New research suggests that the Himalayan Yeti is not only real, but through proof of DNA, a descendant of the brown bear, BBC News reported.

Oxford University genetics professor Brian Sykes tested DNA samples he said matched an ancient polar bear. The most likely explanation for his discovery, he said, is that the Yeti is some sort of brown bear and polar bear hybrid.

"I think this bear, which nobody has seen alive... may still be there and may have quite a lot of polar bear in it," he said. "It may be some sort of hybrid and if its behavior is different from normal bears, which is what eyewitnesses report, then I think that may well be the source of the mystery and the source of the legend."

The DNA came from two samples of hair from an unidentified beast. One of the samples was found in Ladakh in Northern India, west of the Himalayas. The other was found 800 miles further east in Bhutan.

When compared against a database containing any and all published DNA sequences, Sykes' samples were a 100 percent match to an ancient polar bear. The match was to a jawbone found in Svalbard, Norway that dates 40,000 to 120,000 years back. During that timeframe, brown and polar bears were closely related and just separating as different species.

The Ladakh sample was from the mummified remains of a beast shot by a hunter some 40 years ago and the other was found 10 years ago by filmmakers in a bamboo forest.

"All my colleagues think I'm taking a risk in doing this, but I'm curious, and I am in a position to actually do something to answer the questions," Sykes told NBC News. "Everyone in the Himalayas has no doubt that [Yetis] exist."

He said he received the hairs when he made a public request for people to turn in what they suspected to be evidence of a Yeti, Sasquatch or Bigfoot. Sykes understands that his work will be met with skepticism, like how sightings of the mythical beasts have become less frequent.

"They are very rare," he said. "The distances over which they roam are enormous and often heavily wooded, so they cannot be seen by satellite. And certainly in the Pacific Northwest, in the case of Sasquatch, they are thought to be shy."

He is also planning to someday publish his work in a peer-reviewed journal to defend what he believes is true evidence of a real creature.

"One of the reasons I felt confident enough to go into this madcap area is I do not have to form an opinion. I have got the hairs and I have tested the hairs. I cannot vouch for their authenticity, but there were witnesses, and the DNA cannot be made up or rigged. Those results are absolutely firm."