YETI nother explanation?

Another aspect of this whole question involves probabilities.In some cases there is simply no data upon which to estimate probabilities, but in many cases there is something, some amount of data, to work with.As we've been discussing Yeti or Sasquatch, I'll use that as a starting point.If there were a lot of Squatches out there, a lot of people would have seen them, and some people would have found footprints, and at least one person would have drug back some bones.My major professor all through graduate school was about the only academic who studied Squatch, and I saw a lot of the evidence he had gathered and accompanied him on trips to see amateur movies, etc.If you put all of this information together you can guess at a probability that there is a large primate (other than man) wandering around the forests of the western US.None of the movies I saw, including the famous Patterson film, are conclusive. The still photographs are even less so. The footprints are curious--something made them, those that aren't obvious fakes. And the handprint from NE Washington shows dermal ridges!On the other hand, where are the bones? While carnivore bones are very hard to find in the wild, not a single bone that could be attributed to Squatch has ever been found.All-in-all I'd put the probability that there is a population of Squatches running around the western US at a very low level. We could argue about the probability -- 5%, 1%, or whatever, but for the purposes of this discussion we can bring some information to bear on the problem.Our choices are not always limited to 1) close-minded skepticism, 2) open-minded skepticism, or 3) open-minded acceptance as suggested above. Sometimes we can bring some evidence to bear and estimate or guess at probabilities.(And yes, those puns were intended!)

Whereas Sasquatch comes from a Northwest Coast Indian word.Sasahevas is the Salish Indian word meaning, "Wild Man of the Woods."Here are some additional such words:Page not found – Sasquatch ResearchWhile not really great evidence, the North American Indians generally knew a bear when they saw one, and that so many different tribes had a name for what could be a North American "yeti" suggests that someone was seeing something out of the ordinary!What we really need are some good bones! Drag back a hand, foot, or skull. That would really help settle the issue.DNA might help as well, but if the DNA comes back as "unknown" it doesn't do much good.Here is another link to stir the pot:Sasquatch Handprints - North American Wood Ape Conservancy

This started out an interesting thread dealing with hair samples, but now we're just splitting hairs.:-(