Watch the video.
Watch it!
Watched it? Good.
You're now one of hundreds of thousands of people who've seen the "Oriental Yeti" that was discovered in early April. If you Google "Oriental Yeti," you'll come across this article from the Telegraph UK, which tells the "whole story." And an article from Times UK claims that "Scientists Are Baffled." I wonder if there's a number to call to find an anonymous baffled scientist — they seem to turn up quite frequently in these tales.
I'm guessing that like me, you don't think the animal in the video looks very much like the Yeti or Abominable Snowman we came to know and love on Scooby Doo. There's a reason for that.
The article claims that the creature was sent to a lab in Shanghai for DNA identification. But a couple of skeptics posited, and a Chinese naturalists confirmed, that this creature is not actually a Yeti. It is, in fact, a coffee enhancer.
I contacted Blake Smith of the MonsterTalk podcast to ask him what he thought about this case. He pointed me to this link, which suggested that maybe a creature in the family Viverridae contracted sarcoptic mange, which caused it to lose its fur. This condition is caused by a truly horrific animal, the sarcoptic mite, which looks far scarier than any bipedal hominid I've encountered. Ben Radford also wrote about the creature, and consulted Loren Coleman, a well-known cryptozooligist, for his opinion. Again, Coleman thought it might be something from Viverridae.
Meanwhile, videos are being created and articles written proposing that a new animal has been discovered.
There's little doubt now that the creature is, in fact, a "civet cat." Though the common name for the animal has "cat" in it, it's not closely related to the feline family. In fact, the civets are little known to westerners. However, this animal has received a lot of attention lately because if its dietary habits. It seems that, like humans, the creature enjoys a good caffeine buzz. Allegedly, the animal is picky, and only chooses the best coffee drupes to eat. Enzymes in the animals digestive tract help mellow the beans, and out they come in the normal mammalian fashion. Famers then collect, "sanitize," and dry them. Gathered up by the pound, they sell for as much as $55 a pound on Amazon.
So yes, your next iced latte could come from the abominable snowman.
It's time for the media to stop reporting on every afflicted animal it encounters. Mangy coyotes have been alleged to be proof of El Chupacabra and a mangy chow was thought to be some sort of murderous hyena for a time. Animals are often completely covered with fur, and when they lose that fur, they look alien to us. The media is all-to-eager to report on the "strange animal" that's terrorizing the countryside, but will seldom report the "mangy raccoon" that lived a wretched existence and died. In fact, they're the same story.
Meanwhile, Fox News is giving credence to breatharianism. "We Report. You Decide." Well, I've decided: We can't trust the media. Mark Twain got his start by writing fake news stories on slow days. One famous example is here. While I can't go so far as to call these stories "fake," I am charging the mainstream media with reporting stories for the sole purpose of gaining market share, and doing so at the expense of journalism. While I doubt few skeptics were taken in by the "Oriental Yeti," many people believed it. And many more believe in breatharianism now that Fox News has weighed in.
I don't have a solution except to keep reminding people not to believe everything they read, and to keep directing people to skeptics' sites for a more complete picture of whatever oddment is being reported. One by one, we'll make a difference. But I think we could make a bigger difference if more journalists employed a bit of skepticism in their reportage.
Okay. Rant over. Enjoy your coffee.