>{{cite news |title=New Bhutan Stamp Shows 'Abomidable Snowman' |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=QrhIAAAAIBAJ&pg=5041,5654462 |newspaper=Associated Press via The Morning Record |date=10 December 1966 |author=Kronish, Syd |access-date=11 April 2020 |archive-date=1 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301070720/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=QrhIAAAAIBAJ&pg=5041,5654462 |url-status=live }}</ref> However, in the 21st century, belief in the being has declined.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Yeti-myth-dying-out-as-Bhutan-modernizes-3273266.php |author=Sullivan, Tim |agency=Associated Press |date=17 August 2008 |title=Yeti myth dying out as Bhutan modernizes |access-date=20 February 2011 |archive-date=16 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716045937/http://articles.sfgate.com/2008-08-17/news/17125008_1_bhutan-yeti-abominable-snowman |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=XPpRAAAAIBAJ&pg=1154,4902576&dq=yeti+bhutan&hl=en |title=Losing the yeti in the forgotten nation of Butan |work=The Victoria Advocate |author=Sullivan, Tim |date=10 August 2008 |access-date=11 April 2020 |archive-date=27 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227023045/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=XPpRAAAAIBAJ&pg=1154,4902576&dq=yeti+bhutan&hl=en |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1970, British mountaineer [[Don Whillans]] claimed to have witnessed a creature when scaling [[Annapurna]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Perrin|first=Jim|year=2005|title=The villain: the life of Don Whillans|publisher=The Mountaineers Books|pages=261–62|isbn=0099416727}}.</ref> He reported that he once saw it moving on all fours.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Loxton|first1=Daniel|last2=Prothero|first2=Donald R.|title=Abominable Science!: Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kTsgAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA102|year=2013|publisher=Columbia University Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-231-52681-4|page=102}}</ref>

In 1983, Himalayan conservationist [[Daniel C. Taylor]] and Himalayan natural historian Robert L. Fleming Jr. led a yeti expedition into Nepal's Barun Valley (suggested by discovery in the Barun in 1972 of footprints alleged to be yeti by Cronin & McNeely<ref>{{cite book|last=Cronin|first=Edward W.|year=1979|title=The Arun: A Natural History of the World's Deepest Valley|location=Boston|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|page=153|isbn=0395262992}}</ref>). The Taylor-Fleming expedition also discovered similar yeti-like footprints (hominoid appearing with both a hallux and bipedal gait), intriguing large nests in trees, and vivid reports from local villagers of two bears, ''rukh bhalu'' ('tree bear', small, reclusive, weighing about {{convert|150|lb|kg}}) and ''bhui bhalu'' ('ground bear', aggressive, weighing up to {{convert|400|lb|kg}}). Further interviews across Nepal gave evidence of local belief in two different bears. Skulls were collected, these were compared to known skulls at the [[Smithsonian Institution]], [[American Museum of Natural History]], and [[British Museum]], and confirmed identification of a single species, the [[Asiatic black bear]], showing no morphological difference between 'tree bear' and 'ground bear.'<ref>Taylor, pp. 106–20.</ref> (This despite an intriguing skull in the [[British Museum]] of a 'tree bear' collected in 1869 by Oldham and discussed in the ''Annals of the Royal Zoological Society''.)