What is this dead animal?

April 7, 2018 7:05 PM

My friend found this dead animal near her home in Nelsonville, Ohio. Neither she nor I can figure out what species it is. Can anybody identify it? Photo here (don't click if you are squeamish about dead animals)
posted by ootsocsid to Pets & Animals (12 answers total)

juvenile possum?
posted by scruss at 7:08 PM on April 7, 2018 [5 favorites]

I'd say possum or baby raccoon; any idea of scale/size?
posted by The otter lady at 7:13 PM on April 7, 2018

This looks like a baby raccoon to me. Awwwwwww.
posted by pintapicasso at 7:17 PM on April 7, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Critter is just over 4 inches long, not counting the tail.
posted by ootsocsid at 7:25 PM on April 7, 2018

Looks like a Baby possum :(
posted by Green Eyed Monster at 7:31 PM on April 7, 2018 [1 favorite]

That's a possum. You can tell by the tail and the mouth shape. I can tell because I used to have to clean them out of the corn crib traps on a farm for many years.
posted by sanka at 7:56 PM on April 7, 2018 [1 favorite]

That's a baby raccoon.
posted by scrubjay at 8:13 PM on April 7, 2018

I think if it was a possum, it would be more developed at that size, whereas at 4 inches that's like a newborn/premature baby raccoon, which would fit more with the degree of hairlessness and general undeveloped look. And that does look like an umbilical which would indeed put it firmly in the non-possum category.
posted by The otter lady at 9:01 PM on April 7, 2018 [2 favorites]

This is a newborn baby raccoon. Looks like a pretty good match.
posted by showbiz_liz at 9:48 PM on April 7, 2018 [3 favorites]

At one of my field sites this spring, a mom and baby raccoon got caught in a beaver dam and died. I have had the great displeasure of watching them decompose over the past few weeks. That is exactly what a partially decomposed baby raccoon that has lost its fur looks like. Mom, too--she's just bigger.
posted by hydropsyche at 4:30 AM on April 8, 2018 [2 favorites]

My gut is to say a very, very young opossum. We have tons around here.
posted by Amalie-Suzette at 8:49 AM on April 8, 2018

Nth'ing those saying the umbilical cord means it can't be a possum. Marsupials don't have placentas, and therefore no umbilical cord. Looks like a raccoon to me.
posted by biogeo at 2:20 PM on April 8, 2018 [3 favorites]