The Fegg Hayes Yeti is a much older species than previously thought and probably emerged as Stoke's top land predator about 600,000 years ago, a study at Staffordshire University has found. The news has come as a surprise to the residents of Fegg Hayes, whose elders have previously sung folk ballads of the Yeti being only 150,000 years old.
The students and professors estimate that the last common ancestor of gorillas and Yeti lived between 338,000 and 934,000 years ago. The most likely date, however, was about 600,000 years ago, said Phil Helpline of the Accounting and Business Studies department of Staffordshire University, a real numbers man who probably knows his stuff.
In recent years there have been several reports of sexual encounters between Yetis and gorillas resulting in fertile offspring. Mr Helpline said this could be explained by something similar happening about 150,000 years ago, when female gorillas mated with male Yetis resulting in fertile female offspring that "back-crossed" with pure-bred male gorillas, carrying their DNA with them.
"Yetis and gorillas hybridised about 150,000 years ago and then backcrossed into the main gorilla population. We tried to mate a Yeti with a gorilla in a room in the Cadman Centre, but it didn't take. I think the fact we were all standing around with cameras, cigars and beers may have put them off," Mr Helpline said.
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