Lotsofpeopleare
skepticalaboutthe
existenceofYetis.Has
anyoneeverseenone?
Eventhoughthereseemstohave
beena fewpeoplewhosaythey
haveseena Yeti,noonehasever
beenabletoproveit. We likethe
ideathatYetiscancovertheir
trackssotheyareveryhard tofind,
howeverthereare castsofYeti
footprintsmadefromonesfoundon
theslopesoftheHimalayas.
Interesting!Didyou
learnanythingaboutthe
significanceofYetisto
theHimalayanpeople?
Yes,theword Yetiis derivedfrom
Tibetan[Tibetis a regionofChina.]
charactersmeaning“rockyplace
andbear”—soit is thebear
froma rockyplace.There are
otherHimalayannamesthatare
translatedas“wildmanorman-
bear.”TheNepalesepeoplethinkof
theYetiasindigenouswildlife.
Yi has to
work to
keep Everest
away from a
wealthy man
who wants to
capture him.
“Everest is
like a big kid!”
Jill reveals.
“He loves to
play with Peng
becausethey’re
bothabout 9
yearsold.”
The^
movie hits
theaters
9/27!
DREAMWORKS AN
MAT
ON (4)
Do you think it’s true
that the Yeti legend is
based on Himalayan
black and brown bears?
We do think there is some truth to
that legend. But Himalayan bears
have distinctive footprints and they
are brown or black, not white. We
also think some people may have
confused Yeti prints with the snow
leopard as well, but they don’t look
like Yetis at all.
How did you use what
you discovered to
create the character of
Everest?
A Yeti is thought to be quite large,
so Everest needed to be very tall.
We also wanted him to have white
fur so he could blend into his
snowy environment, and we didn’t
feel he should speak — at least
not any language we understood.
He grunts and snorts, much like a
bear does. So we ended up with
a giant white creature whowalks
mostly on four legs, like a bear. But
he can also roll up in a ball, like a
giant snowball.
How would you describe
Everest’s personality?
When you first meet Everest, he
seems like a ferocious beast! He
defensively charges at Yi and
she is frightened, but then you
realize that he is wounded and
needs help. Through tending to the
Yeti, Yi discovers that Everest is
sweet, curious and funny. You find
out he is so much wiser than we
ever imagined.
Lastly, why do you think
our animal-obsessed
readers will love
Abominable?
There’s something special about
how we share this planet with so
many animals. We wanted Yi to
find a bond with one of Earth’s
mythical creatures, a Yeti!
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