# OK Doper, Identify This Animal! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 6, 2004, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-doper-identify-this-animal/249004 "2004-06-06T21:58:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-doper-identify-this-animal/249004/1 "2004-06-06T21:58:18Z")
An unknown animal has been seen in North Carolina. [LINK](http://www.news-record.com/news/local/rand/creature_060304.htm) What the heck is it? 😕😕 ---
**Author:** ![GopherGod72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f0a364/32.png) [@GopherGod72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GopherGod72)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-doper-identify-this-animal/249004/2 "2004-06-06T22:07:18Z")
wow… thats odd. It has a foxes ears. ---
**Author:** ![robcaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@robcaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robcaro)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-doper-identify-this-animal/249004/3 "2004-06-06T22:12:59Z")
Looks a lot like the red fox, but perhaps interbred with another animal of similar characteristics. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-doper-identify-this-animal/249004/4 "2004-06-06T22:31:13Z")
I live about 20 miles from Asheboro. The belief here agrees with the article. It’s a fox that for some reason has lost its fur. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-doper-identify-this-animal/249004/5 "2004-06-06T23:11:06Z")
I read in a dog book that, among dogs that descended from foxes, if there’s any white fur, there will also be white at the tail tip. The photo in the link doesn’t show the tip of the tail, so maybe that’s useless information (That’s true of most of the stuff I know.) ---
**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:** [June 6, 2004, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-doper-identify-this-animal/249004/6 "2004-06-06T23:23:18Z")
No dogs are descended from foxes. All dogs are genetically wolves. But they didn’t know that for sure until recently. That canid has a fox-face, but its legs seem pretty long for a North American vulpid and it has no brush. I’m going to go provisionally with ‘a damn funny-looking dog’ until we have a specimen in hand. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-doper-identify-this-animal/249004/7 "2004-06-06T23:23:59Z")
> [@](#): > > I read in a dog book that, among dogs that descended from foxes, if there’s any white fur, there will also be white at the tail tip. The photo in the link doesn’t show the tip of the tail, so maybe that’s useless information (That’s true of most of the stuff I know.) It’s useless mainly because it’s inaccurate. There are no dogs desceded from foxes. All the fox species are too distantly related to dogs to produce hybrids. ---
**Author:** ![Horrifying\_Howler\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/df788c/32.png) [@Horrifying\_Howler\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horrifying_Howler_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-doper-identify-this-animal/249004/8 "2004-06-06T23:50:09Z")
Looks like a fox that had mange, we used to have a couple of them living near the shelter I used to work for that looked sorta like that. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-doper-identify-this-animal/249004/9 "2004-06-06T23:53:02Z")
Whatever it is, it’s a she. Looks to be nearly ready to pup. Some almost catlike features in the limbs & tail. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-doper-identify-this-animal/249004/10 "2004-06-06T23:58:22Z")
“Maybe the dingo ate your baby.” ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-doper-identify-this-animal/249004/11 "2004-06-07T00:05:34Z")
It’s a fox that’s lost it’s hair . [It looks almost identical to the way this fox would without hair](http://www.bcadventure.com/adventure/wilderness/animals/redfox.htm), and this fox’s legs and tail are at least as long as those of the animal in the pic. Also, if you do save the pic and use an image viewer to do a close up on the face it’s very obviously a fox face structure wise. ---
**Author:** ![Cillasi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@Cillasi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cillasi)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-doper-identify-this-animal/249004/12 "2004-06-07T00:07:56Z")
Looks like a (hairless) fox to me [http://www.theragens.com/photos/albums/Foxes/Red\_Fox\_2003-03.htm](http://www.theragens.com/photos/albums/Foxes/Red_Fox_2003-03.htm) [http://www.bccbs.com/backforty/red\_fox\_picture\_3.htm](http://www.bccbs.com/backforty/red_fox_picture_3.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-doper-identify-this-animal/249004/13 "2004-06-07T00:26:37Z")
