Comments on: It's a Jackelope!

It's a Jackelope!

headspace — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 07:56:47 -0800

It's a jackelope! Or maybe an antefeline! Or perhaps a lupursa or... heck, I don't know what this strange creature wandering Bill and Gayle Kurdian's back yard is, and neither does the curator of the North Carolina Zoo.

By: monju_bosatsu

monju_bosatsu — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 08:11:57 -0800

Obviously fake.

By: jennyb

jennyb — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 08:17:35 -0800

Hey weird, I was on my way to place a classified ad about a yard sale we're having (6/26 @ 10 AM for you Triad residents) and just read this. When I was glancing over the page, I just thought it was a tall, fat fox until I read the caption and realized its a NEW EXCITING MYSTERY ANIMAL. We're easily amazed here in Central NC.

By: milovoo

milovoo — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 08:27:19 -0800

Finally! a thylacine, they didn't go extinct, they just immigrated to America.

By: headspace

headspace — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 08:30:27 -0800

I think you should forward that link to the NC Zoo, milovoo! You could have made the discovery of the century!

By: ZenMasterThis

ZenMasterThis — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 08:36:30 -0800

I think I'm with Monju. I'm no expert, but the line along the top of the back leg doesn't look quite right to me.

By: Loudmax

Loudmax — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 08:36:40 -0800

Well, that thing could be some kind of long-legged fox, or it could be the infant stage of a vicious new kind of carnivore which will grow to 300 lbs, be able to tear the doors off automobiles and devour the occupants, and reproduce at an astonishing rate, threatening human life throughout the Carolinas. I think they should kill it just to be safe.

By: jennyb

jennyb — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 08:41:38 -0800

^it's. Duh.

By: milovoo

milovoo — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 09:02:36 -0800

I'm sure they know about thylacines, besides the jaw is too small, but it is surprisingly close isn't it. (it's weird that googling "long-legged fox" is just not finding me the right kind of images)

By: milovoo

milovoo — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 09:11:01 -0800

It's also a bit like a aguara guazu or maned wolf, but that tail really seems off. Maybe it is fake.

By: dglynn

dglynn — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 09:17:55 -0800

That looks like a fox head, a cougar front legs and torso, and the haunch and rear legs looks just like a deer. I don't know about the tail. Cougar again, maybe? But I have always loved the idea of unknown animals gliding through our mists, clever enough to evade dumb old man. Naturally tendency to root for underdogs, I guess, even if they aren't real. Hey, maybe it's an underdog?

By: furiousthought

furiousthought — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 09:26:09 -0800

For me, it's the way the head sits on the neck that scans weird - they don't look connected - plus the shadows behind the rump and tail. I think the whole body's a deer, or at least the hindquarters and neck. The tail is almost monkeylike.

By: steef

steef — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 09:52:12 -0800

reminds me very much of a maned wolf, except for the tail. and the maned wolf has those black go-go boots. and lives in south america. other than that, though....

By: obloquy

obloquy — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 09:53:44 -0800

I know! It's a... ...What the hell is that thing? my guess: a Manticore.

By: caution live frogs

caution live frogs — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 09:56:02 -0800

was pretty sure i knew what it was almost immediately. did a double-check. i think i'm right. it's a maned wolf, otherwise known as a stilt legged fox. judging from the hair length it may be a hybrid or a short-haired variety. they're south american, but there's no reason one couldn't have been brought here and released. i felt it was sort of odd that a mammals curator couldn't identify it on sight, but then again i've probably got an unusual amount of weird mammal-related knowledge in my head. i do so love mammals. (probably because (a) i happen to be one and (b) had an awesome mammalogy prof, who has since become one of my committee members...)

By: thomcatspike

thomcatspike — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 09:56:40 -0800

Since foxes are a canine, can a fox & a dog mate; creating an offspring?

By: caution live frogs

caution live frogs — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 09:57:17 -0800

damn you and your posting before me, steef... why did i hesitate before hitting "post"? why?????

By: mbd1mbd1

mbd1mbd1 — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 10:12:37 -0800

Mammal, mammal Their names are called They raise a paw The bat, the cat Dolphin and dog Koala bear and hog The fox, the ox Giraffe and shrew Echidna, caribou And that about exhausts my mammalian knowledge.

By: taz

taz — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 10:31:43 -0800

Curious. The face and head really does quite resemble the maned wolf images I'm seeing, but the body - not so much. Here's a nice page with some good maned wolf photoss. According to this, it is an endangered species. (Also, it's description sounds just like my husband: "Fast runner. Monogamous. Wary but curious in captivity.")

By: furiousthought

furiousthought — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 10:33:37 -0800

Hmmm, I'm unconvinced, though the maned wolf explanation really had me going for a minute. First of all, the tail, plus the markings on the face, and I still don't think that head looks right. Compare it to this one. I don't see any curve in the neck of the animal photographed in the article. The article says it was "fox-sized." (It looks bigger than a fox in the picture.) Maned wolves are 3 feet tall at the shoulder. What do their young look like? I can't find any pictures.

By: milovoo

milovoo — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 10:45:33 -0800

Try aguara guazu, I guess I should have put a link before. I don't even have a degree in biology, just watch a lot of PBS.

By: abcde

abcde — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 10:46:14 -0800

Remember when the rabbit in Bloom County (can't remember his name) had kids with Rosebud, the last basselope (Basset Hound/Antelope). At first he felt emasculated and destined to a life of fatherhood (since the litter was over 5 dozen), but then found out Jackabasselope young mature at 7 days.

