zoologists needed : help boingboing readers identify weird seattle creature

By josh
July 16th, 2007 @ 11:08 AM photo

BoingBoing has a photo of this frightening creature apparently spotted just outside city limits. Did anyone let their pet alien out for a walk and not rein it back in last night?

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photo by boingboing reader Justyn [arr-the-kraken via boingboing]

Any clue as to what this is, or are we facing an invasion more terrifying than the Great Nutria Invasion of 2006 [mb]?

9 Comments so far

  1. Ryan (unregistered) on July 16th, 2007 @ 11:34 am

    Yikes. Looks like a naked mole rat. Or a baby water horse.


  2. samantha (unregistered) on July 16th, 2007 @ 11:47 am

    I really, really hope that it’s a naked mole rat that has left Africa in search of adventure.


  3. till (unregistered) on July 16th, 2007 @ 11:55 am

    I see a hippo – well kinda!


  4. Elise (unregistered) on July 16th, 2007 @ 12:34 pm

    it’s a naked aka “nude” rat. sold as pets now, and this one must have happily made it out of its cage.


  5. Jeanna (unregistered) on July 16th, 2007 @ 1:00 pm

    gross! why would anybody want that thing for a pet? this one looks a little more rotund than other pics on the internet. very hippo-like indeed!


  6. samantha (unregistered) on July 16th, 2007 @ 1:29 pm

    Its head looks too squished for a naked rat. I’m voting for either a baby nutria or a baby mountain beaver.


  7. Ryan (unregistered) on July 16th, 2007 @ 1:49 pm

    There have also been some votes for a squirrel suffering from mange. You can see some tufts of hair on its back as if it has been falling out in clumps (or maybe scratched off).

    This is a cool mystery though. I wish we could have an “identify the spooky animal” post every day.


  8. Brandon (unregistered) on July 16th, 2007 @ 5:16 pm

    I already regret saying this, but it looks a little like a bruised scrotum with ears. My real vote goes to pygmy hippo, though.


  9. alejo699 (unregistered) on July 18th, 2007 @ 1:52 pm

    Do hippos, even pygmy ones, have claws?
    I think it is some sort of rodent and it’s merely the camera angle that makes it appear to have a hippo-like head. A sad, cold, scrotum-like rodent….



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