Bigfoot, Yeti, And The Last Neanderthal - Post Your Questions for Professor Sykes

Professor Bryan Sykes will be taking your questions for an email-based interview. We tried to organize an Ask Me Anything event with the professor, but even after confirmation, there were some issues with scheduling his involvement.

A little background...

Bryan Sykes is a Professor of Human Genetics at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Wolfson College. He has been involved in a number of high-profile cases dealing with ancient DNA, including those of “Otzi the Iceman,” a well-preserved natural mummy of a man who lived around 3,300 BC and “Cheddar Man,” the remains of a man found in Cheddar Gorge, from approximately 7,150 BC. It is Britain's oldest complete human skeleton. Professor Sykes in best known outside the community of geneticists for his bestselling books on the investigation of human history and pre-history through studies of mitochondrial DNA. Visit him at www.oxfordancestors.com


From Wikipedia

Bryan Clifford Sykes (born 9 September 1947) is a Fellow of Wolfson College, and former Professor of Human Genetics at the University of Oxford.

Sykes published the first report on retrieving DNA from ancient bone (Nature, 1989). Sykes has been involved in a number of high-profile cases dealing with ancient DNA, including that of Cheddar Man. However, the Cheddar Man findings have been disputed and it has been suggested that the results were the consequence of contamination with modern DNA. His work also suggested a Florida accountant by the name of Tom Robinson was a direct descendant of Genghis Khan, a claim that was subsequently disproved.

Sykes is best known outside the community of geneticists for his bestselling books on the investigation of human history and prehistory through studies of mitochondrial DNA. He is also the founder of Oxford Ancestors, a genealogical DNA testing firm.

Alleged hominid samples
Dr. Brian Sykes and his team at Oxford University carried out DNA analysis of presumed Yeti samples and thinks the samples may have come from a hybrid species of bear produced from a mating between a brown bear and a polar bear. Sykes told BBC News:

“I think this bear, which nobody has seen alive, may still be there and may have quite a lot of polar bear in it. It may be some sort of hybrid and if its behaviour is different from normal bears, which is what eyewitnesses report, then I think that may well be the source of the mystery and the source of the legend.”
— Dr. Bryan Sykes, BBC News (17 October 2013)

He conducted another similar survey in 2014, this time examining samples attributed not just to yeti but also to Bigfoot and other "anomalous primates." The study concluded that two of the 30 samples tested most closely resembled the genome of the palaeolithic polar bear, and that the other 28 were from living mammals.

The samples were subsequently re-analysed by Ceiridwen Edwards and Ross Barnett. They concluded that the mutation that had led to the match with a polar bear was a damage artefact, and suggested that the two hair samples were in fact from Himalayan brown bears (U. arctos isabellinus). These bears are known in Nepal as Dzu-the (a Nepalese term meaning cattle-bear), and have been associated with the myth of the yeti. Sykes and Melton acknowledged that their GenBank search was in error and but suggested that the hairs were instead a match to a modern polar bear specimen "from the Diomede Islands in the Bering Sea reported in the same paper”. They maintained that they did not see any sign of damage in their sequences and commented that they had “no reason to doubt the accuracy of these two sequences any more than the other 28 presented in the paper”. Multiple further analyses, including replication of the single analysis conducted by Sykes and his team, were carried out in a study conducted by Eliécer E. Gutiérrez, a researcher at the Smithsonian Institution and Ronald H. Pine, affiliated at the University of Kansas. All of these analyses found that the relevant genetic variation in Brown Bears makes it impossible to assign, with certainty, the Himalayan samples to either that species or to the Polar Bear. Because Brown Bears occur in the Himalayas, Gutiérrez and Pine stated that there is no reason to believe that the samples in question came from anything other than ordinary Himalayan Brown Bears

He has just completed a new book, Bigfoot, Yeti, And The Last Neanderthal, and is open to your questions.



Post your questions here in this thread, and we'll get responses in short order.

If you had a choice between seeing one alive and no one ever believing you... or capturing one and having it undergo life long misery with tests and imprisonment, but you get world wide fame.. What would you do?

How could a huge primate (such as Bigfoot) continue to feed and breed whilst remaining almost completely undetected by humans? And what is your opinion of the Patterson–Gimlin film?

I'm not too familiar with the genetics, but I heard that Bigfoot and humans are closely related in the evolutionary tree. Do you think it would be possible for Bigfoots and humans to interbreed?

originally posted by: N3k9Ni
I'm not too familiar with the genetics, but I heard that Bigfoot and humans are closely related in the evolutionary tree. Do you think it would be possible for Bigfoots and humans to interbreed?

No offence but currently big foot is a mythical creature..
We have absolutely no knowledge on big foot genetics.. We don't even know if it actually exists.
And as for Bigfoot breeding with humans, that is a disturbing thought.

a reply to: SkepticOverlord

Oh wow that is SO EXCITING! I was just researching the Ice Man a couple of weeks ago.....

if I had it to do all over again, I'd study anthropology and archaeology along with the psychology I pursued....

thanks, SO!!

