Quote:
I used to be on team cat, but put my prejudices aside and have gone over to team gray fox. Everything about the animal is consistant with the fox except for the fluffiness of the tail. Because fur is an outer covering and can puff up, be flattened and even fall out or become longer or shorter depending on the season, I think that one should not look at the size of the tail alone as the determining factor. The chupacabra that many have jokingly referred to as the likely candidate is most likely a dog with alopecia or mange. Animals can look very different when their fur is damaged. Perhaps this fox has mange or a nutritional deficit brought about by the drought and some of its fur has fallen out making the tail less busy than expected. If you look at one of the frames, the animal is facing away from the camera and it really looks more fox-like than cat-like.
As for the jaguarundi--I actually looked very seriously at this animal when it was brought up. I could not find any reports of its presence or even sightings in Georgia. Perhaps you can provide a link if you were able to find one. I also looked at the color pattern of the critter. Although there are different color patterns/variants, I could not see the abrupt very light throat and underside, darker upperside and black shading down the top of the tail and to the tip of the tail. Again, I may have missed that representation in my search and it would be very helpful if you could provide a link to the photo with the color pattern you think matches (or upload it and post it) this critter, it would be most helpful.
Being a scientific person, I am not wedded to my 'team' and I am open to changing teams if the cumulative evidence supports the new theory. I am seeking help in gathering the evidence as I am not able to find the evidence that is convincing me of the jaguarundi's lead in the critter vote, so to speak.
I used to be on team cat, but put my prejudices aside and have gone over to team gray fox. Everything about the animal is consistant with the fox except for the fluffiness of the tail. Because fur is an outer covering and can puff up, be flattened and even fall out or become longer or shorter depending on the season, I think that one should not look at the size of the tail alone as the determining factor. The chupacabra that many have jokingly referred to as the likely candidate is most likely a dog with alopecia or mange. Animals can look very different when their fur is damaged. Perhaps this fox has mange or a nutritional deficit brought about by the drought and some of its fur has fallen out making the tail less busy than expected. If you look at one of the frames, the animal is facing away from the camera and it really looks more fox-like than cat-like.
As for the jaguarundi--I actually looked very seriously at this animal when it was brought up. I could not find any reports of its presence or even sightings in Georgia. Perhaps you can provide a link if you were able to find one. I also looked at the color pattern of the critter. Although there are different color patterns/variants, I could not see the abrupt very light throat and underside, darker upperside and black shading down the top of the tail and to the tip of the tail. Again, I may have missed that representation in my search and it would be very helpful if you could provide a link to the photo with the color pattern you think matches (or upload it and post it) this critter, it would be most helpful.
Being a scientific person, I am not wedded to my 'team' and I am open to changing teams if the cumulative evidence supports the new theory. I am seeking help in gathering the evidence as I am not able to find the evidence that is convincing me of the jaguarundi's lead in the critter vote, so to speak.