I don’t think it should be said that it’s definitely a fox. First of all it’s bigger. Second of all it looks less fox/dog-like and more deerlike. I’d say if it _is_ a fox, it didn’t “lose” its hair. The animal looks healthy (not burned or diseased/mangy) and the hair is very even. Maybe it’s a fox with an incredibly rare shorthair gene? It looks more like a fox-hybrid than a fullbred fox to me, but I’ll be damned if I know what a fox can crossbreed with. ---
**Author:** ![Otara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a88e4f/32.png) [@Otara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otara)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-doper-identify-this-animal/249004/14 "2004-06-07T00:31:48Z")
My guess would be a photoshop makeup of several different animals, probably a fox head and a dog - the proportions dont look quite right. Otara ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-doper-identify-this-animal/249004/15 "2004-06-07T00:37:28Z")
> [@Otara](#): > > My guess would be a photoshop makeup of several different animals, probably a fox head and a dog - the proportions dont look quite right. > > Otara The article says there have been other “odd animal” sightings in the area. It _also says_ this thing eats dried corn. Do foxes eat corn? ---
**Author:** ![Otara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a88e4f/32.png) [@Otara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otara)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-doper-identify-this-animal/249004/16 "2004-06-07T00:41:15Z")
The person who0 says it eats corn is the same person who says he took the photo. I could be wrong but it wouldnt be the first leg pull. Absent other reports of similar, the possibility has to be considered I think. Otara ---
**Author:** ![GopherGod72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f0a364/32.png) [@GopherGod72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GopherGod72)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-doper-identify-this-animal/249004/17 "2004-06-07T00:48:03Z")
yeah, given the pictures of the foxes and not just from my memory (I was thinking foxes had shorter legs, I was wrong) Im definatly going with fox. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-doper-identify-this-animal/249004/18 "2004-06-07T00:48:25Z")
Foxes are quite susceptible to mange and there are several varieties, some of which that can casue near total hair loss. Here’s an interesting factoid I found in googling “hair loss in foxes” > [@](#): > > There are many types of alopecia (baldness or hair loss), each with a different cause. Alopecia may be localized to the front and top of the head as in common male pattern baldness. It may be patchy as in a condition called alopecia areata. Or it can involve the entire head as in alopecia capitis totalis. The word “alopecia” comes from the Greek “alopex” for “fox.” Foxes are less furry when afflicted with a skin disease (the “mange”) which causes them to lose their hair. When a fancier word for “baldness” was sought, the mangy fox supplied it – “alopecia” or, if you wish, “fox-mange” – not a very positive image to associate with baldness! ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-doper-identify-this-animal/249004/19 "2004-06-07T01:15:15Z")
> [@GopherGod72](#): > > yeah, given the pictures of the foxes and not just from my memory (I was thinking foxes had shorter legs, I was wrong) Im definatly going with fox. 😕 Those pictures look nothing like the animal in the news article. > [@Bosda](#): > > It also says this thing eats dried corn. Do foxes eat corn? I wondered about that too. Aren’t foxes carnivores? > [@Otara](#): > > The person who0 says it eats corn is the same person who says he took the photo. This is true. > [@Otara](#): > > My guess would be a photoshop makeup of several different animals, probably a fox head and a dog - the proportions dont look quite right. I don’t think this is the case but it can’t be dismissed. > [@astro](#): > > Foxes are quite susceptible to mange Have you ever seen an animal with mange? I would say with near 100% certainty that the animal in that picture did not lose its hair to mange. I think the jury is still way out on this one. I’m usually quick to debunk stuff like this but I don’t think “it’s a fox” will quite cut it in this case. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-doper-identify-this-animal/249004/20 "2004-06-07T01:16:58Z")
Hair loss to mange _is_ patchy. That thing ain’t patchy. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-doper-identify-this-animal/249004.md?page=2)