Capybara-like animals in Minnesota?

Factual Questions
1

Or, what the hell did I see?!

Does anyone know of animals that look like capybaras that live in Minneapolis, MN?

Story, in case anyone cares and/or the information is useful: I’m trying to identify a small-to-medium dog sized animal I came across on my bike tonight. It was dark out, so I couldn’t make it out exactly, but I honestly mistook it for a dog upon first sight, to give you an idea of the size. My initial thought was, “Whose dog is hanging out by the river?” Upon getting closer and having a better view of the shape of the animal I thought, “Oh great, a fucking raccoon.” I hate raccoons, because despite how cute they are in cartoons, real ones are ill-tempered bastards. I became annoyed and frightened because the damn thing was *right *where I needed to bike in order to cross the bridge.

Then I got even closer, and realized it wasn’t a raccoon at all. It had a skinny tail, and a barrelish, flattened nose. I thought, “Is that a capybara? No, it can’t be. This is Minnesota… so then… what the fuck is that?” I think it was brown (could be wrong, it being night and all), but it certainly was all one color, unless the color variations were so slight, that they’re undetectable in the dark. I have never seen anything like it in real life, and the one thing I’ve seen similar to it in photos does not exist where I live.

I don’t suppose I was the only one who was wondering what in the good earth’s name that was. When the thing started moving across the street and (thankfully!) out of my way, a car came by, slowed down upon approaching it, then stopped after driving around it, so that a woman could turn her head around through the window and examine it further. There I was, paused on my bike wondering what I was looking at, and there was a stopped car, with a woman turning around and presumably wondering the same thing. Now, of course, she can stop the car and look at everything she passes, but I’ll take a leap and assume that isn’t the case.

So, folks, any ideas?

Thanks.

2

Are you sure about the tail? My first thoughts are “beaver” or “large groundhog”, but neither of those would have a skinny tail. I suppose a capybara escapee from a zoo or something is possible (I know Oregon has a small population of excapees), but they’re tailless, too, aren’t they?

3

Hmm, I’m not 100% certain on the tail. I do know the tail was certainly not poofy. The tail was the first thing that clued me in that it wasn’t a raccoon, then I looked at the rest of it and confirmed, yup, definitely not a raccoon.

It wasn’t a groundhog. It could have been a beaver, in which case, I never want to see a beaver again for the rest of my life. The thing was seriously the size of a dog, and damn near scared the shit out of me.

4

It sounds like a nutria. Do you have those there?

5

Further googling (what? it’s late) shows that various folks consider capybara excellent pets. This demonstrates both that there’s no accounting for taste, and that “capybara escapee” may not be as unlikely as I’d have thought.

But yes, beaver can be honkin’ huge. The other common Minnesota critter that can get into that size range would be a porcupine, but I’m guessing that would be pretty obvious even in the dark. (And forced to bet, I’d still stick with “beaver”, particularly since it was near water).

6

Ooh, that’s a good guess, too: it fits better the description a lot better than beaver. But according to the USGS, they’re extinct in Minnesota: http://www.nwrc.usgs.gov/special/nutria/namerica.htm.

7

Nutria, you say? That could be it, which would mean I was right about the tail. It’s big, kinda beaver/capybaraish, and according to the internets, live in these parts, along stretches of water, and feed on river plants! Although this same internets say they weight up to 20 lbs, and the thing I saw was huge.

Maybe it was an escaped capybara. :eek:

Edit: Oh, extinct in my parts. The renegade capybara theory is starting to frighten me.

8

How skinny was the tail? The typical “what was that large rodent” answer is that it was a muskrat. They live pretty much everywhere in the US.

9

No need to be frightened. A capybara is a fairly large, but harmless critter. I once petted one.

10

In which case the OP was mistaken about the size. Muskrats are bigger than rats, but not THAT big (up to 5 pounds, maybe 20 inches long, half of which is tail). They are much smaller than nutria, an invasive species which is displacing them in many places.

11

Check out the following, do you see anything similar looking on it?

12

Am I the only one who came in here thinking that MeanOldLady saw a chupacabra?

13

I read the OP a couple of times, think we should be giving MeanOldLady more credit for judging the critter’s size when she says it was the size of a dog. Perhaps the tail was a little harder to see?
But again, it sounds like she did get a good enough look at that also from her description.

I live in Meeshegan and we have beaver here in the back yard (I live on a marsh, have pond and small creek here) and can tell you beaver can get pretty big - 50lbs or more.
But like others have pointed out, they possess a flattened, paddle-like tail.

What is also odd is that it didn’t immediately flee, she even describes a car needing to drive around to avoid it. So it sounds like the animal was sick - either that or had been tamed somewhat.
So perhaps (like TimeWinder said) this suggests the animal had spent some time in captivity? So heck, maybe it was a nutria or someone’s capybara on the loose. ?

Other than that, it was either too big for a muskrat, and had the wrong tail for a beaver.

14

Oh, and I’ll stick in a guess for beaver, and the OP happened to only see the tail side on, so she didn’t notice the paddle shape. The beaver is the second largest rodent in the world, and fits as “dog sized” (40-80 pounds) with about the same body shape and snout as a capybara (shorter legs).

15

Also, forgot to add that beavers are often nocturnal - not sure about muskrats, though

Take a look at this pic at the wiki link. Muskrat - Wikipedia

Does this face and body look familiar?

16

Hodag, from just over the Wisconsin border?

17

Sounds like a Rodent of Unusual Size, sometimes known as an R.O.U.S.

18

That looks like something that should be trying to destroy Tokyo. It wouldn’t stop in Minnesota.

I just noticed that my nutria “extinction” link was using a 1978 source: while it makes me feel like a MeanOldMan to say so, 1978 was a long, long time ago, and maybe they’ve been re-introduced since.

19

Don’t be silly. When’s the last time you’ve heard of a chupacabra in Mpls?

Seriously. Size is pretty easy to gauge, even if it is dark out. Before I got anywhere near it, I thought somebody’s dog had run away. I was not looking at a little 20 lb critter.

I think I’m going with this, too. If the tail is laid flat on the ground, and I’m viewing it from the side, it’s easy to miss the entire shape of it.

Well now I’m afraid to go anywhere near the river at night. I was already because of the bugs (harder to watch out for giant spiders at night) and the evil geese, but now I have to worry about giant beavers! I actually rode around in circles for a bit, trying to figure out the fastest way to get to where I was going without using that bridge. Then it started moving across the street, and it moved slowly. It inched along, and didn’t move any faster when cars honked their horns at it. Maybe it was stupid? Or scared? I wonder if it ever made its way downtown. It was headed in that direction, and one block up a slight hill, and it would have been there. That would be funny! A giant beaver walking around downtown.

Anyway, I’m rambling. Thanks, all. I don’t know why capybara was the first thing to occur to me, and not beaver.

20

wolverine?