LINDSAY SELBY: Teh-Ima , the mini yeti

Said to inhabit the steamy mountain valleys of Nepal and Sikkim, the Teh-lma (apparently translates as 'That There Little Thing') is the smallest of the Yeti species reported to inhabit the Himalayas. The creatures are described as between 3 feet (approx. 1 metre) and 4 feet (1. 3 metres) tall with hunched shoulders and a pointed head that slopes back from the forehead with thick reddish hair/ fur. They are said to eat frogs and other small animals. It walks and runs on its hind legs, i.e. is bipedal, and will run away if it sees a human being. Sir Edmond Hillary and Desmond Doig claimed that in Bhuran, Sikkim and south eastern Tibet, the Teh-lma are known as Pyar-them. Some think the Teh-Ima are juvenile yetis and not a separate branch of the species.

The Daily Mail Himalayan Snowman Expedition in 1954


Gerald Russell, an American naturalist, on the expedition, was told about these small Yetis ( I keep thinking mini-me)that the indigenous people called Teh-lma. Russell was able to examine what was said to be the faeces(scat) of the creature from which he concluded that the Teh-lma lived in the more tropical valleys of Nepal and ate a diet of mainly frogs. Russell returned to Nepal as a member of the Slick-Johnson Expedition in 1958. A Sherpa called Da Temba, was Russell’s guide. Da Temba along with another eyewitness, said they had seen a Teh-lma in the middle of a creek located in Chhoyang River Valley in April during the expedition. Though Russell did not see the creature himself, he said he found its tracks on more than one occasion. Teh-Lma tracks are humanlike and about 5 inches( 12 / 13 cm) long .


In Ivan T Sanderson’s book he also talks about the Teh-Ima and the faeces :


In the gross form the faeces alleged to be those of ABSMs, fall into two very clear-cut types—those from the Himalaya which are of large but not excessive man-size and are said to come from Meh-Teh and Teh-lma; and those of the Oh-Mahs from California. The only reliable examination of the former made in the field was made by Gerald Russell who had had many years of such field studies in Africa and the Orient while collecting mammals, reptiles, and amphibians for museums. He reported the form to be generally humanoid and the contents to be: “A quantity of pika (Ochotona) fur; a quantity of pika bones (approx, 20); one feather, probably from a partridge chick; some sections of grass, or other vegetable matter; one thorn; one large insect claw; three pika whiskers.” Later, he examined also what appeared to be Teh-lma droppings near the river where he had found those creatures to be eating giant frogs. These contained bones of that animal and vegetable and insect remains in about equal proportions

Ivan T. Sanderson 1961 , Abominable Snowmen: Legend Come To Life, p337-338
You can read it here online for free:http://www.sacred-texts.com/lcr/abs/abs19.htm
The discovery of the Homo floresiensis skeleton on Flores Island in October 2004 has fuelled speculation about the Teh-Ima. The skeletons discovered are about 3 feet (1 metre) tall and are thought to be a dwarf species of the genus Homo. The skeletons are bout 12,000 years old but it has given food for thought over the Teh-Ima. There has been much discussion as to whether the skeletons were a dwarf species or just deformed but if one small species could have existed in time then there is always the possibility that so could another.


(I am not so good today so apologise for any spelling errors or grammatical errors I have missed)