Yeti Claims Don't Bear Up

所谓“夜帝”，缺乏证据支持

Analysis of alleged yeti samples found them to be from less fantastic beasts, such as bears, but also shed light on the evolution of those local bear populations.

对夜帝的样本分析发现，它们来自相对寻常的野兽，比如熊，但同时也揭示了当地熊种群的演变。

撰文/播音：凯伦·霍普金（Karen Hopkin）

翻译：姜帆

审校:许楠

The Yeti. Also known as the abominable snowman. It’s a legendary primate some people believe exists in the Himalayas and adjacent freezing lands. But what do you get when you use modern DNA techniques to analyze bodily samples allegedly left by yetis? Well, eight times out of nine, you wind up with the genetic signature of your non-abominable neighborhood bear.

夜帝,又称雪人。被一些人认为是存在于喜马拉雅山脉和邻近冰原地区的传奇灵长类动物。但是当使用现代DNA技术来分析疑似夜帝身体样本残骸时，你会得到什么？绝大多数时候，你会找到附近非喜马拉雅区的熊的基因特征。

These unmysterious results are revealed in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. [Tianying Lan et al., Evolutionary history of enigmatic bears in the Tibetan Plateau–Himalaya region and the identity of the yeti]

这些不太神秘的结果显示在皇家学会会议录B中。

This new study is not the first to examine DNA extracted from samples allegedly derived from yetis. Analysis of short DNA fragments from a pair of samples collected in India and Bhutan matched that of an ancient polar bear bone. That 2014 finding raised the possibility that the abominable snowman could actually be a previously unrecognized bear species—or even some sort of hybrid brown bear-polar bear that wanders the Tibetan plateau.

这项新研究并不是对疑似夜帝样本中提取到的DNA的首次检验。对从印度和不丹收集的一对样本的DNA片段的分析显示，它与一只古老的北极熊的骨头相匹配。2014年的这一发现提出了一种可能性，可怕的雪人实际上可能是一种过去人们没有认识到的熊种——甚至是游荡在青藏高原上的某种杂交的棕熊-北极熊。

In the current study, researchers conducted a more comprehensive comparison of DNA from 24 samples, including nine that supposedly came from yetis. These specimens, collected from the field or borrowed from museums, included bits of hair, bone, skin and scat.

在目前的研究中，研究人员对来自24个样本的DNA进行了更为全面的比较，其中包括九个疑似夜帝的样本。这些从野外采集或从其他博物馆借来的样本，包括一些毛发，骨头，皮毛和尾巴。

Eight of the nine yeti samples were identified as actually coming from the Asian black bears, Himalayan brown bears and Tibetan brown bears that call this remote region home. But what about that ninth sample? Yeah, it was from a dog. The abominable Fido, maybe.

九个夜帝样本中，有八个被鉴定为实际出自这方遥远地带的土著——亚洲的黑熊，喜马拉雅棕熊和西藏棕熊。但是第九个样本呢？好吧，它来自一条狗。可能是喜马拉雅小狗。

On the serious side, the analysis did address a mystery of a more scientific nature regarding the evolution of these local bear populations. The results suggest that Himalayan brown bears belong to a distinct evolutionary lineage that diverged from the other bears during the greatest of earth’s ice ages.

严谨地讲，这项分析确实解释了有关当地熊种群进化中的更科学的奥秘。结果表明喜马拉雅棕熊属于一个独特的进化谱系，在地球上最长的冰河纪时期与其他熊分离开来了。

Cut off by the spread of glaciers, these bears have been keeping to themselves for more than 650,000 years. That period of isolation has rendered them rare and elusive—but still very real. Which we cannot say about the abominable snowman. At least not yeti.

由于冰川扩张的阻隔，这些熊已经与世隔绝了65万多年。隔绝期使它们变得罕见且难以捉摸——但仍然非常真实。我们不能说这是喜马拉雅雪人。至少不是夜帝。

—Karen Hopkin