Yetis "Homeric Myth"

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31144, 22 August 1966, Page 1

Yetis "Homeric Myth"

(N.Z. Press Association) AUCKLAND, August 21. Scientists were sure that no such thing as an abominable snowman existed but it would take a long time for the myth about the legendary Himalayan beast to die. Dr. L. Swan, an American biologist. said when he arrived in Auckland on Saturday. Dr. Swan, who U professor

of biology at San Francisco State College, was the biologist on the expedition which Sir Edmund Hillary led to the Himalayas in 1960 to search for the yeti. “The Hillary expedition was instrumental In showing that there is no abominable snowman” said Dr. Swann. “I am sure there will not be any more expeditions in search of it. “The myth of the yeti Is powerful—almost Homeric — and it will die very slowly as there are still a great many people who want to believe in it.” Dr. Swan is in New Zear land as leader of a study

group of 17 biologists who have been on a 10-week safari around the world. Members of the group have filmed specimens in Madagascar the Himalayas, the Celebes, and Australia. They will receive credits toward university degrees when they return to the United States. During their four-day visit to the North Island, Dr. Swan's team will film tuatara lizards on an island off the Bay of Plenty coast. “The tuatara is as spectacular to a biologist as a living dinosaur" said Dr. Swan. “It must be one of the most unusual animals on earth."