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Monday, November 29, 2010

Name That Critter

No - you're not figuring out which politician is in a picture...

One of my brothers owns a home inspection business.  He was up in an attic, and came across this furry little creature, all snug-as-a-bug-in-a-rug -


You can click the picture to blow it up.

He said that the head was about the size of a softball.  That might be a little bit exaggerated, but it's clearly bigger than a normal squirrel head.  The board in front is a 2x6.

Here's a zoom of the head -


It's got an up-turned nose and fairly pointy ears.  A fairly distinctive "mask" on the lower part of the face.

My first instinct was a gray squirrel, but its head is too big.  I guess if it had been up there a while with some kind of food source and limited predator worries, it could grown into an uber-squirrel, but still...

If it is a squirrel, I should send my brother back to go all "GunRights4UsAll" on it. THAT'S how squirrel is prepared...

It's not an opossum or raccoon.  A big rat?  A bat?  Some freakish government experiment gone horribly wrong?

He didn't want to stick around and poke it with a stick and have it feast on his face.  Any ideas?


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11 comments:

Andrea said...

It's obviously a chupacabra. Obviously.

Dustin Tarditi said...

Where (in the country) is this picture taken?

Could be a Marmot

Chief Instructor said...

Andrea - LOL - hey, I that's as good a guess as any...

Dustin - Northern California in the Sacramento area. I pulled up some pix of them (aka, ground hogs and woodchucks), and they look the most like the pic my brother took.

They ARE found in the Sierra Nevada range, which is very close to Sacto, but I couldn't find anything about them going into attics - they live in burrows and rockpiles.

Still, the size and pic are leaning that way...

suek said...

Maybe it's my old eyes, but I can't discriminate features on this photo worth a darn. Is it hibernating? if so, he might be able to get a better photo, and in that case...maybe someone on this blog http://cameratrapcodger.blogspot.com/
would be able to help.

Or send you to a source with more info.

Terrie said...

It's cute whatever it is. Looks like some kind of squirrel.

Dustin Tarditi said...

If it is a woodchuck, make sure it quits chucking your wood!

(I love that commercial!)

Andrea said...

Snort! That commercial is the greatest!

Chief Instructor said...

Sue, this was at someone's house that was for sale that my brother was inspecting. He snapped the pic and got out of there.

He let the owners know they had a visitor...

Terrie, that was my first instinct as well, but the head's just too big. Still a mystery...

Dustin/Andrea, I need to lighten up. My reaction to that commercial was to go get a scatter gun! ;-)

Anonymous said...

Ah-ha! Found out what this critter is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfJnqbudMzs

Chief Instructor said...

LOL! I'm a believer!

Anonymous said...

It's a flying sqiurrel folks, they're nocturnal and a LOT more common that you would think! aka Rocky not Bullwinkle!