EISPIRATEN

What is this thing? I truly don't know. Simply guessing a badger. It's in Palo Comado canyon (Simi Hills). It is NOT a bear cub. There are no bears there.



Other normal animals for size comparison:

POSSOM

Malabar Civet

Doesn't quite look dark enough, but looks like there is a bushy tail. Maybe a skunk?

Beats the snot outta me. I can't make out any detail.
Possum, raccoon, skunk, badger?
Baby chupacabra?

definitely a chupacabra

Could it be a Fisher?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisher_(animal)

You may need to scroll down....

I'm no expert, but that animal waddles more than a Badger does. It is a long shot, but the body shape (to me) is very similar to a Porcupine, or a fat, "stubby tailed" Racoon.

Bummer...I was hoping it was something a little more exotic (yeah, the civet...so close! haha), but I sent the video to a couple of biologists, and they think it is a tail-less raccoon. (and made the strange comment that they "see a lot of those".) No mention of what happens to their tails...

But there are badgers in the Simi Hills. Which I didn't know...

My first thought was it waddles like all the big butted-garbage fed raccoons that I've seen, then I realized it had no tail, so I was flummoxed.

cougarmagic wrote:Bummer...I was hoping it was something a little more exotic (yeah, the civet...so close! haha), but I sent the video to a couple of biologists, and they think it is a tail-less raccoon. (and made the strange comment that they "see a lot of those".) No mention of what happens to their tails...

But there are badgers in the Simi Hills. Which I didn't know...

The tail or lack thereof initially threw me off also.

Unfortunately, racoons are not born that way, the three ways suggested that they to loose their tails are

1) Attacks by predators or dogs - they give up the tail as a way of escape.
2) Traps.
3) Run over by cars.

That's the skinny on the internet. So far there's no evidence to suggest that a mutation exists that any are born without the tail.

lilbitmo wrote:1) Attacks by predators or dogs - they give up the tail as a way of escape.

Of course the first thing I thought of when I read this was "Their tails fall off? Like a lizard???"

Tail-less raccoon sure is a possibility.

I have looked at your video a hundred times. I am going with your first idea of a badger. There are quite a few videos on the net of badgers waddling around.

I'm starting to think it does have a tail in the video.

Yes, I think that animal has a tail... like a badger tail