Thanks for your efforts. Has any potential Sasquatch sample you had, or have received since, been analyzed beyond mitochondrial DNA comparisons? Any samples that continue to peak your intetest, sans bears? Any attempts with nuclear DNA and comparisons to the ancient DNA we do have, with any Sasquatch samples? Any interest in future analysis? Nature article makes Mike Ruggs " tooth" sample possibly worthy. I still hear of BFers with hair, etc...what hope for any of this..even with a "real Sasquatch" sample? Any interest in field study? Thanks!

Recent news showed some research about Neanderthals interbreeding with Denisovans and Early Homo Sapiens.

Do you think these encounters were generally consensual, submissive, forcible, or genuinely amorous?

originally posted by: Misterlondon

originally posted by: N3k9Ni
I'm not too familiar with the genetics, but I heard that Bigfoot and humans are closely related in the evolutionary tree. Do you think it would be possible for Bigfoots and humans to interbreed?

No offence but currently big foot is a mythical creature..
We have absolutely no knowledge on big foot genetics.. We don't even know if it actually exists.
And as for Bigfoot breeding with humans, that is a disturbing thought.

Dude, look at the cover of his book, it says "you'll be amazed to learn that Jane knows they exist".

Just for fun... no need to answer

But if you will.... what are your thoughts on Young earth creationism?

originally posted by: mirageman
How could a huge primate (such as Bigfoot) continue to feed and breed whilst remaining almost completely undetected by humans?

I suspect they travel to different pubs you or I may frequent for breeding purposes.

ETA: sorry, hadn't realized this was the actual AMA. Thought this was an introduction.

a reply to: Misterlondon

Since Bigfoot is a mythical creature there's no reason to ask about meeting one face to face or capturing one, then, is there?

originally posted by: N3k9Ni
a reply to: Misterlondon

Since Bigfoot is a mythical creature there's no reason to ask about meeting one face to face or capturing one, then, is there?

It may be a mythical creature but that doesn't mean they don't exist.. We just a have no solid evidence of their existence and certainly have no knowledge of genetics and stuff.
I wasn't trying to offend you or put you down.

My personal opinion is these stories date back hundreds if no thousands of years and almost span the entire globe.. There must be something to it.. But currently there is no solid proof.

What are your thoughts on Melba Ketchum's DNA study on bigfoot? Have you read the report and what are your thoughts on the whole "Galileo effect" that she speaks of? Is mainstream science too scared to investigate the unknown anymore? I believe George Knapp says that, "science should investigate the unexplained, not explain the uninvestigated".

originally posted by: Misterlondon

originally posted by: N3k9Ni
I'm not too familiar with the genetics, but I heard that Bigfoot and humans are closely related in the evolutionary tree. Do you think it would be possible for Bigfoots and humans to interbreed?

No offence but currently big foot is a mythical creature..
We have absolutely no knowledge on big foot genetics.. We don't even know if it actually exists.
And as for Bigfoot breeding with humans, that is a disturbing thought.

No offence, but SO asked for questions to be put here, not a random person's thoughts and knowledge on the subject at the expense of another member...

Their is a theory that some of the lost tribes Israel ended up in Britain I was wondering if there was any DNA evidence of it.

What is the chance there will be a break through on the subject of BigFoot/Yeti in the next 50 years? Are we only getting further away from any kind of confirmation in your opinion?


Secondly, what is your opinion on 'out of place artifacts'?

Why in your opinion, have no pictures been taken of bigfoot. Why have no bodies been found.

No matter what bigfoot actually is. Whether an unknown primate, a lost branch of the human family, some kind of hybrid bear, or something else. Why does no visual evidence exist. When people apparently see and/or hear bigfoot all the time. Why all the eyewitness sightings but no visual proof.

Why is there only inconclusive DNA evidence.

I think I read some of his articles on the issue. They were pretty good and had good evidence backing them.

I read an article about the German army officials hunting these animals in the Himalayas a couple of years ago. Supposedly it happened in the thirties. Some supposedly had them stuffed. There may be one in some elite persons den. I am sure they are not going to say they have one to anyone they do not trust completely.

Welcome to the site Bryan.

If you knew that there were some living somewhere, would you say anything?[

a reply to: SkepticOverlord

Professor Sykes,

Thank you for coming to ATS to answer some questions!

There is the missing 411 at Yellowstone... what do you make of that? Ofcourse as im sure you know the evidence and witness testimonies make it hard for it to be as simple as a yeti type creature....to answer questions like 'how could somebody simply disappear within 2 seconds and no footprints?' some have theorized crazy things.

What do you make of it all?

www.abovetopsecret.com... for more info!