# What the heck did I see? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 21, 2004, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-did-i-see/265377 "2004-09-21T21:34:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2004, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-did-i-see/265377/1 "2004-09-21T21:34:29Z")
This morning, as I arrived at work, I saw this animal in my parking garage (I live in Atlanta). It was a mammal about 2-1/2 to 3 inches long, tubular body with a short snout and dark brown or black fur. It had short, stubby legs, but boy, could that sucker move! It was not a mouse or a rat, but I had never seen anything like it before. Any ideas on what it was? ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2004, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-did-i-see/265377/2 "2004-09-21T21:48:12Z")
Sounds like a vole. Or a very small mole. Maybe even an untamed shrew! At any rate, I’d call it an insectivore. They make nice coats, but you gotta collect a lot of them. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2004, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-did-i-see/265377/3 "2004-09-21T21:48:15Z")
[Mole?](http://www2002.stoke.gov.uk/museums/pmag/nathist/education/keystage/content/mole-keystage_1.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2004, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-did-i-see/265377/4 "2004-09-21T21:49:32Z")
The usual [suspects](http://museum.nhm.uga.edu/gawildlife/mammals/mamasp.html). ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2004, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-did-i-see/265377/5 "2004-09-21T21:50:33Z")
> [@AtomicDog](#): > > This morning, as I arrived at work, I saw this animal in my parking garage (I live in Atlanta). > It was a mammal about 2-1/2 to 3 inches long, tubular body with a short snout and dark brown or black fur. It had short, stubby legs, but boy, could that sucker move! > > It was not a mouse or a rat, but I had never seen anything like it before. Any ideas on what it was? A mole? ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2004, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-did-i-see/265377/6 "2004-09-21T21:53:14Z")
:mad: …stupid dial up speed… :mad: ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2004, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-did-i-see/265377/7 "2004-09-21T22:17:14Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > [Mole?](http://www2002.stoke.gov.uk/museums/pmag/nathist/education/keystage/content/mole-keystage_1.htm) That looks almost exactly like it. The only things that throw me are: 1. Why is it in a concrete parking garage? 2. I thought that moles were relatively slow. I didn’t chase it, but I think that I would have had to run flat out to catch it. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2004, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-did-i-see/265377/8 "2004-09-21T22:26:35Z")
As for being in the garage - he was lost. 😃 Perhaps he had been inadvertently carried there when he was inside a box, a bag, anything. (I found a frog in my kitchen the other week. No idea how it got there.) The only reference I can find online for speed is underground - 80ft/minute through ready-dug tunnels. Not fast enough to outrun you, but I’d have thought surface speeds would be higher. Plus he probably was running faster than he’d ever run before in his life… ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-did-i-see/265377/9 "2004-09-22T00:43:54Z")
> [@AtomicDog](#): > > 1. Why is it in a concrete parking garage? It should have turned right at Albuquerque. ---
**Author:** ![Carcosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@Carcosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carcosa)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-did-i-see/265377/10 "2004-09-22T00:47:44Z")
> [@AtomicDog](#): > > …(I live in Atlanta). > … > It was not a mouse or a rat, but I had never seen anything like it before. Any ideas on what it was? Bill Campbell? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-did-i-see/265377/11 "2004-09-22T01:03:21Z")
> [@AtomicDog](#): > > 1. Why is it in a concrete parking garage? Don’t ask supid questions. I mean, you didn’t expect it to park on the street, did you? ---
**Author:** ![stockton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@stockton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stockton)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-did-i-see/265377/12 "2004-09-22T01:22:18Z")
> [@Carcosa](#): > > Bill Campbell? Ah, another Atlantan checking in! Good to meet y’all! My vote is the shrew - if you check the shrew map in the post by **Inigo** earlier, you’ll see that they are found in every county in Georgia (and we have a LOT of counties - actually, the most in the US). As **Gorillaman** said, he was a little bit lost. Why do the opossums come into my basement all the time? Surely not to get trapped and deported by me. Those little shrews are stubby and fast, but the cats just LOVE them. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-did-i-see/265377/13 "2004-09-22T02:33:28Z")
Could it have been a [Vole](http://campus.murraystate.edu/academic/faculty/howard.whiteman/field/mammals/prairievole.html)? ---
**Author:** ![Tansu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@Tansu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tansu)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-did-i-see/265377/14 "2004-09-22T11:06:49Z")
Tubular body? Sounds like a weasel. They can’t half shift. ---
**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:** [September 22, 2004, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-did-i-see/265377/15 "2004-09-22T13:00:34Z")
[THIS maybe? Scroll down.](http://nature-photography.co.uk/Web%20site%20mammal%20pics%20a%20to%20c/pages/American%20mink%206.htm) If so, don’t complain! If he comes back, & brings friends, you could give your sweetie a lavish coat! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-did-i-see/265377/16 "2004-09-22T13:52:42Z")
> [@AtomicDog](#): > > 1. Why is it in a concrete parking garage? It was trying to boost your hubcaps, man. > [@](#): > > 1. I thought that moles were relatively slow. I didn’t chase it, but I think that I would have had to run flat out to catch it. They’re natural sprinters. Not much use cross-country, but in a short sprint, they’re very dangerous. ---
**Author:** ![aktep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f0a364/32.png) [@aktep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aktep)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-did-i-see/265377/17 "2004-09-22T14:47:19Z")
> [@stockton](#): > > you’ll see that they are found in every county in Georgia (and we have a LOT of counties - actually, the most in the US). Nitpick: [http://www.cviog.uga.edu/Projects/gainfo/countyhistory.htm](http://www.cviog.uga.edu/Projects/gainfo/countyhistory.htm) > [@](#): > > Nationwide, there are just over 3,000 counties in the fifty states. The number and size of counties varies considerably from state to state. Georgia has 159 counties, second only to Texas, which has 254. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-did-i-see/265377/18 "2004-09-22T15:57:46Z")
> [@aktep](#): > > Nitpick: Oh…didn’t you get the memo about Texas? They’re not a state anymore–they’ve declared themselves an independent republic. New money comes out next week. Sorry to be the one to tell you. ☹ OK. That’s a lie. It’s just that TX is so damned big you kind of forget it’s there. ---
**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:** [September 22, 2004, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-did-i-see/265377/19 "2004-09-22T16:00:23Z")
> [@Inigo Montoya](#): > > Oh…didn’t you get the memo about Texas? They’re not a state anymore–they’ve declared themselves an independent republic. New money comes out next week. Sorry to be the one to tell you. ☹ > > OK. That’s a lie. It’s just that TX is so damned big you kind of forget it’s there. The rest of us _wish that_…no-no. They only mistake my remark for jealousy. :smack: