# New type of animal **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 21, 2003, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-type-of-animal/220257 "2003-12-21T03:01:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jakada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@jakada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jakada)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-type-of-animal/220257/1 "2003-12-21T03:01:46Z")
Who should you contact if you think that you may have encountered a new type of animal or possibly a variation of an existing animal? ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-type-of-animal/220257/2 "2003-12-21T03:24:18Z")
[National Geographic](http://www.nationalgeographic.com/)? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-type-of-animal/220257/3 "2003-12-21T03:25:43Z")
A local university might be a good place to start. Try to find a biology department or similar. If you’ve found something new, they’d be interested. If nothing else, they’d be able to prove you wrong. (That is, tell you that it’s really something that’s already known.) ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-type-of-animal/220257/4 "2003-12-21T03:33:29Z")
Maybe also a local zoo, or conservation department. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-type-of-animal/220257/5 "2003-12-21T03:41:59Z")
Last “new type of animal” I heard of was the Limnognathia maerski, which had to be placed into a new class called Micrognathozoa. They were found in a cold well in Greenland and a colony of them was living in a refridgerator at the University of Copenhagen. Your local university would be the best place to identify a creature. (Sure, they’re all cute when they are small enough to fit into a refridgerator, but once an animal preiously unknown to Science tastes human blood it will be all over Denmark. I’ve seen these movies…) ---
**Author:** ![jakada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@jakada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jakada)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-type-of-animal/220257/6 "2003-12-21T03:50:07Z")
I was bitten by one of these varmits in the jungle while in Bolivia, and it took ten days to walk out to a medical facility. The only thing they said was there were a lot of things in the jungle that bite people. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-type-of-animal/220257/7 "2003-12-21T04:12:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DrFidelius \* > \*\*Last “new type of animal” I heard of was the Limnognathia maerski, which had to be placed into a new class called Micrognathozoa. They were found in a cold well in Greenland and a colony of them was living in a refridgerator at the University of Copenhagen. Your local university would be the best place to identify a creature. > > (Sure, they’re all cute when they are small enough to fit into a refridgerator, but once an animal preiously unknown to Science tastes human blood it will be all over Denmark. I’ve seen these movies…) \*\* I see your _Limnognathia maerski_ and I add a [Mantophasmatodea](http://www.nature.com/nsu/020415/020415-10.html) , a whole new order!. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-type-of-animal/220257/8 "2003-12-21T04:19:41Z")
And let’s not forget Macroteuthis libertarii r’lyehensis 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-type-of-animal/220257/9 "2003-12-21T04:25:27Z")
> [@](#): > > **DrFidelius** : (Sure, they’re all cute when they are small enough to fit into a refridgerator, but once an animal preiously unknown to Science tastes human blood it will be all over Denmark. I’ve seen these movies…) Movies, hell! I was held prisoner in Funen! ---
**Author:** ![hyjyljyj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/0ea827/32.png) [@hyjyljyj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hyjyljyj)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-type-of-animal/220257/10 "2003-12-21T06:18:14Z")
So, like, can you give us a hint. Are we talking mammal, reptile, insect, sponge…? Is it bigger than a breadbox??? ---
**Author:** ![jakada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@jakada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jakada)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-type-of-animal/220257/11 "2003-12-21T14:39:58Z")
Actually, hyjyljyj, it looked like a type of frog. It bit me on the hip and caused my left lrg to shrink in size. ---
**Author:** ![jakada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@jakada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jakada)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-type-of-animal/220257/12 "2003-12-21T14:41:32Z")
sorry for the typo, left leg. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-type-of-animal/220257/13 "2003-12-21T15:10:40Z")
Shrink? Don’t bites normally swell? ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-type-of-animal/220257/14 "2003-12-21T16:44:43Z")
It in the news recently that scientists think that there may be a previously unrecorded African ape: either a whole new species, or possibly a gorilla-chimp hybrid. ---
**Author:** ![hyjyljyj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/0ea827/32.png) [@hyjyljyj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hyjyljyj)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-type-of-animal/220257/15 "2003-12-21T16:57:34Z")
Not touchin’ that one ---
**Author:** ![jakada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@jakada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jakada)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-type-of-animal/220257/16 "2003-12-21T23:36:07Z")
+MDI, maybe bite is the wrong word for it injecting something into my system, I don’t know. There was only a very small puncture wound on my hip, like I had gotten a shot, only a speck of blood. ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2003, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-type-of-animal/220257/17 "2003-12-22T01:28:03Z")
Your leg _shrank_? Good Lord, contact a frigging doctor, first and foremost! They know the proper channels for finding out what it actually was that bit you, should it become neccesary. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2003, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-type-of-animal/220257/18 "2003-12-22T01:46:33Z")
ha, **Brutus** , I think the unfortunate **Jakada** did seek medical help ASAP - just that ASAP happened to be about 10 days. So much for “Bolivian Marching Powder” ☹ Look on bright side, **Jakada** - perhaps you could collaborate with Werner Herzog on a _tres_ arty film called “A Long and Really Quite Unpleasant and Dangerous Journey in South America and There Were Bad Things All Along The Route”" I do hope the bite/sting/nasty thing/alien infestation is healing. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2003, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-type-of-animal/220257/19 "2003-12-22T02:08:55Z")
I didn’t even know that _any_ frogs bit people. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2003, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-type-of-animal/220257/20 "2003-12-22T02:15:42Z")
Probably not a frog; he did say that it “looked like a type of frog” but no frog or toad injects venom. Given the wasting of the muscles of the affected leg, I think we have an attack by one of the flightless fungo bat species of the Chaco. Did you notice the colour of the animal’s tongue? That is an unerring field mark. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-type-of-animal/220257.md?page=2)