# Help identifyng animal
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifyng-animal/454345
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [June 26, 2008, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifyng-animal/454345 "2008-06-26T19:18:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2008, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifyng-animal/454345/1 "2008-06-26T19:18:36Z")
A thought it was a rabbit due to it’s size. The body shape was like a beaver save for a round thick furry tail. He is in Central Arkansas near a wooded area next to the Arkansas River. Is is brown or gray in color.
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### Author:  [@3acresandatruck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3acresandatruck)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2008, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifyng-animal/454345/2 "2008-06-26T19:33:27Z")
My first guess would be a [muskrat](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muskrat).
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2008, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifyng-animal/454345/3 "2008-06-26T20:03:20Z")
He had a bushy tail; muskrats seem to have a naked tail.
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### Author:  [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2008, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifyng-animal/454345/4 "2008-06-26T20:07:51Z")
[Nutria aka coypu?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutria)
They seem to be found in Arkansas. I’ve never seen one myself but they seem to have a round, furred tail.
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### Author:  [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2008, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifyng-animal/454345/5 "2008-06-26T20:22:02Z")
Baby otter?
[http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute\_overload/images/otter\_baby13.JPG](http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/images/otter_baby13.JPG)
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### Author:  [@Tupug\_Anachi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tupug_Anachi)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2008, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifyng-animal/454345/6 "2008-06-26T20:36:17Z")
How about a [Fox Squirrel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_Squirrel) if it appears rodent-like. Or possibly an [American Mink](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/American.mink.arp.jpg&imgrefurl=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:American.mink.arp.jpg&h=865&w=1098&sz=912&hl=en&start=15&tbnid=UzJdEv5SGeHokM:&tbnh=118&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmink%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DG)
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### Author:  [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2008, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifyng-animal/454345/7 "2008-06-26T20:54:44Z")
That’s Eb. His fambly’s good folks, they just a little funny is all.
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### Author:  [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2008, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifyng-animal/454345/8 "2008-06-26T23:59:41Z")
Ground hog?
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifyng-animal/454345/9 "2008-06-27T00:06:54Z")
My first thought was groundhog, but his tail was much longer. It was quite furry, like an angry cat or a squirrel, and nutria and muskrats seem to have near naked tails.
Way too big and fat for a squirrel. He waddled trying to run away from me. My first thought was that he was ill being near human habitation, so I left him alone. He moved like a coon or o’possum. 🙂
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### Author:  [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifyng-animal/454345/10 "2008-06-27T01:21:45Z")
Webbed feet?
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifyng-animal/454345/11 "2008-06-27T01:35:52Z")
[QUOTE=lobotomyboy63]
Webbed feet?
[/QUOTE]
I did not see.
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### Author:  [@meek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meek)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifyng-animal/454345/12 "2008-06-27T04:10:25Z")
[marmot?](http://ncwportal.com/media/jpg/photo/2006/showcase/2006_marmot)
.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifyng-animal/454345/13 "2008-06-27T12:54:39Z")
He must be [Marmota monax monax](http://www.mnh.si.edu/mna/image_info.cfm?species_id=146) , a woodchuck. Perhaps I misjudged the tail length in sheer terror of watching him waddling towards me. 🙂
Thanks, all.
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### Author:  [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifyng-animal/454345/14 "2008-06-27T13:05:38Z")
Here she comes now saying _monax monax_
Tail’s too long, turn around; must be _monax_
Chucking in the woods and I feel alright now
Come on if it could chuck that wood
You know it would, Yeah you know it would
I say yeah!
Yeah!
Yeah!..
sorry
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### Author:  [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifyng-animal/454345/15 "2008-06-27T14:12:31Z")
That marmot is le cute. He looks like a woodchuck, or groundhog, which is what I call them. Are they the same animal – woodchucks and groundhogs?
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### Author:  [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifyng-animal/454345/16 "2008-06-27T14:19:07Z")
[QUOTE=Ellen Cherry]
Are they the same animal – woodchucks and groundhogs?
[/QUOTE]
Yes.
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### Author:  [@Madd\_Maxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madd_Maxx)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifyng-animal/454345/17 "2008-06-27T16:53:42Z")
Q: How much wood could a woodchuck chuck?
A: All the wood a woodchuck could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood.
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### Author:  [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifyng-animal/454345/18 "2008-06-27T17:37:35Z")
Aw, nuts. And here I was hoping that it was a chupacabra.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifyng-animal/454345/19 "2008-06-27T18:34:53Z")
[QUOTE=JThunder]
Aw, nuts. And here I was hoping that it was a chupacabra.
[/QUOTE]
We have no goats for it to carry off, and the occasional rabbits I’ve seen could have given this guy a fight on a size to size basis. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2011, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifyng-animal/454345/21 "2011-01-06T17:47:13Z")
Reported.