That’s what the Daily Mail reported today, in yet another demonstration of sensationalistic reporting and misrepresentation. The Daily Mail begins the article entitled: “Yeti evidence is ‘convincing’ says wildlife expert Sir David Attenborough” with:

Sir David Attenborough believes there is ‘very convincing’ evidence that yetis exist.

Sir David Attenborough was speaking on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, when he made the following comment:

I’m baffled by the Abominable Snowman - very convincing footprints have been found at 19,000ft. No-one does that for a joke. I think it’s unanswered.

Now, I think there is a difference between saying that some footprints might be convincing (regardless of what type of animal could have been or how those footprints were generated) and saying that there is convincing evidence for the existence of Yetis! An obscure footprint does not constitute convincing evidence for (the hypothetical) Yetis and I believe Attenborough is very well aware of this -and that’s why he qualifies his statement with “I think it’s unanswered“. It is simply an unidentified footprint -and that only in the case it has not been fabricated like so many others before.

But of course in an effort for Daily Mail to sell, they need sensationalism and the kind of authority that Sir David Attenborough certainly brings when it comes to wild life!