Hairless Mystery Animal Photographed
Posted by: Loren Coleman on July 10th, 2009
The following animal jumped into the trunk of someone’s car in Goodhue, Minnesota, near Minneapolis, and was driven home (allegedly) before being photographed.
What do you think it is? The original picture-taker (an unnamed individual on Craigslist) said it was like a “hairless wallaby.” But it appears to be more like a hairless ????? Certainly, it is not a rex, a type of hairless cat, as some have claimed.
Thank goodness, at least, no one has labeled it with the Chupacabras moniker.
You be the cryptozoologist for the day; you come up with the positive identification. Your guesses, below, please.
Thanks to Jordan who heard about this Minnesota news but lives elsewhere, for the tip.
- Similar Phenomena:
I’m no expert, but from the general shape of the face it looks like a hairless fox to me.
I looked at it as much as I can. This photo is disturbing whatever it is. It certainly looks like a moderate sized dog, like you said. The elongated snout is typical of dog breeds like the Suluki, Greyhound, Italian Greyhound, whippet, etc. It looks to me like a mutilated whippet, as if it was abused, or, was born in such a way, probably the latter, as this is typical of birth defects, and, the dog looks to have some skin ailment, such as mange. That’s my guess. I don’t see any cryptid here.
~Isaiah
Finally clear pics of an interesting cryptid. Reminds me of a Peruvian hairless dog (here & here).
But still the snout looks strange. I.d love to see more pics from different angles
I would guess a black bandicoot, fruit bat or even a chihuahua if the snout was a little more sqaured. The eyes look cat-like also.
Wow,
I really am stumped…
Your first idea after some comparison is that its jaw is too slender for a canid, plus the length of it’s toes.
The freaky green eye colouration is also strange – El Chupacabras!
It really does look like a composite of coon, dog and cat. In the penultimate photo it also appears to have a feline iris…
I dunno! Let me research and have another shot.
Loren, please let us know of any further details – the full story, tissue samples (I certainly would be aiming to get something off this creature, although a hair is not an option) etc.
Oh, sorry to be pendantic, but a Rex cat is not hairless – they have short wavey hair. It is the Sphynx that is the hairless variety of cat.
At the moment I still go for a Procyonidae member for this strange little creature…
Oh, don’t want to seem pedantic but it’s not the Rex cat that is hairless – they have short wavey hair. It’s actually the Sphynx.
I still go for a member of the Procyonidae family with this strange little critter.
Mexican hairless?
To me, it looks like an hairless falanouc, a sort of civet endemic to Madagascar.
It kinda looks like a hairless peruvian dog. The skin is much darker however, and the paws suggest some kind of backyard rodent like a possum or something. I know it doesn’t really look out of the ordinary except for the baldness I just cant put my finger on it. The muzzle is very canid like hmmmmmmmm.
Possibly a red fox with some sort of sort of disease or mutation. Perhaps the disease that left it hairless also inflicted it with dementia which would explain why it would hop into someone’s trunk.
Whoa, that is strange looking. The skin looks too smooth the be mange related hairlessness. Also, the head looks like that of a bat, and what is up with the eye in that one picture? It almost looks like a cat or reptile eye. For those of you with a D&D background, I think it is a blink dog.
Is this animal still in custody?
It appears to be a peruvian or mexican hairless dog. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peruvian_Hairless_Dog and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Hairless_Dog.
My vote would be for the latter.
-n.
Hmmmm. It honestly looks for all the world like a hairless dog, at least to me anyway. But then there is that crazy head shot where you can see that the eye looks very much like a feline eye, so…
Dog. Creepy one, at that. The blackness adds to the effect.
I found these wikipedia links to Mexican and Peruvian hairless breeds that look very, very similar to this guy.
This poor little fella looks like it’s parents were a chinese crested hairless and a hairless chihuahua.Poor thing, it looks like it’s shaking with fear.
looks like a half rat-half dog….very strange indeed
Narrow snout? Cat-like eyes? Canine appearance?
First thing that comes to mind for me is a fox suffering from hair-loss/mange.
