What is this strange animal we saw in Corolla, NC? We are on the beach with a brushy area behind the house..?

Question

Thanks for looking! Definitely not a squirrel - it was much much larger - I know this is very hard with such a far away picture! An oposum was a very interesting thought - but we could tell from where we were that is was very red (oposums are gray) and didn't have a pointy nose or face - so I don't think it was that... I wish I could have gotten a better picture for you all! :)

Answer 1

Did it look like this?:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14203843@N0...

The red fox is an exotic species imported from  Europe by colonists, and now has spread all over the US.

Answer 2

Its a fox. Its a grey fox with his head down and away from you. Observe the grey on its back, white under chin and black on muzzle. Also no black stockings as in red fox.

Armadillo? Possum? Come on! Look at the right hand side of the fox. His head is pointed down and he is looking down a with his head turned away. You can clearly see the underside of his chin with black muzzel. Straight up from that is one pointed ear. His tail is curved around to the side of him as he is in a posture indicating intense interest in something on the ground. A mouse in a clump of grass or a big fat juicy insect. The fox is hunting a meal. I see them in front of the house all the time. An armadillo would look like a humped up rock and a possum would not be active in daylight and if he did he would be all grey, squat with a white head and ugly as all get out.

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/im...

Answer 3

At first glance, I'd say coyote. We have them behind my house all the time, and that's what it looks like to me.

Answer 4

My first guess from the photo is an opossum, but it's really difficult to tell.

Answer 5

This appears to be a red fox to me.  He appears to be eating something.  When they are crunching something they will hunch down in the rear and the head and sometimes even flatten their ears.  The harder it is to chew the more they hunch.  I have seen quite a few with this posture over the years.  I can not see the bushy tail though so I can not be certain.  Understand that this is just my best guess using the outline of the animal and color since the photo is far too blurry to get many details.

It does not match the coloration of a grey fox.  Grey fox have a much greyer back and a distinct border between grey and their red belly.  Red fox sometimes do have black feet but that depends.  There are many color morphs of the red fox, including silver and black.  Though some have black feet not all do.  Occasionally reports have come in about hybrids between gray and reds.

Answer 6

My guess would be a grey fox... if you look at pics of them they hace have a rusty color like the animal in your pic

We had one around our house in the outer banks too.  Your animal's too big to be an opossum (they're also pretty nocturnal, but so are most foxes)

If you want, go to

http://www.insiders.com/outerbanks/main-...

they have all the parks on the outer banks and the wildlife there... just check which was closest to where you were staying!

Answer 7

It is a grey fox.

Answer 8

I'm with Jeff; this looks like a red fox. There are red wolves and coyotes (and dogs) in the area, but red foxes have a more uniform red coat as appears to be in the picture, and aren't as dog-like as wolves and coyotes (if that helps).

Answer 9

posibly a opussom but difficult to see right maybe a squirel of some sort

Answer 10

i think you are looking at a coyote there

they are in the dog/fox/wolf family

Answer 11

I enlarged the photo several times. From the sharp round cut of the shoulder and being half as tall as the grass, looks like an armadillo to me. They're pretty distinctive and no fur. They can be red, if they found some clay to wallow in. They're normally gray, the hair is very fine. Pointed face like a 'possum. slightly curled and tipped ears on top of it's head. They hop when scared.

My first thought was armadillo, before I zoomed. After I zoomed, it looked more like an armadillo.

Answer 12

Well, it looks to me like a red fox to me.   The fact that you said it was very red, pretty well cinches that is what it is.   As there are only a limited number of animals it could be.  So the red color is a key characteristic.

To big for a squirrel, and wrong color for a possum.

If it has mange or something, it can make it look unusual.