Professor identifies mystery creature:
The odd-looking animal spotted in several Piedmont counties last year evidently was a hairless gray fox.That's the conclusion of Jaap Hillenius. He examined the carcass of a similar animal that had been hit by a car in the Charleston, S.C., area.
So it wasn't an exotic cross-species, though some central North Carolina residents who spotted the animals had reported it having the head of a cat and the body of a canine.
Just a fox sans hair because of a mutant gene, said Hillenius, associate professor in the biology department at College of Charleston.
Apparently, there are many around and they are all over the place. The hairy foxes do not discriminate against them either - they feed side by side.
Comments
Last summer I saw (in a suburb of Philadelphia) a hairless fox with a pronounced limp and what appeared to an open wound. I had assumed that the hairlessness was due to an infection related to the wound. But maybe not.
Posted by: The Science Pundit | February 21, 2007 2:28 PM
Aren't all the Xtian foxes in the area upset with the Fox Nudity running rampant through their community? How will Bill O'Reilly spin the fox's contribution to the "hairless epidemic"?
What does Edwards plan to do about this? I would ask his blogmaster, but I guess she's not there anymore...
Posted by: J-Dog | February 21, 2007 2:56 PM
Yeah and some people see the virgin mary on a grilled cheese.
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp | February 21, 2007 3:48 PM
If you'd look hard enough you could see the virgin mary in a loogie.
If you do, try eBay, maybe turn some scoots on it.
Posted by: Roy | February 21, 2007 4:26 PM
The Lost World Museum, a creationist museum in New York state, has the bones of one of these, which they are calling a Chupacabra.
Posted by: Mustafa Mond, FCD | February 22, 2007 3:36 PM
Somebody was blogging about this mystery critter a few months back--was that you? As I recasll, some commenters thought it looked like a hairless fox. I guess that was a good call, based on a less-than-ideal photo.
Oh, and for Your Reverendship--I just saw someplace where you can purchase Virgin Mary branding irons for creating your own blessed-image grilled cheese sandwiches.
Posted by: mark | March 7, 2007 4:30 PM
I had a post in June called Cryptozoology Chupacabras, in which I guessed it might be a hairless dog. The Lost World museum has a photo of a carcass, but someone has tucked in its front legs and pulled on its back legs to make it look wierder.
Posted by: Monado | August 16, 2007 10:46 PM
We spotted a creature we thought at first was a baby deer, but too small. Then it started walking like a dog but had the head of a cat! It had a long tail but no hair.It looks like the hairless foxes others have photographed. This was in Perryville, Maryland on the Chesapeake Bay.
Posted by: Debra Welch | October 5, 2007 5:29 PM
I have seen one of these foxes in Annapolis Maryland along with two other foxes with hair but the one without hair is alown and doesnt interact with the two that have hair.
Posted by: logan bryson | March 21, 2008 9:58 AM
are there any hairless foxes in southern california, i saw one today that had been hit by a car .it was a female,black with grey spots about the size of a coyote. in desert hot springs california.
Posted by: todd young | August 4, 2008 7:01 PM
I saw this creature in my housing development in Harrisburg Pennsylvania last week. I have been searching the internet to determine what it was. I'm so glad to finally know what it is and that I'm not crazy. My daughter, her friend and I had the exact thoughts as a previous blogger when we saw it ....it appeared to be half dog, half cat,and a certain way you looked at it, it looked like a small deer. This fox ate 14 eggs that a wild duck laid and had been sitting on under a bush in our front yard. I hope I never see this creature again!!
Posted by: April Krovic | April 8, 2009 9:46 PM
I saw this fox at Oak Island last week. Very skinny, out at all hours of the day. I thought this was very strange and went looking for more info when I found your site. The photo you've posted is definitely a likeness to the one I saw.
