All talk, no yeti

Everyone from ancient Aboriginal legend-tellers to pimpled camp counsellors have propagated the notion that, deep within the backwoods of the world, beyond the grasp of certain discovery, there dwell hairy humanoid beasts—sometimes called sasquatch; sometimes Bigfoot. For a group of scientists who met this month in a remote Siberian town, the elusive creature is called the yeti.

From Oct. 6 to 8, the town of Tashtagol held an international yeti conference, hosting representatives from countries such as Russia, China, Canada and the U.S. Described by Voice of Russia as anthropologists, geneticists and biologists, the attendees gathered to share “surprising findings, unique photographs and audio recordings” that suggest the apelike animals are real.

The mountainous region where the conference was held has a reputation for yeti sightings. Local authorities have even issued “yeti warnings” out of fears that wildfires might drive the creatures down from the hills in search of food, Der Spiegel reported.

After sharing their evidence, participants were scheduled to embark on an expedition to search nearby caves where sightings have been reported. Want to guess what they found?