# rat like creature in downtown seattle **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 30, 2015, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rat-like-creature-in-downtown-seattle/736146 "2015-10-30T02:24:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rat-like-creature-in-downtown-seattle/736146/1 "2015-10-30T02:24:41Z")
I’m near the aquarium, close to Pike Fish Market area. It was dark and I saw a rodent like creature scurry across my path into some bushes. It could have been a rat, it was the same size and configuration, but I noticed it didn’t have a rat like tail, and in fact didnt seem to have a tail at all…or it had a very small tail. It also seemed ‘stockier’, and more fat/round than elongated like I would expect a rat. It happened so fast and I didn’t get a good look at it, but it almost looked like a lagomorph of some kind, but was probably a rodent. Any ideas, so I can impress my friends with my knowledge of the local fauna? ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rat-like-creature-in-downtown-seattle/736146/2 "2015-10-30T02:30:08Z")
Couldn’t it have been a rat that lost its tail in a fight or an accident? ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rat-like-creature-in-downtown-seattle/736146/3 "2015-10-30T02:33:37Z")
it could have, of course. But if there is another creature (vole?) that fits that description without having to lose its tail, than that might be a better bet. I see that Seattle is the 7th worse city for rat infestation, so that is still a primary suspect. But I wondered if there was some other critter I wasn’t familiar with in this area. ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rat-like-creature-in-downtown-seattle/736146/4 "2015-10-30T02:46:07Z")
Here’s a page from a Seattle animal control company with pictures of various things they’ve trapped: > **[Photographs of Seattle Wildlife - Photos & Pictures](http://seattlepestanimalcontrol.com/wildlife-photos.htm)** > > Photos and Pictures of Wildlife in Seattle, WA ---
**Author:** ![DETXL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/detxl/32/19366_2.png) [@DETXL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DETXL)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rat-like-creature-in-downtown-seattle/736146/5 "2015-10-30T21:56:48Z")
[Nutria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coypu) are also, via escape, common in the Pacific Northwest — I saw them from time to time in the Willamette valley, and they’re apparently in [some parts of Lake Washington](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/20/opinion/hi-im-a-nutria.html?_r=0). They’re stocky, round, rat-like creatures without so prominent a tail. Might it have been one of those? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rat-like-creature-in-downtown-seattle/736146/6 "2015-10-30T22:13:47Z")
Offhand, I can’t think of any small animal that would be more likely in a city than a domestic rat lacking a tail. Although voles have shorter tails than rats, they wouldn’t look tailless, nor would they be likely in a city downtown area. The so-called[Mountain Beaver](https://shawncita.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/mountain-beaver1.jpg) or Sewellel lives in the Pacific Northwest and is virtually tailless, but it lives in forests. You would never see one in a large city. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rat-like-creature-in-downtown-seattle/736146/7 "2015-10-30T23:05:30Z")
You could tell them you saw a [manx rat](http://www.topirats.com/manxratinfo.htm), but it’s more likely it was a regular rat that lost its tail due to injury. Or maybe a feral guinea pig? Those things are deadly.