By: furiousthought

furiousthought — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 11:20:48 -0800

milovoo: no, you mentioned aguara guazu up above, so I should have searched that too. Still didn't find any young ones. (With the one group picture, it's unclear if the group in front is young or what, though it kind of looks like it.) I'm curious if the facial markings on the young are different.

By: batgrlHG

batgrlHG — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 11:39:35 -0800

You know, for those calling fake - unless you can suss out some obvious Photoshop hooha - just think how many folk have exotic animals as pets. Now think about how many stories we read about those pets accidently getting lose or being set free. So it's possible... Meanwhile I wonder what it's eating. (abcde - the rabbit was named Hodgepodge. Right?)

By: milovoo

milovoo — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 14:01:57 -0800

The Crab-eating Zorro has fur that is more similar to the picture than the Maned Wolf (as far as I can tell from low-res). It also has more subtle "boot" markings. The legs are too short and the tail still seems wrong though. some useful lists Perhaps it is a hybrid of the maned wolf and the zorro, although the fact that it is several thousand miles out of the known range of either (endangered) species makes this far-fetched as well. .... and the tail!

By: dglynn

dglynn — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 14:18:13 -0800

I'm still not sure whether this guy has a weird animal in his yard or a computer with photoshop, but I have to say I am digging on that maned wolf. That is one wild looking collection of modifications for dealing with a specific environment. Neat stuff, people.

By: undecided

undecided — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 14:20:25 -0800

milovoo, it's obviosly a cross between a ????? and a ????????????? ??????.

By: undecided

undecided — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 14:25:37 -0800

Ouch, that looked different on preview. Appropriate though, I guess. [Also, obviously, obviously. Second post, first typo. Ouch indeed.]

By: milovoo

milovoo — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 14:26:13 -0800

Which is cool, because everyone thought the ????? was extinct.

By: undecided

undecided — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 14:31:07 -0800

Until it made a rare appearance right here in this very thread.

By: mimi

mimi — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 19:57:40 -0800

Dude, that's totally a hodag.

By: mwhybark

mwhybark — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 23:46:29 -0800

No, dude, it's an alzabo, a species of wolfe: The third bear is the alzabo. This ghoulish monster animal of Urth is based upon medieval legends concerning the hyena, and yet when the alzabo appears in The Sword of the Lictor it clearly has bearish traits: "Its fur looked red and ragged in the firelight, and the nails of its feet, larger and coarser than a bear's, were darkly red" (The Sword of the Lictor, chapter 16, p128). When Severian later sees the alzabo by daylight, he notes: "It was so large and moved so swiftly that I at first thought of it a red destrier, riderless and saddleless" (p135). The alzabo has a bear's claws, a bear's body mass, and bear-like fur that is red like the colour of the dying sun. Severian's combat with the alzabo is complicated by the manoeuvrings of Agia (who wants to kill Severian) and Casdoe (the one whom the alzabo is after), so in the end Severian pledges a truce with the monster. The next day the alzabo is killed by zoanthrops (wild men), and Severian looks upon the corpse with some compassion. Although, in this case it's clearly a juvenile. (Interestingly, I have not previously related the alzabo to its' creator, but one must admit, there is a certain authorial veracity in the creature's voice).

By: oissubke

oissubke — Fri, 04 Jun 2004 00:08:12 -0800

Hey, maybe it's an underdog? That's awesome. This ghoulish monster animal of Urth.... On first reading, I took that as "monster animal of Utah..."

By: drezdn

drezdn — Fri, 04 Jun 2004 10:28:58 -0800

10,000 points for the Hodag reference.

By: milovoo

milovoo — Fri, 04 Jun 2004 14:38:11 -0800

I emailed the article to a listserv of canid specialists, I'll parse out the useful replies when I get a few more responses.

By: uncanny hengeman

uncanny hengeman — Fri, 04 Jun 2004 19:32:46 -0800

Nice work, milovoo. I posted the link on an Australian Nature forum. Lotsa interesting theories, but no one can agree there either. Keep me posted. I'm interested.

By: milovoo

milovoo — Sun, 06 Jun 2004 09:19:46 -0800

So many people are saying it's a fake, but that just seems odd to me. If it's a fake, it's a tough one, because the shadows projecting on the house seem right for a low level flash, and there doesn't seem to be any pixel irregularities (if one can judge from a second or third copy). Also, this Bill Kurdian seems to be an upright guy, active in the community, etc, but not a photoshop wizard. I wonder if the second picture mentioned in the article is published anywhere.

By: uncanny hengeman

uncanny hengeman — Sun, 06 Jun 2004 18:20:21 -0800

It still could be a fake but I'm not buying the "shadows are all wrong" argument. Like you said, it's probably a low-level flash... and I'm guessing the flash might not be attached to the camera either. I think that's confusing some people. They assume that it's a normal camera with flash, mounted on a tripod.

By: uncanny hengeman

uncanny hengeman — Thu, 10 Jun 2004 00:07:44 -0800

Bump. Any updates?!

By: steef

steef — Sat, 12 Jun 2004 10:04:21 -0800

"Everyone's got an Opinion" is the News & Record's empty-of-facts follow-up. They're asking to name the mystery creature in a whatchamacallit bulletin board. Which, after reading some of the entries, I'm leaning away from the maned wolf theory and toward a malnourished Carolina dog (the American dingo).

By: uncanny hengeman

uncanny hengeman — Sat, 12 Jun 2004 10:12:10 -0800

Thanks for the update! BYW, the American Dingo looks very similar to the Australian Dingo. Ain't natural selection grand?