The Peruvian, Mexican, and Chinese Crested breeds all have a more dog-like facial structure, and even those without teeth have a broader snout. Plus, these breeds would not have this kind of eye coloration/unique pupil shape.
a hairless raccoon. poor little fellow…
note the ‘fingers’, arm webs, tail, face proportions, ear shape, and general posture.
i wonder how it got that way
I vote hairless possum. Being from the south I mostly see possums dead in the middle of the road, so I’ve seen some with most of the hair gone and they looked very similar to this creature.
Good thing granny wouldn’t around or this thing would of been stew!!
It does look canine.
The “cat eye” some folks are seeing looks like an artifact of the camera angle to me. The eye is on the right side of the “cat eye” “iris” demarcation; the left side is the watery tear duct.
Take a look at the second picture down.
That front foot is not a foot of a canine.
Don’t know what it is, but it sure is creepy.
Weird, the paws almost look like they have fingers instead of the standard dog-toes.
I’ve seen dogs with mange – it generally leaves the skin looking pretty rough. What happened to this animal after the pictures were taken?
It definitely looks like some kind of hairless canid to me. Whatever it is, I hope someone can give it a good home, or locate its previous one and return it.
Jeremy:
I own a hairless dog, an American Hairless Terrier, to be exact.
I don’t think this thing is that. The snout is all wrong. I would guess that it’s a young and bald Raccoon. Maybe a mutation of some sort. Look at its paws in the 2nd photo. Those look like raccoon paws.
Tom
Mexican Hairless i don’t think so. the snout is too differen’t.
mexican well i can’t say it can’t be, but for the links of the mexican hairless i believe it’s not that one, i think it can be a new hairless dog. or feline or something
it could very well be a fox hybrid with dog or coyote
I’m here in Minneapolis, MN -this is my first post, actually.
It’s a hairless raccoon, I believe. My ex is a wildlife biologist and was called out on at least two occasions where people had trapped a hairless raccoon around fall/winter. Apparently it’s a congential condition that occurs since birth. I’ve never seen one in person, had only heard of them but if you take a look here. I think they are almost identical. (Go down to article/page 7.)
Can we get some clear pics of it’s feet, front and back?
No clear idea of what it is–I have seen lots of possums close up and it does not look like them–but I hope that someone is taking care of it. If it is the mange, it must be miserable. Even if it is a genetic hairless mutation, it does not look well at all, and hopping into a strange car trunk would probably mean that it is seeking help. I can’t imagine a hairless possum doing that, but maybe a hairless raccoon and certainly a hairless dog. I can’t turn off the animal-loving gene in me just because the animal looks strange.
WooHoo!!! I’m the person who sent that to you, Loren.
From what I understand reading the posts, the original post from the person that picked this thing up is gone (too bad, I would have loved to have some contact info). Also, the information about jumping in the trunk and taking it home have come from subsequent posts discussing the first one. The original poster (and possessor of this animal) has not come back out of the woodwork.
I’m gonna go ahead and jump on the hairless raccoon bandwagon. Good link Myn!
I’m in for a raccoon with the mange (compare to this).
The position of the ears, the very dark skin, the sharp snout, and the paws point in that direction. The eyes may be infected as well to give the greenish color. Poor thing.
All, sorry for the excitement, it appears the mystery has been (sort of) solved. Someone else regarding the original posting posted this link. Scroll down to page 7 (last page). It appears that it is indeed a hairless raccoon. However quickly this was solved, at least we have one other image to add to our collective cryptozoological lexicon to use when solving further mysteries.
The reason I say “sort of” is that the original person still has not appeared to let us all know if the original post was a joke or not.
Wow, Myn, I didn’t know mange was only ONE option. It’s good to know there are also rare congenital defects like this one.
But why would the photographer say it looked like a wallaby not a dog ?
He or she looked at the whole animal. Does look catlike and suggests it is something naturally between the two, got off the ground too. Civit like with those ominouse eyes. Wonder if its any good for processing coffee beans ?
