Russia Announces DNA Test Results of Kemerovo "Yeti Hair"

A sketch of what a Yeti might look like src:MailOnline

"The Yeti's DNA is evidently less than one per cent different to that of a human." --Siberian Times

Today the Daily Mail published the headline "Sasquatch in Siberia? Hair found in Russian cave 'belonged to unknown mammal closely related to man'"

A bear, a dog, a Yeti or an old woman's hair - test conclude it is a mammal
closely related to a human? Picture: The Siberian TImes

Yeti news from Russia usually upticks this time of year, culminating to its highest peak towards Western Siberia's Yeti Day celebrated on November 11th.

You can read our post earlier this month about the Yeti hair mentioned in today's article. We also have a huge collection of posts regarding Yeti's in the Kemerovo region.

You can read the Daily Mail article below, as well as watch the accompanying video.

Astonishing claims were made in Russia today that DNA tests on suspected 'Yeti hair' reveals the existence of 'an unknown mammal closely related to man'.
The 'tests' were conducted on samples of hair found in a Siberian cave during an international expedition last year.

'We had ten samples of hair to study, and have concluded that they belong to mammal, but not a human,' said Professor Valentin Sapunov, of the Russian State Hydrometeorological Institute.

Nor did the hair belong to any known animal from the region such as a bear, wolf, or goat, he claimed.

Analysis was conducted in the Russia and US and 'agreed the hair came from a human-like creature which is not a Homo sapien yet is more closely related to man than a monkey', said the Siberian Times, citing claims made on a regional government website in Russia in the area where the hair samples were allegedly found.

It stated that long-awaited scientific tests were conducted on their hair at two institutions in Russia and one in Idaho in the US.

'All three world level universities have finished DNA analysis of the hair and said that the hair belongs to a creature which is closer by its biological parameters to Homo sapiens than a monkey. The Yeti's DNA is evidently less than one per cent different to that of a human.'
The tests were undertaken on hair found one year ago in the Azasskaya Cave in the Mourt Shoriya area of Kemerovo region in Siberia, it was alleged.

The 2011 expedition to  the remote cave complex in Kemerovo when the alleged Yeti hair was found was led by Dr Igor Birtsev, seen as Russia's leading advocate of the existence of the abominable snowman.


He last night questioned the conclusions saying he was seeking more information about the alleged tests.

The Siberian Times said only 'scant' details were made available of the 'DNA findings'.

Sapunov claimed that the prestigious Zoological Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences was involved in the tests.

Yeti 'sightings' have been reported for centuries in most continents but the creature has evaded capture and no remains have ever been discovered.

Several 'sightings' of yetis have been made recently according to a Russian official and fishermen in Siberia.

'We shouted to them - do you need help?,' said fisherman Vitaly Vershinin.

'They just rushed away, all in fur, walking on two legs, making their way through the bushes and with two other limbs, straight up the hill.'

He continued: 'What did we think? It could not be bears, as the bear walks on all-fours, and they ran on two.... so then they were gone.'

Russia's leading researcher on yetis, Igor Burtsev claims around 30 of the 'abominable snowmen' live in the Kemerovo region, where these sightings were.

SRC: Daily Mail

Two Days of 10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty Media Frenzy

Spike TV is offering largest cash prize in TV history for the proof of Bigfoot

Want a quick tour of what everybody else is saying about Spike TV's announcement of it's new show, 10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty?

"Meanwhile, Lloyd's Of London has put up what's being called the largest cash prize in reality TV history, which should compensate for these people immediately flushing away all the profits their industry generates by Bigfoot remaining a mystery. That is, of course, until we launch our own equally scientifically sound reality series, offering $20 million to anyone who offers irrefutable proof that Bigfoot makes amazing frittatas."
--Sean O'Neal; A.V. CLUB

"If there really is a bigfoot out there he better find a damn good hiding spot. SPIKE TV has just ordered 10 hour long episodes of $10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty...This should be an interesting reality show. Hopefully Matt Moneymaker and Bobo will show and tell everyone exactly what bigfoot do."
--goon; horror-movies.ca

