Oriental Yeti

"The Oriental Yeti" is a nickname given to an animal that, according to a Daily Telegraph article dated 5 April 2010, was captured by hunters in Sichuan Province in China on April 5, 2010. The Telegraph suggests one hunter, for whom it gives the name "Lu Chin", described it as looking "a bit like a bear but it doesn't have any fur and has a tail like a kangaroo....It also does not sound like a bear - it has a voice more like a cat and it is calling all the time - perhaps it is looking for the rest of its kind or maybe it's the last one?" According to the Telegraph, the animal was in poor shape, with visible sores on its skin.^[1][2] The Telegraph article did not cite its sources or provide a byline for its writer. It appears that there are no sources for this story pre-dating the Telegraph's article. The Telegraph article included a picture of the alleged animal, attributed to "CEN".

According to the Telegraph, following the beast's capture, plans were made to ship it to Beijing for a DNA test.^[3] No information has been provided as to the organisation that would be administering the tests or how it would be shipped.

Criticism

The alleged creature has been widely dubbed the Oriental Yeti in the media; this name has, however, come under criticism from some cryptozoologists who argue that labeling it a "yeti" discredits real yeti research. Bigfoot researcher Loren Coleman, who is the founder of the International Cryptozoology Museum ^[4] went on the record as saying "This is not a true yeti. This is more media madness." Coleman believes that the creature is a common civet or Himalayan Palm Civet, and that its hairlessness is due to a bad case of mange; Coleman remarked that "mange sweeps through populations of small animals just like this one...The scratches on the animal's body are consistent with mange." Coleman also said that he believed the DNA tests would show that the finding was "in no way anything extraordinary".^[5]

The animal's appearance has been compared to that of a chupacabra. An Oxford scientist, Dr. George McGavin, speculated that the creature may have been shaved.^[4][6]

As of 6 April, no one appears to have seen the animal or spoken to its captors other than the Telegraph's anonymous source.

References

1. ^ "'Oriental Yeti' May Be a Sick Common Mammal". http://news.discovery.com/animals/oriental-yeti-may-be-a-sick-common-mammal.html. Retrieved April 6, 2010. 
2. ^ "‘Oriental yeti’ that looks like a bear without fur shipped for tests". The Times (London). April 6, 2010. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/biology_evolution/article7088318.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=797093. Retrieved April 6, 2010. 
3. ^ "'Oriental yeti' discovered in China". The Daily Telegraph (London). April 5, 2010. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/7557799/Oriental-yeti-discovered-in-China.html. Retrieved April 6, 2010. 
4. ^ ^{a b} "'Oriental Yeti' found in China is no Yeti". http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2010/0406/Oriental-Yeti-found-in-China-is-no-Yeti. Retrieved April 6, 2010. 
5. ^ "Mysterious 'Oriental Yeti' Trapped in China". http://www.aolnews.com/weird-news/article/mysterious-oriental-yeti-trapped-in-china/19428455. Retrieved April 6, 2010. 
6. ^ Moss, Stephen (April 6, 2010). "Mystery of the Oriental Yeti". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/06/mystery-of-oriental-yeti. Retrieved April 6, 2010.