The Indian army made an abominable claim on Tuesday, saying an expedition team in Nepal discovered large footprints in the snow belonging to the mythical Yeti, a.k.a. the Abominable Snowman.
The army sent out a tweet from its official Twitter account, featuring a series of photos showing “mysterious footprints” an expedition team stumbled upon earlier this month.
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The Yeti has a rich history in Nepal folklore. The ape-like creature is said to live deep in the Himalayas and has widely been regarded as nothing more than a myth among scientists. There has never been any scientific proof whatsoever of the creature’s existence.
The photos shared by the army show indents in the snow, presumably made by a large animal, that appear to form a path of sorts.
As the Times of India notes, the markings in the snow were reported in an area near the Nepal-China border, close to the base of one of the highest mountains in the world.
Tales of a wild hairy beast roaming the Himalayas have captured the imagination of climbers in Nepal since the 1920s, prompting many, including Sir Edmund Hillary, to go looking for the creature.
In 2008, Japanese climbers returning from a mountain in western Nepal told Reuters they had seen footprints, which they thought belonged to the Yeti.
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And although they carried long-lens cameras, video cameras and telescopes, they hadn’t seen or taken any photographs of the creature.
That didn’t stop people on social media from speculating about the existence of the mythical beast, while also mocking the army for their discovery.
“Either I’m missing the joke, or the Indian Army is claiming that it’s found what it believes is evidence of a literal yeti,” reads a comment.
“With all due respect to everyone, what we call Yeti is with all probability either the Himalayan Brown Bear or Tibetan Blue Bear,” reads another. “Both are endangered, can grow over 7 feet and are bipedal. The single foot print forms when the bear walks on 4 feet.”
“Mostly such footprints belong to endangered Himalayan Brown Bear,” reads another. “Melting snow makes it larger and distorted. No large mammal is left to be discovered in our part of the world.”
The truth is out there… maybe.
–With a file from Reuters
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