MONSTERQUEST - Abominable Snowman

History Channel - Original Air Date: 10/25/09

Can it be that MQ hasn't done a Yeti show yet? Guess so, 'cause this episode tackles the beast from page one - relaying all the usual stories and legends. Considering how many people claim to have seen the beast or its handiwork, it's amazing that there isn't better evidence -- though one scientist suggests that the Himalayan brown bear is the basis for the legend. MQ sends a team out to look. The Himalayas are beautiful, but treacherous in both landscape and weather. The team tramps around and sets the usual camera traps. They spot what they think is a line of tracks, but it turns out to have been formed by rolling snow. They send up a helium balloon with a camera to try and capture movement in the vast landscape. But all their explorations turn up only a small monkey skull. Footprint casts examined by experts show mostly known animals, while others are inconclusive. Hair from a "yeti scalp" turns out to be from a deer or antelope. Though the show concludes the area could support a great ape, they have no evidence of one. They do point out that bears probably account for many of the reports. Not much new here, but not a bad place to start if you don't know the standard yeti myths.