1. A hairless, unhealthy canid (mangy fox dog or Xolo, hairles mexican dog)
2. A hairless, unhealthy procyiond (coati or cacomiztle)
3. A hairless mangy opposum? (doubful)
4. An exotic imported animal? (small carnivore)
These are my guesses, (not so different from what the others have said)
Greetings
It does appeare to have feline eyes,but the muzzle seems to long. could it bee a crossbreed? Possibly a Hyena ?
Its a very, very bald raccoon. You can see its little raccoon fingers in the 2nd picture. The posture and eyes are like a raccoon as well.
The link from BlueTinkerbell efers to a “necrosy” (I’m guessing they meant “necropsy”) and an examination of the internal organs. I’m thinking the animal did not survive this encounter.
FOX
Looks similar to a mexican hairless dog, we had one when I was young, everyone said he was ugly but he is my favorite dog I’ve ever owned.
The only thing to me that doesn’t look right are the eyes and the very tapered muzzle, quite odd looking.
I know a thing or two about Mexican hairless dogs. And even though there was more morphological variety in ancient times with these animals —like this vase from Colima shows.
I’m not sure that we’re looking at a dog. The snout is all wrong.
First thing I thought was “opposum” like Kronprinz_adam, but the ears do not match either.
Well it’s not Mr. Biggielsworth, Dr. Evils Manx cat. Not a hairless racoon or dog either. With that long and narrow snout and freaky eyes it’s a tough call.
If it’s a raccoon, why did this wild animal just jump into this guy’s car?
I can’t say much about the rest of the body, but the nose resembles South American monkeys. And it does look like a fruit bat.
Why did the animal died or was put down? One would think a living animal with this mutation would be worth studying.
But then I live in an area where people steer deliberately towards raccoons and possums on the side of the road … And last week there was a beautiful large adult beaver.
Definitely a hairless raccoon. The second picture is a dead giveaway. Besides the little claw-like fingers, its posture is also a very common posture for scared or stunned raccoons. If you’ve never seen a raccoon from the front, that’s what they look like, even with hair. Its eyes and the shape of its head are also identical to those of a raccoon.
While this animal had me scratching my head for a few minutes, that second picture definitely points to hairless raccoon. Raccoons also tend to be curious, and many are fearless around humans, which would explain it jumping into a trunk. Why it has no hair, though, I don’t know. Like all furry mammals, though, this one looks alien without hair.
It’s a raccoon with sarcoptic mange.
The writer may have thought it was a wallaby because he or she had seen one at a zoo or on television, and when this creature leaped, they immediately thought “kangaroo”. It probably never occurred to them to wonder what a completely hairless raccoon would look like if it suddenly leapt into their car.
I google imaged “hairless raccoon”. Check out the sixth image. I’d say that’s it.
I think the link Bluetinkerbell put up pretty much settles the speculation on this one. It appears from the report by wildlife officials who have actually captured the animal that this is indeed a hairless raccoon. The only mystery here now seems to be the actual circumstances surrounding its hairlessness, whether its mange or some toxic substance.
I’m not too surprised actually, the profile, ears, facial features, fingers, and body shape are all classic raccoon. That face and snout is very much in keeping with a raccoon’s facial structure, so I’m not sure why people have been dismissing that because it’s snout is “too thin.” The only thing that had given me pause about the raccoon possibility was that I have never seen one with this degree of complete hairlessness. But there really is nothing un-raccoon-like about it other than the lack of hair.
Anyway, like I said, considering the link Bluetinkerbell provided, it seems this case is pretty much closed.
Whatever it is it’s cool and weird looking. It looks like many things to me, part dog, part cat, part fox, heck it’s even kinda deer looking in one of the pics, though obviously it’s not.
looks to me like a “samson fox,” a red fox born without hair due to a genetic defect. it also kind of looks rodent like as well, odd.
I noticed something in pic 2. You can see a tail. That tail also matches the raccoon tail you see at the link mentioned above. Ergo my vote is bald raccoon.
I’m going with raccoon.
Here’s some additional photos from a myspace blog:
link
The close up of its face (3rd Pic) looks very fake.
Mystery man is quite correct about the dimensions and appearance for a hairless raccoon. The presence of fur gives the impression of a stockier bulkier animal – until you see one wet or with mange. Animals without their fur can stump a lot of folks because fur/hair is the identifier most humans use for mammals. As for the color of the eyes, that is simply normal eye shine for a raccoon. It shows up because of the shading.
