Y is for Yeti

AKA Abominable Snowman, but not Bigfoot or Sasquatch

My gal Friday has recently discovered the 2018 movie Smallfoot, about a Yeti village where they have built up a whole system of superstitions to protect themselves from the mythical Smallfoot species - humans. She loves it. The movie itself has a good message (basically to be open to people who are different than us), but it goes a bit too far in places (suggesting that it’s okay for the humans to attack the yetis because they’re just scared.)

It’s mostly a middling, feel-good movie for kids, with one caveat: the random song by Common (who plays the Yeti leader) snuck into the middle to explain why it’s so important for the Yeti people to stick to all their mythologies. It’s unlike anything you’d expect to find in the genre and very artfully done. If you don’t watch the movie, at least watch the YouTube video for Let it Lie.

Y is for Yeti

A Yeti, also known as an abominable snowman due to some language barriers, is a legendary creature thought to inhabit the himalayan mountains. His white fur acts as camouflage in all the mountain snow. He’s part man, part bear, and leaves giant tracks in the snow.

They have become more and more common in Western culture, especially as more Westerners visit Asia to hike the Himalayas. There they bring back the stories from the native Tibetans, through a very heavy game of telephone, and also come back with their own personal experiences.

Although it is possible that a primate-like being lives in the mountains where there has not been enough scouting to rule them out completely, evidence proving the existence of the yeti is usually disproven shortly after it comes to light.

Sometimes people are just suffering from confirmation bias - that they see something and think it’s a Yeti because they really want it to be true. Other people are guilty of confabulation - lying and pranking the public. There’s a lot of fame and glory to be had by proving that Yetis are real so some people make things up entirely, get their attention, and then move on once their prank has been exposed.

Y is not for Bigfoot

Bigfoot, or Sasquatch, are not the same thing as a Yeti. They’re more like cousins. The two came about independently.

Like the Yeti, Bigfoot is described as an overly hairy human with giant feet. But Bigfoots are typically brown to blend with the pacific northwest forests with which they are associated.

Any offered evidence for Bigfoot has been quickly discredited as proof of a newly discovered species. Bigfoot has a cult following and is himself a tourist attraction, bringing many people to the pacific northwest every year in search of a glimpse of Sasquatch himself.

Design your own

Despite originating thousands of miles apart, Yetis and Bigfoots have a lot of things in common. Aside from their approximate size and shape, there’s their color.

“But their coloring is different!” you say? That’s true, but they are both colored to be camouflaged within their own environment. So...What might other Yeti-like creatures look like if they live in different environments?

• Underwater
• Space
• The City
• The Desert
• Your bedroom
• What else?

Test out the disguises on these cute little Yetis here.

illustrations again from Canva because I haven't learned to draw in the last couple days

Visit the chaoticorganized Google Drive if you want to download a PDF.

Your thoughts?

Let me know if you liked the song Let it Lie. Do you have any Bigfoot Believers in your home? What other environments do you think Bigfoot should try to live in? Hit me up in the comments on on Discord!