132 thoughts on “Name the mammal”

  6. his may sound stupid but, big gray squirrel with shaved tail? But then who would do that? Anyway, I submit this for the way-out-there award.

  11. My first guess would be nutria… not native to Indiana as far as I know, but apparently have been introduced there.

  13. Coypu (aka nutria)? Aren’t they making their way up from South America lately?

    Just guessing.

    1. No, they were introduced around the US as part of the fur trade decades ago.

      Doesn’t look quite bulky enough for a nutria, but it appears to be hairless so that could be throwing me off. The tail and head certainly seem to be pretty close.

  15. It looks totally bald: if it is a wild animal that means mange, which can result in foxes and coyotes that look completely hairless. Can large rodents get mange? The head is rodent-like. The short tail and stocky limbs suggest one of the large ground squirrels that there are so many species of in the US. That’s the best i can do.

    1. Now I have seen commenst above suggesting nutria: tail looks a bit too short for nutria, but its body looks big and stocky enough.

      1. I’ve never seen nutria in person, so I can’t speak from experience there, but in some pictures I see tails that look about like that, and some that look a lot longer as well.

  17. This is what happens when you feed the local wildlife genetically modified corn. Just sayin…

      1. I almost made that joke on my FB wall, Su. But I’m sure someone would have taken my seriously and freaked out on me. Decided I’d pass on the GMO wars for today. ; )

    1. Now that looks like a contender. Except for this part: “They forage only at night, … “

  22. It looks to me like a squirrel that has lost all the hair on its tail. Hard to tell the size from the photo, though.

    (I had mistakenly put this comment on the picture page earlier.)

    1. It was HUGE compared to a squirrel though. About 3 times the size of a large squirrel. But its face was exactly the same as a squirrel – body more like a very short haired dog.

    2. I vote the same. Head looks like that of a large rodent, such as a woodchuck. I saw a rather sensationalized nature documentary a few months ago about someone photographing a very weird dog-like animal that was more or less hairless. Turned out it was a rare variety of fox.
      A mammal will look very weird with less hair.

  24. I forwarded the pic to the discovery institute. I’m sure they will know… also sure that the little critter disproves evolution. No way an animal that ugly could have evolved! Praise Jebus! And in the words of Jason Stackhouse “Praise his light”

  26. I think it is a wild pig. Not all pigs have curly tails and its ear is hanging down over its nose distorting the face.

    1. I was thinking Chihuahua. But then it’s so hard to tell all those little dog breeds from rodents.

    2. That’s not an opossum or any sort of marsupial in the pic but it does show the effects of mange

    3. Definitely not a possum. I’ve got a lot of those – their snouts are much longer and pointier.

    1. I think it looks like a marsupial too, my first thought was that it was a wombat that had found a way to regrow its tail! 😉

    1. That one’s missing the hair, skin, organs and eyes! Must have been a rough winter

  39. I took a picture of a groundhog (woodchuck) in my yard the other day and the body is exactly like that but hairlessness is strange.

  40. After finding how far off base I was with wolverines, badgers, and Tasmanian devils, I vote for the coypu.

  45. The torso length and position of the legs, and position of the tail suggest squirrel. The only thing missing is the fur.

    3. Yeh I think that might be it. Is it a genetic mutation or mange or something?

    1. Yes, my first thought was also a raccoon with mange. The size looks about right. It looks too big for a possum, and the nose isn’t pointy enough for a possum either. I think a groundhog is also a good guess, since the ears are so small and round.

  52. Correct; we’re all assuming Jerry was being straight with us when he said “this is not a joke!”

  55. Quadruped. If you’re going to be vague, you should do it exactly.

  56. Might be a nutria, but with the short tail I’d rather go for one of the prairie dogs.

  58. Obviously a baby Triceratops. You can see the bony frill that protects the area behind the head beginning to form and the stub of an incipient nose horn. Wonder where mom is hiding…

  64. Mangy woodchuck.

    Which brings up the eternal question: How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck would chuck wood?

    1. That’s not the interesting question.

      The question — especially in this case — that needs answering is, how much yuck would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck would up-chuck?

      b&

      1. Or how much mange could a woodchuck amass if a woodchuck could amass mange?

        Yeah it’s not perfect but it’s still tongue twisty.

  65. No seems to be considering the behavior.

    Assuming that it’s not ill, the fact that it has come up close to the house favors, by my guess, a possum or raccoon. A muskrat or beaver wouldn’t be wandering around up there near the house and people.

    I don’t see squirrel – had it been one, I’m thinking that the reader would have suggested as much. Squirrels have familiar and distinctive ways of scampering about that the reader would have recognized.

    (I’m agreeing that it’s a hairless specimen, due to disease or other misadventure).

    1. Woodchucks are fat, short-tailed, squirrels that live underground (including in backyards). Their behaviors are quite distinct from tree squirrels.

    2. Of course, that same disease or misadventure might explain (or be explained by) abnormal behaviour. Hairlessness does wierd things to appearance (see the Montauk monster, which is pretty clearly a raccoon)

      It does look like an idealized general body plan for a rodent. The dark skin argues against a raccoon, but that could be lighting. The head and ear shape in that picture is wrong for an opossum (google “hairless opossum” and “hairless raccoon”). Size rules out squirrels, and the tail does look too short for nutria.

      Long story short: I vote woodchuck. Feels like I should make a Bill Murray reference. Put that man in a movie with a burrowing sciurid, and you’ve got comedy gold.

        1. Of course. The two statements were separate, though its not clear now that I read it again. I was more expecting a comment that gophers aren’t sciuridae.

          1. By which I mean that the statements on raccoon and opossum were to support the statement about rodents. Opossum are even less like rodents (raccoons are at least placental).

          2. Gotcha. 😀

            But groundhogs are sciurids, and I assumed that was what you were referring to?

            (Groundhog/woodchuck’s been my guess all along, FWIW.)

  71. Perhaps this is what Creationists are looking for when they search for their ever-elusive “Crocoduck.” I present to you, the “Squirrel-Dog,” or as it will more likely come to be known in finer circles, “Squog.”

    1. You’ve noticed a decline in the local bird population? Small pets have gone missing? Strange, unearthly howls?

      1. What — did another Cthulhu get out.

        <sigh />

        Oh, Baihu! Go round us up some calamari, will you?

        Yes, I know the freezer’s already full. I don’t know — maybe we’ll dry it, or see if we can talk the neighbors into another fish fry. Yeah, yeah — they all tripped out after the last one. But most have pretended to forget, and they might be too scared to say no.

        But why’m’I explaining this to you? Just go get the damned thing and we’ll worry about what to do with it when you get it back, okay? Great. Love you! Bye.

        b&

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