oakrunfarm
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« on: August 05, 2010, 07:47:00 AM » |
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I leave for work around 5:45 a.m. This morning on my way in, I had to sit and wait while a small furry something meandered across the road. It was not in a big hurry...
It was black and very shiny, and it was about the same size as a skunk, but there was no white, and it was more slender - like an otter or weasel or something.
We don't live very close to a river or stream, and it was more streamlined than a beaver, bigger than a rat, and didn't waddle like a groundhog, etc.
It looked almost like it could have been a mink, but we don't have those around here do we? Any ideas?
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bigcanoe
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« Reply #1 on: August 05, 2010, 08:09:17 AM » |
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Sure sounds like a mink to me, they love to travel small streams, through road culverts, etc.
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oakrunfarm
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« Reply #2 on: August 05, 2010, 09:08:11 AM » |
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Sure sounds like a mink to me, they love to travel small streams, through road culverts, etc.
Aha. We do have a very large culvert across the road that is just down from the pond in our pasture, crosses under the gravel road and empties out into the pasture of our neighbors - who have an even bigger pond. I found this information, and it appears that is what I saw. I did not know we had them around here. Pretty cool.  http://www.ncwildlife.org/Wildlife_Species_Con/Profiles/mink.pdf |
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« Last Edit: August 05, 2010, 09:11:26 AM by oakrunfarm »
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mary51802
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« Reply #3 on: August 05, 2010, 10:19:44 AM » |
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I saw on on 902 the other day and it sure looked like a Nutria. We saw those in the gulf area a few years ago and in Florida. Since Key deer have made it here from Florida they ma have too. The look like a small beaver with a thick rat like tail but shiny and very dark brown. They are so invasive people down there eat them to keep the population down. http://www.conceitedindependence.com/Digital_Photos.shtml |
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pinning down the truth is like catching a fart in a windstorm.......
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oakrunfarm
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« Reply #4 on: August 05, 2010, 02:26:14 PM » |
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I did also think about nutria and even marten, but it was so BLACK and shiny that I don't know that it could have been anything else but a mink.
Interestingly, we are just off 902 though.
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Patty52
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« Reply #5 on: August 05, 2010, 02:58:33 PM » |
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From what you described, it seems like a mink is the most likely, but I'll say that the first thing I thought of was a muskrat. If it was wet, it might appear very dark.
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mary51802
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we are all beautiful
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« Reply #6 on: August 05, 2010, 03:31:21 PM » |
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I did also think about nutria and even marten, but it was so BLACK and shiny that I don't know that it could have been anything else but a mink.
Interestingly, we are just off 902 though.
Maybe so... I heard from a local farmer ho has gots there used to be some mink farming in the area. Maybe some are wild. We are just off 902 a little past Harpers Crossroads but we always seem to see animals in the road around the Rocky Rver bridge. |
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pinning down the truth is like catching a fart in a windstorm.......
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kstraughn
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« Reply #7 on: August 05, 2010, 06:26:21 PM » |
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Used to be enough wild mink, beaver, fox and racoon around here that my uncle made his living trapping. (30 some odd years ago)
That being said, we have a skunk that lives way too close that has just a very small patch of white, very hard to see, but rest assured, it is a skunk.
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« Last Edit: August 05, 2010, 06:30:52 PM by kstraughn »
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natvrabit
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« Reply #8 on: August 05, 2010, 06:43:12 PM » |
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I saw some dark black oddity run across a road lately myself. At first I thought it was a stray cat along 64 between PBO and Siler, but a closer glimpse, the gait wasn't right nor the body shape.
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Beckysews
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« Reply #9 on: August 05, 2010, 07:23:39 PM » |
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Awww shucks! I hoped the Mann's Chapel Monkey was back!
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oakbrookfarm
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« Reply #10 on: August 06, 2010, 09:46:50 AM » |
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Oakrun, we have a skunk mom and her 6 babies living in the area. I have been seeing them everday, thinking they are using the creek as a water source. The babies are about the size of a small cat and I know at least two have almost no white on them. Could this have been what you saw? Or could it have been Baxter, my black kitty?
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oakrunfarm
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« Reply #11 on: August 08, 2010, 06:56:24 PM » |
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No, don't think it was either a skunk or cat. I've been in the car with my commuting buddy both times, and he and I agree it was neither one of those animals.
As natvrabit said, the body shape and gait are of something different. In the case of the thing(s) we have seen, kind of weaselly-looking.
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Patty52
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« Reply #12 on: August 15, 2010, 03:13:29 PM » |
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oakrun, did you ever figure out what your critter was? I saw a goundhog driving home from work at dusk last week and thought of the mystery critter. This one was big and getting pretty fat, but maybe a juvenile could be skinnier and darker?  |
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natvrabit
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« Reply #13 on: August 15, 2010, 04:10:46 PM » |
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FerretWonder if it could have been someone's escaped (or turned out to the wild) Ferret? Somewhat the same shape, size you described.
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NC YIPPIE
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« Reply #14 on: August 16, 2010, 11:08:49 AM » |
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Mann's Chapel monkey?
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Crossroads ... seem to come and go
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