Name that Wisconsin mammal

June 18, 2009 6:36 PM

What Wisconsin mammal did I just see?

Coming home tonight, around 6pm, we saw a dark grey or black animal about the size of a large cat loping or bounding across the road towards the lake. My first reaction was to think it was an opossum, I think based on the rodent-like shape of the face. But I think of opossums as low-to-the-ground waddlers, whereas this guy had long legs and, like I said, was a loper. It didn't have a white stripe on its body like a skunk or white on its face like a badger. Didn't get a good look at the tail.

Any idea what this was, Upper Midwest naturalists?

posted by escabeche to science & nature (23 comments total)

Sorry -- should have said this is Madison, Wisconsin, more or less on campus, so this is an animal that lives in the southern part of the state and doesn't mind living in town.
posted by escabeche at 6:39 PM on June 18

Probably a mink.
posted by bricoleur at 6:47 PM on June 18

The most prosaic would be a juvenile raccoon, such as I saw, up to no good around some dumpsters, coming home tonight around 7pm.
If it was a Pine Marten, I would get really excited... but I don't think that's quite possible in Madison.
posted by Cold Lurkey at 6:51 PM on June 18

Most likely a juvenile opossum. They waddle when they're fattening up for winter, but they can be pretty quick on their feet in the presence of a predator -- like a feral cat. The tail is distinctive.

It could also have been a raccoon.

Mink are rather less common, and they tend to bounce more like a ferret or slink something like a snake. They do not have long legs.
posted by dhartung at 7:03 PM on June 18

It sounds more like a Raccoon to me - mink look like otters and have little legs, and Pine Martens look like weasels and not at all the size of a large cat.

I'd say Raccoon.
posted by Brockles at 7:09 PM on June 18

I've seen plenty of foxes that, at a distance, I first mistook for cats. They've got pointy, possum-y faces. The big ears, of course, are decidedly non-possumish.

They can be grey or black, and definitely know how to lope.
posted by GuffProof at 7:14 PM on June 18

So I've seen lots of raccoons and I'm 99% sure it wasn't a raccoon. I definitely had a strong sense of "this is an animal I've never seen before." I'd think a fox would have registered with me as "dog-like", not "rodent-like," and based on what I read about the gait and habits of mink I'm doubtful there too....
posted by escabeche at 7:21 PM on June 18

There are definitely martens in Wisconsin... Madison might be a stretch, but if you can rule out skunk, badger, possum, and racoonn....
posted by mr_roboto at 7:22 PM on June 18

A woodchuck?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodchuck

I've seen these in Wisconsin.
posted by jeff-o-matic at 7:40 PM on June 18

Was it a Fisher?
posted by shannonigans at 8:10 PM on June 18

You may have been fortunate enough to see the dreaded fisher. But I doubt it, all the way down in Madison. Up here in the Northwoods, local lore has it that these solitary hunters are vicious and like to eat your domesticated animals. But you probably saw a cousin, the marten.
posted by tosteka at 8:16 PM on June 18

Martens are endangered in Wisconsin, so the chance of seeing one is small I would guess. Also, their range is much further north than Madison.

But a mink is a possibility. I had a similar experience in my backyard a few years ago--also in Madison. Like you, I saw an animal that I was sure I'd never seen before. It was very black, as if a shadow had run by. My mom saw it too. The first words out of her mouth were: "That's not a cat!"

By coincidence Scott Craven of the state DNR happened to be doing a call-in radio show on Wisconsin wildlife that very day. I called in an described what I saw. He thought it could be a mink.

We've had foxes in the yard and coyotes, raccoons, and a possum waddles by the patio door pretty regularly. Woodchucks are in the neighborhood too. The supposed mink was unlike any of those familiar animals.
posted by subatomiczoo at 8:21 PM on June 18

I was going to suggest a marten (aka Fisher Cat), because I had such a very similar experience once and it turned out to be a marten. Largish, dark, furry mammal, somewhat long-legged, but with a catlike head and shoulders. Let's face it; most of us know the general categories of animal we're likely to see - domestic cat, fox, mink, otter, badger, what have you. When you are an adult and are looking at something like this, which you can tell is absolutely not this - that's worth noting.

When it happened to me, I had never even heard of a marten, let alone seen one. I came back to the house and gave a description quite similar to the one you gave. The people familiar with the property said "Oh yeah - that's the pine marten by the creek." Sent me to the books. It was indeed a marten.

Not conclusive, but a data point. Martens really don't look exactly like any of these other animals. And if you know what the other animals look like, and still feel unsure about what you saw, consider this possibility.
posted by Miko at 8:25 PM on June 18

I've just learned a fisher is only one kind of marten. Anyway, the one I saw looked very much like this. I think I described it "like a big heavy cat or a really tiny bear."
posted by Miko at 8:28 PM on June 18

I don't know anything at all about your area, but the suggestion that it may be a Fisher seems reasonable. They're becoming pretty common even in the suburban areas of my parents Rhode Island neighborhood.
posted by blaneyphoto at 8:48 PM on June 18

Minks are too small; wild ones weigh only about two pounds. In my (northeast) corner of Wisconsin, we have martens and fishers near the lakes as well as the occasional otter.
posted by carmicha at 10:48 PM on June 18

Yeah, I missed the part about the long legs. Not a mink.
posted by bricoleur at 3:56 AM on June 19

Sounds like some of the skinny raccoons around msn, maybe?
posted by Mngo at 4:59 AM on June 19

Are you positive it wasn't a cat? A mink is nowhere near the size of a cat so I sincerely doubt it would fit the bill.

Another possibility is that there are animal testing labs on campus. It may have been some exotic escapee. My actual bet would be on a raccoon. They are bigger than cats and lope very fast.
posted by JJ86 at 5:53 AM on June 19

Was it a muskrat? I have friends who have seen muskrats in Madison.
posted by mustcatchmooseandsquirrel at 10:01 AM on June 19

I saw my first mink in Minneapolis a couple weeks ago -- it ran/jumped/bounded (loped?) like a huge, long squirrel. It, too, was on the way to a lake. Did it look like this? Despite its short legs, it sure could bounce!
posted by Maarika at 11:18 AM on June 19

Mink and marten are the two best candidates. But I really think it was too big to be a mink, and perhaps not quite black enough, so I'm leaning marten, which seems about the right size, right shape, and right color. One source said the marten's range doesn't extend to southern Wisconsin, while another had it covering the whole state; so I'm going with marten.
posted by escabeche at 5:35 PM on June 19

FWIW, I just this week saw a martin or mink (well, a mink or a small marten) in Lake Farm Park. Beautiful, and remarkably unworried about seeing me and two dogs.
posted by Mngo at 2:19 PM on September 10