"Forget Donald Trump's $5 million offer for President Obama's college and passport records -- Spike TV has a much more lucrative offer. And it might even be more humorous than Trump's guffaw-inducing "October surprise...It would be the largest cash prize in history, in the unlikely event that one of the teams actually comes up with evidence. Ah, Spike TV. You really can't buy publicity like that. And in this case, you probably won't have to pay a dime."
--Tim Kenneally; Reuters reprinted in  The Wrap and Chicago Tribune

"Poor Simon Cowell. Not only has his singing competition, “The X Factor,” been eclipsed in the ratings this fall by the NBC singing competition “The Voice.” Now he also can no longer claim that his show’s $5 million prize is the biggest in TV show history. It has been eclipsed by Bigfoot."
-- Lisa De Moraes; The Washington Post

"SpikeTV is offering up $10 million to anyone who can prove that the legendary Sasquatch Bigfoot exists. The network's latest reality show — 10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty — will feature teams on a quest to find Bigfoot, and the winner *might* walk away with 10 million dollars... if Bigfoot doesn't kill them first! Just kidding, no one is going to win that money. But a group of scientists, zoologists, seasoned trackers, and “actual Bigfoot hunters” will try their best. Your move, TLC."
--Shaunna Murphy; Hollywood.com

"Spike TV is offering $10 million for proof that Bigfoot exists. The order comes a few months after Bigfoot hunters from Animal Planet’s Finding Bigfoot series (spoiler alert: the show has not found Bigfoot) got into a rather entertaining argument with TV critics over the legitimacy of their work."
--James Hibberd; EW.com

"Bigfoot’s days are numbered. That’s because Spike TV is upping the ante on all the Bigfoot shows that routinely fail to prove Sasquatch’s existence with a new show that adds a monstrous monetary incentive to anyone out there that can offer definitive proof that the big hairy one is real.
If this show proves to be a hit, I’d like to ahead and preemptively pitch Spike TV or any other interested network my idea for the series 'Ghost Hunting for Dollars'."

-- Foywonder; Dread Central

How Can Spike TV Afford a 10 $Million Cash Prize? They Can't.

Spike TV is offering largest cash prize in TV History
 for the proof of Bigfoot, but can they afford it?

As you may have heard, Spike TV plans is offering $10 million to pre-selected contestants if they can prove Bigfoot exists on their new reality show, 10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty. This is the largest cash prize in TV History. The last cash prize milestone was the singing competition show, X-Factor.

$10 Million is a lot of money, even for 10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty's successful Emmy® Award-winning producer Jon Kroll ("The Amazing Race," "Big Brother"). So who ponies up the cash? If not Spike TV or the producers, than who? You may guess, Lloyd's of London, the prize insurer, but not exactly. When a prize is insured it is called indemnity insurance.

This is how indemnity insurance works, it is also called "hole-in-one" insurance. Say you want to give $10 million dollars for someone who get's a hole-in-one at a tournament your hosting.  The odds of an amateur golfer hitting a hole in one are about 1 in 12,500. These are low odds, acceptable odds, to an insurance company. So, instead of paying for the prize yourself, you get insurance for the $10 million dollar prize, paying only a small affordable fraction called a premium. 

DOES THE GOLFER GET THE MONEY?
True, if the golfer does indeed get the hole-in-one the insurance company pays the prize. The thing to remember though, insurance is a numbers game, where the odds favor the house. In theory an insurance company can charge as low as $800 dollars for a $10 million dollar hole-in-one prize to break even. 

DID SPIKE TV PAY ONLY $800?
Probably not, because the insurance company does not want to break even, they want a profit. Although it would be safe to say Spike TV probably paid a smaller premium than usual for a $10 million dollar indemnity insurance. Why? Remember the 1 in 12,500 odds of getting a hole-in-one? We would bet the odds of proving Bigfoot are even smaller. 1 in a million? 1 in 10 million? The lower the odds of  winning the prize, the lower the premium for the indemnity insurance.

So overall, the $10 million dollars is not really there, if an insurance company can afford to insure a $10 million dollar hole-in-one prize for only $800, we are sure they can find an acceptable number that would be affordable to a TV network asking contestants to do something that has never been done.