Posted by: angie | May 19, 2009 12:07 AM
I'm 99% sure i saw this hairless fox today in Fort Hunt Park, Alexandria VA. It's skin was a bit mottled, not much like the photo here. I also thought it was a baby deer. it was sitting and jumped up and off into the brush when it saw me. When i went to peer over the edge of the brush to see if he was still around i noticed another (hairy) fox walking towards me. It quickly fled into the same brush. So i waited, and eventually saw one of them five feet up a small tree, chasing, to all appearances, a mockingbird (good luck). This seems to match the other entries here. But, the ears of the second fox were very red. In fact it's the only thing i was able top catch. Does anyone know what that means? I assume it's another gray fox. But i haven't seen pictures of one with such red ears.
Posted by: daniel schlak | June 19, 2009 1:41 PM
I'm sure i saw this hairless fox today in Fort Hunt Park, Alexandria VA. It's skin was a bit mottled, not so much like the photo here. I also thought it was a baby deer. it was sitting and jumped up and off into the brush when it saw me. When i went to peer over the edge of the brush to see if he was still around i noticed another (hairy) fox walking towards me. It quickly fled into the same brush. So i waited, and eventually saw the hairless one (at first i'd thought it a dog, and now this thing in the tree seemed like a cat, and i was confused until i found this blog) five feet up a small tree. This info seems to match the other entries here. But, the ears of the second fox were very red. In fact it's the only thing i was able top catch. I assume it was another gray fox. But i haven't seen pictures of one with such red ears. Also, the fox got about a foot from a mockingbird that was at the top of the tree before it flew away. Could it have been preying on it?
Posted by: daniel schlak | June 19, 2009 1:48 PM
I saw one that looked just like the one in the photo. I thought iut might be a choopacobra. but now i know it was a hairless fox. it was spotted at ocean isle beach nc. on the island
Posted by: steven a gibson | July 11, 2009 12:15 PM
i saw an animal that looked like this in Bailey's Crossroad's, right across the county line from Alexandria. I saw in on the early morning of July 20th and wondered what it was.
Posted by: maureen | July 23, 2009 8:02 AM
A news story recently appeared where a hairless fox was stealing golf balls out of a Colorado man's yard where he had installed a putting green. The poor fox must have thought they were eggs! The man set up a camera and got some really good shots of the hairless fox. The article said the following:
"According to the [Colorado Division of Wildlife], the hairless fox is actually a red fox that has lost its hair. The hair loss is thought to be caused thyroid problems or genetic diseases.
Mange can also cause hair loss, however none of the foxes tested in the Steamboat area exhibited any of the main symptoms associated with mange."
All these hairless foxes look too alert and uniformly healthy to me be genetically diseased or mange-y foxes. I wonder if the might be an unknown species or at least a naturally occuring variety of native or red fox that isn't recognized by science. At any rate, the CDW did say they tested the animals.. I don't know if that was genetic testing but then again why wouldn't you if you are a wildlife expert and had one right there in front of you? LOL
Here's a link to the article (with pictures):
http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=123483&provider=top&catid=188
Posted by: bigmike | September 23, 2009 4:08 AM
We have had a little gray fox and her mate living in and raising their babies in our back yard for several years. They are the most delightful little creatures I have ever encountered. During the hottest Texas summer months they lose a lot of their hair except for the bushy tails and appear almost bald, but grow it back in the fall.
Posted by: TOOTIE | October 17, 2009 12:10 PM
Saw one of these two days in a row chasing birds on the beach while surf-fishing in Fenwick Island Delaware in mid-September. Looked completely hairless to me, tail longer than its legs, skinny, somewhat emaciated, grey-brown skin, big ears. Easily camouflaged in the dune grass. It was quite brave and got within 10 yards of me (but not so close that I feared rabies etc.) trying to catch birds that were facing the ocean and off-guard -- completely silent approach. It would gallop up into the dune grass then gallop back down trying to surprise its prey. Almost a cat-like prance as it ran.
Posted by: lunkerseeker | October 20, 2009 3:57 PM