Anyone have any ideas on what this animal is?

a reply to: Halfswede

The legs are way to long for an otter and otters also have webbed feet and much smaller ears. The teeth are similar, but otters have a far shorter snout.

a reply to: SgtHamsandwich

The legs of an otter are actually much longer than you would think. Take the hair off the head, and the ears are also much larger than you would think. Nothing in the pic indicates webbed or not webbed feet. Good question to ask her though.

The main discriminator here though, would be the coarse guard hairs described in the op. Very few animals have hair as described, but otters have the two types. The soft hair has rotted off, leaving coarse, stiff guard hairs. The snout is also distinctly otter.

Not 100% sure, but I am sticking to it being a large weasel family member of which at that size, the river otter is the main candidate.

I'm ashamed of you guys....
it's the well known one that is called but is not.....chuppa....
first sight...exact fit, but I;m getting old.....am I right?

C....A....T

Feline...

Looks like a dead Chupacabra

originally posted by: Halfswede
Otter is my first guess based on size, the snout, and how the ears are shaped and set back.

Not a otter or ferret, ears are far to large.

I really can't put my finger on it. Parts of it look different than than any one of the possible candidates mentioned. It seems too small and the tail seems to me too long to be a coyote. The tail looks like a possum.

It's most likely not, but my first thought seeing it's head was a small or baby hyena.
Seriously doubt that is what it is, but the jaw and head really reminds me of one.

a reply to: grimpachi

Could very well be a cat, although the ears looks to far back and the mouth just doesn't seem to me to look right, but then, whatever it is, it has been dead for a little while so hard to tell.

originally posted by: Greathouse
Seen them under similar circumstances before without a doubt it was a dead coyote .

The snout looks too short for a coyote. The ears remind me of a hyena as does the lack of a canine type of neck, but the body certainly is not that of a hyena.

a reply to: Aliensun

A hyenas lower canines are larger than its upper canines. Somebody posted a pic above this .

Like I said earlier I have seen dead coyotes before on many occasions. I am absolutely certain it is a coyote but I will grant you that it might be a hybrid like the Texas blue dog was .

Raccoon maybe? They're pretty common in KY. Not sure about the legs though...

a reply to: okachobi

I think you might have a very good possibility there.

a reply to: SgtHamsandwich
Now that is weird.

The missing front appendages are the weirdest part. Cant have been born deform me thinks, first its pretty big for a stillbirth deformity, I don't think coyotes or foxes or racoons or even wolfs or bigger like animals would not be born that big, it looks like it had time to grow a bit before it died is what I am saying, its jaws and fangs look fully grown as well.

And there is no way it could have survived for any number of time in the wild without front paws. So really its a stumper, pun intended. And it does not look like it died and other critters came by ate or tore off its front legs, there would be marks on it for sure.

And it sort of looks like an oversized weasel due to its long body, but the hind legs are way to big, and it only looks long due to the missing front paws. Likely a dead and skinned coyote but the OP said the girl who found it said it only had hair growing on its back, so it could be diseased mange death of whatever critter.

But that still does not explain how any animal with two missing front paws would survive in the wild for any period of time for that long, it would literally have to wobble on its back legs the whole time. It could have died in the water bloated and shed its fur, but that still dont explain the missing front appendages, I would almost say it was somehow aquatic but that's obviously out of the question as it has no other traits besides being covered in coarse back hair and almost being hairless.

Its either fake, or some bizarre experiment somebody drooped in the middle of the woods. I really don't know, take your pick. Oh ya, that is one bizarre find to stumble upon.

a reply to: SgtHamsandwich
My best guess is it is from the weasel family. Maybe a fisher.

originally posted by: Tarzan the apeman.
a reply to: SgtHamsandwich
My best guess is it is from the weasel family. Maybe a fisher.

That would have been my first guess too, except Kentucky has neither fishers nor martins. Mink maybe. I am still very confident it is weasel family. Being semi-aquatic weasel-family, they also have those stiff guard hairs. If it weren't for those, I could be convinced of coon.

I think the lack of fur is making legs, ears etc. look out proportion like this sloth.

a reply to: Halfswede

Ears are too large to be otter.
Legs are too long as well.

Almost always a rotten racoon in these cases... but the lack of obvious front leg sockets is a puzzler.

Why is there never a forensic veterinarian around when these things are found?

a reply to: HalfswedeCould be swamp rat also.