19. Bigfoot DNA was tested in 2013, and the results were not what you’d expect
In 2013, Bryan Sykes, Emeritus Professor of Genetics at the University of Oxford, sought to solve the Bigfoot mystery. For years, Squatchers had been meticulously gathering hair from the locations of sightings (and just collecting weird-looking fur lying around the woods), and Sykes risked his reputation by inviting these intrepid amateurs to send in hair samples for DNA testing. But what, argued Sykes, is science but the quest for the truth? Selecting 30 of the most convincing hair samples from those submitted, Sykes got to work. Would science solve one of the greatest mysteries of the modern world?
Unfortunately, all of the Bigfoot hair samples submitted were from known mammals, chiefly bears and dogs. But Sykes’s research still turned up some fascinating results, entirely justifying its aims. The project also received hair samples from Yeti Hunters, and two of these ‘had their closest genetic affinity with a Palaeolithic polar bear, Ursus maritimus‘. This amazing discovery suggests that a previously unknown species of bear roams the Himalayas, and that reports of the Yeti were not so fanciful after all. So is there hope yet for Squatchers? ‘I don’t think this finishes the Bigfoot myth at all,’ said an intrigued Sykes.
