Fourth Anniversary of Yeti Crab Discovery

Four years ago this month, in March 2005, the "yeti crab" was discovered.

Yes, it actually was. Would Wikipedia lie? (well, sometimes it does.)

The sublime Kiwa hirsuta proves that the world is still filled with secret, wonderful oddities.

And because the discoverers nicknamed it the "yeti crab", I like to blog about it.

And apparently, others do too, and far more creatively. They haven't let it be forgotten. Observe three examples:



Kellie Strickland fashioned a facsimile out of pears and cheese. She keeps a blog called Little Nummies where she posts photos of the neat culinary creations she makes for her kids. On her post "Y" is for Yeti Crab, she also lists some fun facts in addition the recipe, so it's worth checking out.

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The artist loveandasandwich is one of the top yeti plush artists in the world today (last blogged about here). She has now made a yeti crab. I don't know if it's actually inspired by Kiwa hirsuta, but hey - it's yeti crossed with a crab: Good Enough!

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A girl named Allie made the "yeti crab" as her Halloween costume.

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Here's to another 4 years of yeti crabbiness!

Ditko Yeti: "I Captured the Abominable Snowman!"

Legendary comic book creator Steve Ditko did a short story in 1958 for Strange Worlds #1, entitled "I Captured the Abominable Snowman!"

It is an important moment in the history of yeti in the popular culture.

Appearing as it did in the comic book medium and reprinted many times over, it must have had a huge impact on the future development of our popular conception of the yeti.

Although the term "Abominable Snowman" existed since the 1920's, it was contributions like Ditko's comic that spurred on and kept the yeti concept alive, undoubtedly inspiring others to add their own take down the road.

This was 1958, many years ahead of the Rudolph special and the Bugs Bunny cartoon which both featured white-furred Abominable Snowmen. A 1957 movie and the Tintin comic (which wouldn't debut for a few years after it anyway) had brown-furred Abominable Snowmen. So Ditko's choice to make the fur white was actually quite unusual and trendsetting.

See my time-line post for more about pop culture milestones.



No. 362 of the incredible Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine featured a scan of this work for you to read in its entirety!

** Click here to read it **



How about that twist ending?

I'll go ahead and add "SOB" to the list of yeti quotes.

Donders Yeti

Yeti by Maarten Donders, known as maartend on deviantart.

Artist's statement: "what if cryptids would actually exist? i predicted they would most likely die by human cause."

More specifically in the yeti's case: death by tangling telephone wires.

Roleage Yeti

I don't speak the language on the site I found this picture, but this is apparently the yeti monster from the roleplaying game called Roleage.

Official site is here.

Tota Yeti

Cartoonist and illustrator Allesandro Tota has a pink yeti character in his comic.





All the character ever says is "gnü".

This is Italian, yes? Anyone know if "gnü" means anything? Or is it just a cute thing for this Ablobinable Snowman to say?

Not Yeti Friday - Bryan's beautifully-strange creatures

UK artist Jennifer Bryan of Creaturekebab is a self-professed Monster Maker.

Her monsters are pretty cool. They have a kind of Asian/Native American vibe to 'em.

Here's a few to give you an idea:



These plushes she creates known as "Mischiefs" look the most yeti-ish of what she makes:



To see more of her creations, visit her deviantart portfolio and her flickr page.

Yeti Wedding

Artist Jeff McMillan sent me these photos from his wedding, and I think the awesomeness speaks for itself:








It looks like the guests tipped the yeti, and by the end of the night, he made out like a bandit.

McMillan built the 9 foot yeti himself for the nuptial occasion.

He explained that the yeti appears in a couple of his paintings. Here are little snips from two different ones...



Visit his website to see the full paintings.