I would have to agree it’s a bald racoon. Now the really question is why this genetic abnormality popping up more frequent thru out the USA?
Perfect example albanoism in muskrat’s is the first sign of in-breeding within the species. They look cute but when that starts happening the species declined to where they almost disappeared for three years before they started to make a come back.
It’s a coon. With sarcops. I don’t doubt over the course of my life that I have seen literally thousands of animals with sarcoptic mange, and that is what this is. If I could, I would take it and treat & rehab it, but I feel sure that a wildlife rehab specialist in that area will do that (provided the animal is healthy in other respects of course, with no sign of rabies). Sarcops is easy for young animals to “catch”, but it’s also easy to treat.
It’s mostly a disease of young animals, and canids, ursids and procyonids are especially vulnerable. (Cats can contract sarcoptic mange but it’s very rare). As the animal matures it becomes more immune to infestation by sarcoptic mites, and if you see a severe case of sarcops in an older animal, it’s almost always an animal that has been kept in unsanitary condition with poor nutrition. Fully adult wild animals almost never contract sarcoptic mange.
When you see a fox, raccoon, bear, coyote, or dog with an allover sarcoptic hair loss like this, it is almost always a young animal, less than a year old.
Some dog breeds are more apt to develop sarcoptic mange than others. Jack Russell terriers, pit bulls and other bulldog types, and coonhounds often develop mange as puppies. Since it’s caused by a highly contagious type of mite, keeping puppies isolated from other dogs can prevent them getting mange, but does that hinder their immune system from developing immunity to the mites? The jury is out on that.
I personally feel that a holistic approach, allowing puppies to interact naturally with other dogs (under controlled situations of course), and then treating the mites if they occur, is the best course. You wouldn’t want to let puppies play with dogs that are obviously mangy, but interaction with others of their kind is an important part of puppies’ socialization.
As they get older they rarely suffer from all-over infestation, but you will often see dogs, especially dogs that live or work in groups, with itchy spots caused by mange around their bellies and elbows.
Because it is too north to be El Chupacabra I’d say it is a dog or fox with mange.
It also has too small eyes that are green, and the American El Chupacabras do look like this but but the only place in America that sightings like this is Texas and this is Minnesota. So it is definetly is not El Chupacabra.
Agreed. Mapache encuerado (bald raccoon).
Good work, you guys
Grymhood,
You might be right. It looks somewhat like a piece of creative taxidermy, with those eyes.
~Isaiah
This is a dog that is called the American Hairless Terrier.
After seeing what raccoons look like hairless, next to the birdbath and birdfeeder I’m going to start leaving out a dish of Rogaine.
My vote definately goes to the hairless raccoon story. As everyone has been saying, the link that TinkerBell provided essentially puts the final stamp on the discussion. In addition I googled “hairless raccoon” and got to the Myspace blog photo of the creature’s face. I also agree with jerrywayne’s assumption that the area to the left of the eye in the third photograph is the watery tear duct; the coloration of the area in question looks like a beige color when examined more closely, inconsistent with the green of the iris as seen in all the other pictures. This would be even more consistent with a raccoon, as raccoons have very almond eyes with round pupils.
At any rate, this is one of the most sickly animals I have ever seen. I do hope the photographer did the responsible thing and had it taken care of professionally.
A fox with mange?
This is a Hairless Racoon that was found in Central Florida, and was brought to an animal shelter. The pictures you are all looking at are her in a cat cage at the shelter. It did not jump in a trunk of a car nor did this happen in Minnesota. We took these photos when she came in. If you would like to visit my myspace page and go to the Blog about The Hairless racoon you can all see a close up of her. (www.myspace.com/morganspiders) I do not know how these photos ended up with the story that you all have been told but I can tell you all that the story was not true. She was found in central Florida and was brought in to a shelter and the Department of Fish and Game came out and picked her up. She is living in a sanctuary. They did not release her back into the wild.
Hmmm…… I’d be interested to see a Sasquatch with mange, since common animals seem to be showing up hairless and scaring the Dickens out of people.
