Case file · Cryptid
Daniel Taylor's 'tree bear' tracks in the Barun Valley
In 1983 Daniel C. Taylor and Robert Fleming Jr. found yeti-like footprints in Nepal's Barun Valley and traced them to the Asian black bear, whose hind foot can land over its forefoot to make a large, human-like print.
1983 CE · 27.75, 87.25 · status: explained
The account
Local people spoke of a 'tree bear' and a 'ground bear'. Taylor's search for the yeti helped lead to the creation of Makalu-Barun National Park, and his 2017 book 'Yeti: The Ecology of a Mystery' argued that the Asian black bear explains most classic yeti footprints.
The sceptical view
Taylor's work is itself the explanation: overlapping bear prints, distorted by melting, closely match famous yeti tracks.
Connections in the atlas
- The Cronin–McNeely yeti print
- The Cookes' giant prints
- Yeti relics DNA study (Lindqvist, 2017)
- Shipton's yeti footprint photographs
- Yeti