WTF is this creature?

[QueenBee]

From Democrat & Chronicle:

Rochester homeowner Gwen Byrd is scared to go into parts of her own home in the dark. She says a frightening-looking animal has been under her porch all winter long and may have dug a tunnel through the walls of her house.

The rodent-like animal is wrinkled, hairless and "walks like a dog." And it has lived there for at least two years.


She's desperate to be rid of it and keeps plugging up the holes it has dug around her house.
To no avail.


She couldn't even prove its existence until earlier this month, when her granddaughter Chardine'e Hunt photographed the animal outside Byrd's house on Flora Street just south of Corn Hill.
Byrd now has posted its photo on the Internet hoping someone can identify it.


"Nobody knows what it is," she said, adding that she has named it "Dimples."
Byrd has reached out to Vera Gorbunova, associate professor in the biology department at the University of Rochester.


"I am very puzzled by this animal, and so are my colleagues. It looks like a large hairless rodent, but we cannot identify it from the picture," Gorbunova told Byrd via email this week.
Gorbunova visited Byrd's home Wednesday afternoon, hoping to see Dimples for herself.


"It was gone by the time I got there," she said. "I did see the holes it is making. It is believable to me."
Gorbunova said they are anxious to capture Dimples and study it.


"If it is a new species, that is really, really exciting. If it really is a mutation, it could be the first time for something like this," she said.
UR researchers set a live trap outside Byrd's home Friday morning but came up empty.


Seneca Park Zoo Director Larry Sorel, after looking at the photo, said it could be a hairless groundhog: "While not common, it has been known to happen."
Larry Staub, Monroe County director of parks, agreed with the hairless groundhog theory.


"We have seen these in Highland Park, over the years. ... The most recent sighting was a few years back. Odd-looking creatures."
But Dimples doesn't waddle like a groundhog or hop like a squirrel, Byrd said. It also appears to be fearless.


"It will not run or anything. It is not scared of me when I see it. I am scared of it."
Byrd said she has "endured a nightmare" and has holes in the ground and on the side of her house to prove it.


"It's the nightmare on Flora Street," Byrd joked. "Why me?"

[Lady Cop]

my first thought was a capybara. people keep them as pets. it's like a giant mutant hamster. that one went bald for some reason.

Description: Capybaras have heavy, barrel-shaped bodies with short heads. Their fur is reddish brown on the upper parts and yellowish brown underneath. Adult capybaras may be as long as 130 centimeters (more than four feet) and 50 centimeters (1.6 feet) tall, and weigh more than 100 pounds.

Range and Habitat: The capybara is found in Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, the Guyanas and Peru, south through Brazil, Paraguay, northeast Argentina, and Uruguay. Semi-aquatic, they frequent dense vegetation surrounding lakes, rivers, swamps, marshes, and ponds.

Diet: The capybara is a grazing herbivore, eating mainly grasses and aquatic plants.

Behavior: Capybara are highly social and live in groups controlled by a dominant male.

Conservation Status: Capybara populations are considered stable through much of their range, but hunting in some areas has reduced their numbers.

Fun Fact: Capybara dive and may remain underwater for as long as five minutes.

[QueenBee]

Yes, it does kind of look like that..but I think our Mystery Guest is smaller. I will keep posted on this. If it is a Capy, someone let it loose. But can you imagine looking out your window and seeing that thing??

[Lady Cop]

well my years in florida you could look out and see alligators, huge rattlesnakes on your own front porch, and water moccasins in your pool. not to mention those pesky tourists! :O

up here i have giant wild turkeys at my front door. and other non-deadly creatures. i guess a giant mutant rodent isn't too scary.

[kitty1]

I can watch gory movies and graphic videos, but this guy is really freaking me out! I would be afraid to go outside in my yard! It's the hairlessness that is creepy.

[QueenBee]

[/b][b]We have a good sized gaggle of turkey's (or whatever they call them) living in the woods across from my house. So it is not unusual to see the whole gang of them strolling down the street. A few years back I was in my kitchen, and heard a lound bump, of something hitting my house. Went to look, saw nothing, but my neighbor was outside and said it was a turkey, who could not quite get airborne and banged into my house.

[BlueTiki]

It's a baby Chupacabra!

Madre de Dios!

[Cynical Ninja]

It just looks like an ugly squirrel.

He probably has to give the female squirrels nuts to get them to play with his.

[Cynical Ninja]

It's a baby Chupacabra!

Madre de Dios!

The problem with the El Chupacabra story is that all ofthe Puerto Rican dirt farmers who claim to have seen it describe something completely different almost everytime.

I have done some investigations into it and I left the subject somewhat unimpressed.

[Midwest Spy]

It's a baby Chupacabra!

Madre de Dios!

Ahhhh... La Chupacabra. La gente dicen que solamente viene a La Tierra cada 25 anos, pero nunca han visto en Buffalo! Que cosa?

[Cynical Ninja]

Ay caramba! (apart from ordering food and drinks and asking for and understanding basic directions thats all my Spanish used up)

There have been many claims of Chupacabra "bodies" being found they always turn out to be coyotes or wild dogs with mange.

[IMaDick]

Ahhhh... La Chupacabra. La gente dicen que solamente viene a La Tierra cada 25 anos, pero nunca han visto en Buffalo! Que cosa?

Really? I have never heard that before, the creature as described here can be anywhere at anytime.

maybe they have alternating shifts?

[Midwest Spy]

Ahhhh... La Chupacabra. La gente dicen que solamente viene a La Tierra cada 25 anos, pero nunca han visto en Buffalo! Que cosa?

Really? I have never heard that before, the creature as described here can be anywhere at anytime.

maybe they have alternating shifts?

Probably. I'm just reflecting back to the original 'Predator' movie with Arnold and Jesse Ventura. Turns out that the Predator, an Alien, was the mythical Chupacabra of Central America. He supposedly visited every 20 years or so to hunt. Great movie.

[Duchess]

Aww. I hope it's not frightened. Those freaks want to capture it & study it. Leave the animal alone. I'd give it a home. I'm more afraid of the nutjobs walking the streets than I am that homely critter.

[Lady Cop]

it's been there 2 years...i wonder what it has been eating. it looks starved. i hope it can find a mate too. heh

[username]

It is not scared of me when I see it. I am scared of it."

Pussy. What the fuck is that little thing going to do--jump up and eat your face off? Dumbass.

[Cracker]

Nutria rat.

[Lady Cop]

i think that's it Cracker. but why didn't the 'experts' recognize it?

[BlueTiki]

i think that's it Cracker. but why didn't the 'experts' recognize it?

They never saw one BEFORE the Bosley Method.

[Cracker]

I guess because it's bald. They are native to Louisiana and the swampy parts of Texas.