Fhqwhgads, it’s apparently been done already. See the figure on the left-hand side of the fourth photo down in this post:
http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/andrewsarchus/
I think it is a fox with mange.
I’d agree with the Xolo (mexican hairless)
pic here. http://www.dog-breed-facts.com/images/Xolo/Mexican-Hairless-main.jpg
I think this raccoon illustrates an important difference between a hairless animal due to a genetic mutation, and an animal with hair loss due to a skin disease. I have treated many animals with sarcoptic mange (aka scabies), and none of them were completely bald, and most had other obvious lesions and were very itchy. This animal just does not look like a typical scabies presentation to me.
If these hairless raccoons are becoming more common, could they account for some of the Chupacabras reports? This one resembles a smaller version of the specimens featured in the recent MonsterQuest episode.
I received this message from Spider regarding the hairless raccoon this evening. It is not good:
“I inquired today as to the status of the raccoon. She was put in with all of the other raccoons. They were all raised by the people that worked at this place. Shorlty after the hairless was introduced they found her dead. They did send her off to be tested and they found out that she was positive for rabies. I am in shock to all of this. Considering these people exposed their resident raccoons to rabies. I don’t know what happened to their raccoons. I am so upset thinking that she was going to a place where people knew what they were doing. Raccoons are one of the biggest carriers of rabies. That is why we were not able to handle her (NO human contact). I have a great respect for wild life and it is a shame that not all people do. What a sad ending to something so unique and usual.”
“I am so sorry to have to pass on this bad news.”
Its a hairless racoon. Look at the long digits on the front paw and the bowed back. Picture the big tufts of hair around the face and you’ll see it.
I cant think of anything because it reminds me of so many things and ive read so munch on cryptids and studyed for years and i have never seen a specimen like this. my guess a hairless dog and i think it kind of looks like a bush baby and a mix of possum and hairless dog:)
It certainly wasn’t a wallaby, kangaroo or any other naked Australian marsupial. Ears, snout, setting of head on neck are all wrong.
There’s no doubt about what this creature is, yet questions still remain about it’s existence. Why is it that many varieties of animals are mutating to become hairless? While some hairless breeds of dog are ancient and many extinct, there are also several very new breeds. The American Hairless Terrier, for example, first occurred as a mutation in a litter of Rat Terriers sometime during the 60’s. The Chihuahua has only recently added new hairless members to it’s repertoire (many are hybrids, but there are a few that are the genuine article). The internet is littered with photos of recent sitings of strange hairless beasts. Why are these mutations occuring? Is there some signifigance to the locations in which these animals are found? What is in the water?
Honestly, discovering exactly what a creature is does little but raise more questions. How exactly did this racoon come to be hairless? Why has there been a spike in the sitings of hairless animals as of lately? The myth of El Chupacabras dates back farther than any photographic evidence, but who’s to say that a rare strain of rabies or mange isn’t responsible for the lore. Many of the “chupacabras” found recently have turned out to be nothing more than hairless Wolves, Foxes, & Coyotes. Perhaps there is a mysterious disease to blame, one that involves hairloss, sensitivity to light, and a desire to ingest blood (not unlike human vampirism, which is often attributed to Profiria).
Whatever the case may be, we should find ourselves asking more questions. Whether the cause of hairlessness is genetic, enviromental, or medical, it is definitely something that ought to be researched. However rare, it is irresponsible to assume that this is an isolated incident.
I wish I could see its hands and tail, I have 3 hairless possums i’ve raised, thats what it appears to be, with a pigment mutation.
dang this is a mystery. It does not seem like a raccoon. i’m only thinking people say it’s a raccoon cause of the mautak monster. other than that.. it’s unique as of now.
i think it’s a mysterious unknown animal, or at least a mysterious unknown hybrid of a known animal or a mysterious unknown hybrid of a known and unknown animal.
I have a picture of this animal!!!!! I was in fort lauderdale back in 1997 and there was a heard of racoons walking along the sidewalk and amongst the pack was that animal in the the picture above. I have pictures to prove it. It was the friendliest critter along with its racoon friends…