Appendix D. Others Involved

Abominable Snowmen, by Ivan T. Sanderson, [1961], at sacred-texts.com

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Appendix D

Others Involved

The known mammalian fauna of the Tibetan Plateau, the Pamirs, and the Himalayan ranges is very extensive. In the last area we find a combination of typical Eurasian and Oriental forms, together with several unique types not found elsewhere. We are concerned, in our discussion, only with mammals, in that other animals do not have hair; and it has been hair above all else [other than footprints and tracks] that have been brought forward in exposition of ABSMs; and especially in these areas. Moreover, for some reason—but one which does not seem quite logical to me—it has been the larger mammals that have been suggested as the possible origins of these hairs which have been said to be of yetis.

This actually need not be final for there are many medium-sized and small mammals the hairs of which are just as long, and sometimes almost as sturdy as those alleged to be from ABSMs. Some alleged ABSM remains—i.e. the scalps displayed by Sir Edmund Hillary (see Appendix E)—have been proved to have been made from the goatlike animal called the Serow; while some of the Californian hairs have been identified, on the one hand as those of a Moose [not found in the area, incidentally], and on the other as "those of a large cat" [i.e. the belly-hairs from a Puma, Profelis concolor]. Therefore it is of first importance to list those larger mammals known from the Tibetan and Himalayan areas that might be used to make "yeti artifacts." The most outstanding of these are:

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Primates

Hoolock Gibbon (Hylobates hooloch)

Langurs (Semnopithecus schistaceus, entellus, etc.)

Snub-nosed Monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellanae)

Carnivora

Snow-Leopard (Panthera uncia)

Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleucus)

Lesser Panda (Ailurus fulgens)

Wolf (Canis lupus, subsp.) —Eurasian form (not the Indian Wolf Canis pallipes)

Red Bear (Ursus arctos, subsp.)

Blue Bear (Ursus arctos pruinosus)

Snow Bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus)

Himalayan Black Bear (Selenarctos thibetanus)

Sloth-Bear (Melursus ursinus)

Artiodactyla

(1) Camelines (Camelidae)

Bactrian Camel (Camelus bactrianus)

(2) Cervines (Cervidae)

Red Deer—Hangul (Cervus kashmirianus)

Red Deer—Shou (Cervus wallichi affiinis)

Thorold's Deer (Cervus albirostris)

(3) Bovines (Bovinae)

Yak (Bos grunniens)

Mithan (Bos frontalis)

(4) Antelopines (Gazellinae)

Zeren (Procapra gutterosa)

Goa (Procapra picticaudata)

(5) Goat-Antelopes (Saiginae)

Saiga (Saiga tatarica)

Chiru (Panthalops hodgsoni)

(6) Rock-Goats (Rubicaprinae)

Goral (Naemorhedus cinereus)

Serow (Capricornis sumatrensis thar)

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(7) Sheep-Oxen (Ovibovinae)

Takin (Budorcas taxicolor, B. tibetanus, and B. bedfordi)

(8) Goats (Caprinae)

Ibex (Capra ibex, subsp.)

(9) Sheep (Ovine)

Bharal (Pseudovis nahura)

Argali (Ovis ammon)

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