Animal Planet will investigate Yetis on 'Yeti or Not'

Mark Evans and Reinhold Messner taking a sample from a claimed 'yeti' specimen. (Discovery Communications)

As Animal Plant prepares for Monster Week, Dr. Mark Evans is taking viewers on an investigative journey about the mysterious Himalayan biped known as the Yeti in “Yeti or Not.”

Evans said viewers can expect "many surprises" from the Animal Planet special.

“I had preconceived ideas on how it might go and what I was expecting to find, and I can genuinely say I ended up in a place where I didn’t expect to be at the end of it," he said. "Certainly my views on the Yeti mystery have changed quite considerably as a result of making this film.”

In the special, Evans travels to Nepal in search of remains that are rumored to be from Yetis. On his travels, he examines the DNA from these and various samples in an attempt to solve the myth with science.

“If you can get DNA out of samples then you can come up with definitive results because DNA doesn’t lie,” he insisted. “Science today will be able to confirm whether it is something new, it might be a Yeti whatever you want to call it. But the one thing science can never do is prove that the Yeti doesn’t exist, because simply that is impossible. So when I go on these trips it’s with a very open mind.”

Evans said as a scientist it is his duty to be skeptical, however he aims to be respectful while conducting his research.

“I hope to do it in a way that is intelligent and do it in a way that recognizes and respects people’s views, opinions and experiences,” he said. “Certainly we wouldn’t be able to do these journeys and investigations without them. In the case of this special, the reasons why my views have changed so much is because it was talking to people living in the Himalayans face to face and having conversations with them.”

Evans wants viewers to approach the special with an open mind.

“I think there are people who believe Yeti are out there and then there are people who think it is a whole mumbo jumbo,” he said. “I hope this film will encourage people to think very differently about the Yeti."

“Yeti or Not” premieres May 29 on Animal Planet.