A bassarisk, ringtail, miner's cat, what have you. Before this guy showed up, I've only ever seen one before in the area, and it was a rather intact chunk of road kill. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a better picture. Oh well. My brother-in-law named him Julian...
Category Photography / Animal related (non-anthro)
Species Mammal (Other)
Gender Any
Size 1280 x 1062px
They are mostly found in the Southwest, but extend up into my section of coast. They're close relatives of raccoons. The scientific name means clever little fox.
As a fan of ringtails, I'm a bit jealous that you have seen one in the wild. The sightings survey map for Texas has 0 sightings in my county, so I know my chances are relatively slim, but I'm on the lookout nevertheless.
For the record, however, I believe I saw a black morph coming out of a conquered birds' nest in the trees by the nature trail in the city where I work (which is in the county where I live). Didn't get a picture, though it was a bit too indistict to properly make it out anyway - I could only really see it when it was moving. It was certainly bigger than a squirrel and smaller than a raccoon - and it most definitely wasn't a cat! - so it could very well have been one.
For the record, however, I believe I saw a black morph coming out of a conquered birds' nest in the trees by the nature trail in the city where I work (which is in the county where I live). Didn't get a picture, though it was a bit too indistict to properly make it out anyway - I could only really see it when it was moving. It was certainly bigger than a squirrel and smaller than a raccoon - and it most definitely wasn't a cat! - so it could very well have been one.
They are neat creatures, but super secretive from what I can tell... Hopefully what you saw was a black one, that would be cool. I thought Texas was in their territory.
It is...practically all of it is, except perhaps the islands. Sightings are a different story entirely, though I'm fairly certain we have a territory border in our field.
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