What the hell kind of animal did I witness?

Zeze

Lifer
Mar 4, 2011
11,395
1,189
126
I was walking my dog in the city park- no bigger than mile by mile, surrounded by cities in NY/NJ. The trees are sparse, more or less a big grass field.

I saw this fat thing wobbling around... it's short legged and stupid slow, even my corgi caught up and didn't know what to do with it.

It's too big to be a gerbil or anything ratty.. looked to be about 15-20 lbs.

The fat round body & short legs resembled a platypus:
lifesciences-platypus.jpg


But none of the platypus face or webbed feet. It obviously had nothing to do with water. It's definitely not a possum, didn't have the revolting face or a long snout. The face looked like your generic hamster.

The thing quickly hid into his hole. It had an impressive network as my dog was sniffing at the much smaller vent hole and also ran after it when that thing came out on the other end 20 yards away.

WTF is it?
 

Zeze

Lifer
Mar 4, 2011
11,395
1,189
126
Groundhog. Jesus. City people... :^D

Yes that just might be it!! Except, the tail was much shorter....

Looked at few groundhogs online... they seem much smaller than the two fatter ones I saw.
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
59,687
10,192
126
Yes that just might be it!! Except, the tail was much shorter....

They have pretty short tails. Just a fuzzy little thing. Could have lost some tail also in a fight, or from infection.
 

JBT

Lifer
Nov 28, 2001
12,094
1
81
Yes that just might be it!! Except, the tail was much shorter....

Looked at few groundhogs online... they seem much smaller than the two fatter ones I saw.

Optical illusion? The tails seem to max out at 4 inches, so a big ones tail might look pretty small compared to a smaller one.
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
59,687
10,192
126
This is true. It had at least 2 entrances of tunnels spanning 20 yards. Do groundhogs dig tunnels?

That's why they're called groundhogs ;^)

They have two holes, so there's an escape. 20# is on the big side, but they may get that big.
 

BoomerD

No Lifer
Feb 26, 2006
66,090
14,495
146
Yes that just might be it!! Except, the tail was much shorter....

Looked at few groundhogs online... they seem much smaller than the two fatter ones I saw.

Who you callin fat, asshole?

images


Probably a marmot...or one of the other "groundhog species."
 

BoomerD

No Lifer
Feb 26, 2006
66,090
14,495
146
groundhogs are fast and and dont even get close to 10-15 pounds did it look like a muskrat?

https://www.google.com/search?q=mus...nEyQHgzoH4Ag&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1920&bih=912

Edit: my bad, out here in the west prairiedogs are often called groundhogs.

https://www.google.com/search?q=pra...qQyAHrjoCACQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1920&bih=912

Prairie dogs and ground hogs are different animals...


Groundhogs can get pretty big...up to 30+ pounds.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog