The legendary yeti that's supposed to lurk in the snow covered Himalayas isn't just an ordinary bear it seems.

A mitochondrial DNA analysis in 2014 by a group of researchers led by geneticist Bryan Sykes using hairs believed to have come from a yeti, also called the Abominable Snowman, seems to have matched the DNA in the fossil of a polar bear that existed over 40,000 years ago.

Like Us on Facebook

Another team of researchers, however, performed their own analysis and concluded the hair samples are from a brown bear from the Himalayas.

Eliecer E. Gutierrez, a postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Institute, along with Ronald H. Pine who is affiliated with the Biodiversity Institute & Natural History Museum at the University of Kansas, said their study makes it impossible for the hair samples to be linked to a polar bear or any ancient bear species.

"In fact, a study looking at the genetic and morphological variability of Asian Black Bear populations throughout the geographic distribution of the species is yet to be conducted, and it would surely yield exciting results," Gutierrez concluded.

Regardless of the differences of the findings made by two teams of researchers, Sykes still sticks to his findings even if it receives criticism and opposition from other researchers.

Sykes believes Gutierrez and Pine could and couldn't be right.

"The only way forward, as I have repeatedly said, is to find a living bear that matches the 12S RNA and study fresh material from it. Which involves getting off your butt, not an activity I usually associate with desk-bound molecular taxonomists," said Sykes.

The recent study by Gutierrez and Pine were published through ZooKeys.

TagsScientists Found the Mystery behind Himalayan Yeti, bear, Yeti mystery, yeti, Big Foot, polar bear, polar bear Alaska, Himalayan Yeti, genetic discovery