# What is this animal that visited my front porch at 3:30 AM today? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 25, 2022, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-animal-that-visited-my-front-porch-at-3-30-am-today/973746 "2022-10-25T09:31:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2022, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-animal-that-visited-my-front-porch-at-3-30-am-today/973746/41 "2022-10-28T15:37:22Z")
This is a good rule of thumb for any wild animal: > [@Chronos](#): > > …if I ever saw a fox or coyote that didn’t make an effort to run and/or hide when it saw me… When I read about people who get bitten or attacked because some bear, or “big cat,” or other furry creature “looked friendly,” I just want to slap them. But then I rarely have to because Mother Nature has already given them a hard lesson. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2022, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-animal-that-visited-my-front-porch-at-3-30-am-today/973746/42 "2022-10-28T15:38:35Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > When I read about people who get bitten or attacked because some bear, or “big cat,” or other furry creature “looked friendly,” I just want to slap them. My mother got cat scratch fever from trying to help a feral cat. She had to take IV antibiotics for six weeks. It was a hard lesson to learn. “I don’t know how the hell we ever lived through that,” she says today. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2022, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-animal-that-visited-my-front-porch-at-3-30-am-today/973746/43 "2022-10-28T16:17:02Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I’ve seen foxes a handful of times, typically at dusk, and then only a blur as it ran off. I’ve seen them in daylight; but I’ve never seen one that showed any signs of approaching me, and if one did I’d also suspect rabies. But what I came here to say was: it’s a fox without mange! [runs away rapidly from other snopes survivors] ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2022, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-animal-that-visited-my-front-porch-at-3-30-am-today/973746/44 "2022-10-28T16:30:00Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > They’re _Urocyon cinereoargenteus_, and they have oval, instead of slit-like pupils as the _Vulpes_ foxes do. I am always impressed by the amount of Doper knowledge - there’s always somebody who can share their knowledge. > [@thorny\_locust](#): > > it’s a fox without mange! I’m glad I’m not the only one that remembers this. 👍 ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2022, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-animal-that-visited-my-front-porch-at-3-30-am-today/973746/45 "2022-10-28T16:32:01Z")
> [@Die\_Capacitrix](#): > > > [@ekedolphin](#): > > > > They’re _Urocyon cinereoargenteus_, and they have oval, instead of slit-like pupils as the _Vulpes_ foxes do. > > I am always impressed by the amount of Doper knowledge - there’s always somebody who can share their knowledge. You flatter me. I used Wikipedia. I love foxes but I don’t know _that_ much about them. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2022, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-animal-that-visited-my-front-porch-at-3-30-am-today/973746/46 "2022-10-28T16:39:46Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > it’s a fox without mange! > > [runs away rapidly from other snopes survivors] > [@Die\_Capacitrix](#): > > I’m glad I’m not the only one that remembers this. 👍 'Splain please. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2022, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-animal-that-visited-my-front-porch-at-3-30-am-today/973746/47 "2022-10-28T17:01:03Z")
> [@Dag\_Otto](#): > > The animal I had the hardest time identifying was a ringtail cat on my back porch. Man, I’m jealous! That’s a native bucket list mammal for me. > [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I hope there aren’t a family of them around… Where there is one, there is very likely more than one. However that shouldn’t disturb you much. Gray foxes aren’t coyotes - they usually aren’t a potential threat to domestic pets unless said pet is both small and incapacitated somehow. [Your average healthy cat can back down a fox](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvZZyoz9Gs8) and may outweigh one. Rabies certainly is an issue (as it is in other urban wildlife like raccoons and striped skunks), but it is highly patchy in distribution and where it is enzootic. Otherwise they are handy to have around to pick off rodents and strew the unsecured contents of your garbage cans around (everyone loves that, right? 😉). Just be wary of any aggressive ones, which can be a rabies warning. Gray foxes (foxes and most urban wildlife generally) can get somewhat habituated to people to the point that they won’t flee on contact and they can be curious. But a healthy one will still keep usually keep a little distance between you and it and will retreat if approached. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2022, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-animal-that-visited-my-front-porch-at-3-30-am-today/973746/48 "2022-10-28T17:10:00Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > 'Splain please. Not sure if this is what they meant, but I know many people get pictures of a fox or coyote with mange and the animal looks so weird they think it is a cryptid. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2022, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-animal-that-visited-my-front-porch-at-3-30-am-today/973746/49 "2022-10-28T17:10:52Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Obligatory cute fox video The also have a couple of Gray (Grey for you Canadians) foxes: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ziPBQdCcDiU/maxresdefault.jpg "Working with the Grey Foxes!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziPBQdCcDiU) ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2022, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-animal-that-visited-my-front-porch-at-3-30-am-today/973746/50 "2022-10-28T17:16:19Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > The also have a couple of Gray (Grey for you Canadians) foxes: That whole SAVEAFOX Youtube channel is a ~~rabbithole~~ foxhole you can really get lost in if you like cute animal videos. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2022, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-animal-that-visited-my-front-porch-at-3-30-am-today/973746/51 "2022-10-28T18:58:00Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > 'Splain please. There was a catch phrase on the snopes boards that went “It’s a fox with mange!” Started, I think, with some thread about a photo claimed by somebody online to be some sort of cryptid; and one of the suggestions about what it actually was, was that it was a fox with mange. (They can get mange, and it can make them look pretty strange.) The phrase got picked up and dropped into all sorts of threads about ‘what is this in the photo?’ ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2022, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-animal-that-visited-my-front-porch-at-3-30-am-today/973746/52 "2022-10-28T21:30:22Z")
Thanks. 🙂 I like to pretend I’m keeping up. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2022, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-animal-that-visited-my-front-porch-at-3-30-am-today/973746/53 "2022-10-28T21:32:00Z")
I’m so used to not catching references that I couldn’t miss the chance to use that one! ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2022, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-animal-that-visited-my-front-porch-at-3-30-am-today/973746/54 "2022-10-28T21:35:01Z")
Those of us in the oddballs’ corner need to help each other out. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/LuFCaIAnETk/hqdefault.jpg "Animal House at the Omega House-with Kevin Bacon, Pinto, and Flounder") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuFCaIAnETk) ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-animal-that-visited-my-front-porch-at-3-30-am-today/973746/55 "2022-10-31T20:56:10Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > (They can get mange, and it can make them look pretty strange.) The phrase got picked up and dropped into all sorts of threads about ‘what is this in the photo?’ It got dropped in so many photo ID threads that it sometimes was hard to have it taken seriously when the animal really was a fox with mange. And those photos and videos were submitted regularly, because they can indeed looked really strange. Even moreso when the image is taken from an odd angle, out of focus, and while the animal is running away… I thought of posting a picture of one here, but the pictures just made me sad, and then I saw pictures of bears with mange, which are just as sad, and even weirder looking. 🙁 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-animal-that-visited-my-front-porch-at-3-30-am-today/973746.md?page=2)