Scientists at Oxford University are renewing the hunt for one of the world's most elusive creatures - the Yeti.

Individuals and institutions with are being encouraged to submit samples of hair and teeth from "cryptids" - animals that are unknown to the scientific world, such as the Yeti.

The university has collaborated with the Lausanne Museum of Zoology in Switzerland and scientists will analyse the samples and publish their findings in peer-reviewed journals.

The preferred material is hair in order to "avoid misidentification".

Bryan Sykes, from Wolfson College, Oxford, told Wired.co.uk: "Theories as to their species identification vary from surviving collateral hominid species, such as Homo neanderthalensis, to large primates like Gigantopithecus widely thought to be extinct, to as yet unstudied primate species or local subspecies of black and brown bears.

"Mainstream science remains unconvinced by these reports both through lack of testable evidence and the scope for fraudulent claims.

"It is possible that a scientific examination of these neglected specimens could tell us more about how Neanderthals and other early hominids interacted and spread around the world."

The Yeti is well-known to many cultures, although often takes on different names including Sasquatch, Big Foot, Skunk Ape, Mande Barung and Yowie - not to be confused with characters from reality television show Towie.

We've put together a collection of Yeti sightings - ranging from the (almost) believable to the just plain bizarre.

Of course, feel free to submit your own theories and sightings.

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• Yeti Filmed In Poland

  www.themorningstarr.co.uk A holiday maker in Poland has filmed what could be the Polish Yeti. 27 year old Piotr Kowalski from Warsaw was on a walking holiday in the Polish Tatra mountains when he saw a large ape-like creature standing in the rocks ahead of him. "I saw this huge ape-like form hiding behind the rocks. When I saw it it was like being struck by a thunderbolt," he told the Superexpress. "Coming from Warsaw, I never really believed the local stories of a wild mountain ape-man roaming the slopes. But, now I do." The video has been handed over to the Nautilus Foundation, a Polish organisation which specialises in the paranormal and cryptozoology. "The film clearly shows 'something' that moves on two legs and is bigger than a normal man," says Robert Bernatowicz, president of the Nautilus Foundation. "But because the camera shakes so much it is difficult to say what it is exactly. We need to go to the site and see what traces, if any, were left."

• ANIMAL PLANET "FOUND BIGFOOT"

  Animal Planet investigators find a real Sasquatch. Scientists have worked out the size of the creature at the location of where it was originally filmed. They found it has a 22 inch left arm and an 18 3/4 long torso. (ref. ISSN# 1442-2212 2008 page 17) This alone PROVES that it was NOT a BEAR. Deer and bear filmed earlier that day, before the creature, had disappeared half an hour before its arrival and never returned. This was peculiar when bait was left behind. The animals normally would of returned to fatten up for the upcoming winter months. What were the other animals in the area so nervous about? What happened off camera? Immediately following the photos researchers and witnesses recorded Sasquatch like sounds while investigating the area for evidence. s2.excoboard.com Links that have answers for the skeptics: 1. www.youtube.com 2. www.youtube.com 3. www.youtube.com 4. vimeo.com Viewpoint of the Native Americans living near the Jacobs sighting: www.youtube.com Other sightings of Bigfoot that happened in the same area of the Jacobs photos: www.bradfordera.com

• bigfoot patterson http://tiagopsc.altervista.org/

  tiagopsc.altervista.org un vero bigfoot .. molto D&G .. by tiago .. incredibile ma veroooo

• Big Foot Siting Alaska

  I was on a logging road in Ketchikan hiking with my friend when I saw it! Boy did my heart start racing!! It was about 40 yards from the road! Not sure if it knew I was there or not, because the noise of flowing water from the stream. It seemed to travel fast! It made my hair stand up!! At one point you can see a whitish yellowish thing in it's hand! I believe it was skunk cabbage. Not sure, but it is in bloom. You see it jump and after that point it just seems to disappear. There was a lot of brush and trees between it and I, I could not tell where it had gone. It was a scary sort of exciting feeling at the same time!! We went to search for tracks but the river bed where we thought it was walking was full of perfect skiping rocks, we found no prints! If there is a BigFoot, Sasquatch, or Kushtaka I swear I saw him!!

• Yeti or Bigfoot filmed in Siberia, Russia?

  Both scientists and locals of the Kuzbass area in the Kemerovo region of Siberia are of the belief that a family of Yeti's or Bigfoot type creatures live in the Shoria caves. Recently a number of high profile scientific expeditions into the region attempted to film a Yeti. Some believe the Yeti is a type of Alpine Gorilla while others are of the opinion that they are members of the Homo Erectus family that have chosen to live a peaceful, non-violent existence at one with nature in the world's hidden spots.