I think so. I've seen a shitload of ones that look just like that, though I don't recall seeing the tail like that. I've seen them in the desert a long time ago.
Yes, my wife saw a ringtail at my house here in Glendora in late 1998. Haven't seen the buggers since. The previous owners also told me that they saw the ringtail in 1997-1998.
BTW, the Altadena ringtail sighting was just a cat. (We had discussed setting up one of your cameras there... I keep forgetting to let you know about it. Oops... sorry)
One visited our camp while we were sleeping out in Fall Canyon in DV NP a few years ago.
My friend Adam awoke when a critter he described as "a squirrel or chihuahua with a racoon's tail" began digging through his backpack (which lay just a few feet from his head). He got a good look at it, and stuck by his sighting on the hike out, despite doubts from the rest of the group.
Before leaving the park, we stopped by the Visitor's Center, and there it was (in an exhibit on local fauna), exactly as he'd described.
I've seen a ringtail in the wild one and only one time: in Zion National Park in 2007. Here are my crappy photos. Sorry about the photos, especially the last couple.
Cabin #1 in Big Santa Anita Canyon (below Hermit Falls) has a Ringtail that visits regularly. It has become quite tame and eats grapes from the hand of the cabin owner. They are actually easy to tame, and the old gold miners used to keep them in their cabins to eat mice.
PackerGreg wrote:Cabin #1 in Big Santa Anita Canyon (below Hermit Falls) has a Ringtail that visits regularly. It has become quite tame and eats grapes from the hand of the cabin owner. They are actually easy to tame, and the old gold miners used to keep them in their cabins to eat mice.
Greg where can I get two "trained tame one's" as I need to clear my yard of gophers, they are everywhere these days Save me the trouble of trying to get rid of them
By the way the ones in my yard are extremely agressive, this is what they look like
You hardly ever see them in the daytime, but I saw a whole family of them one morning near the first waterfall at Eaton Canyon. Also saw one at night in Monrovia. If you shine a flashlight on them they'll stare straight into it until you move. I believe they're Arizona's state mammal.