Annie D. sent a pic of this little critter titled “baby chupacabra”. She was kidding but we don’t know what it might be. I think the ears look rather “batty”, but as Annie says it has an apparent tail. Marsupial?
Anyone have an idea? Darren? Carel?
Update: “Batwrangler” Sheila comes up with an ID: it’s a newly discovered eastern pygmy possum.
More pix here.
The update leaves off abruptly with “It’s an” — answer undisclosed. But to me it looks like a young sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps) or some close relative thereof. Yes, marsupial. Superficially, they’re very like flying squirrels, with a patagium that allows them to glide from tree to tree, using the tail as a rudder of sorts. They’re nocturnal (hence the big eyes), again like flying squirrels. They’re primarily frugivorous and nectarivorous, but also eat a fair number of insects and even vertebrate prey (including birds) when they can.
My wife has a trio of adult sugar gliders, and on one occasion the male got loose overnight and managed to kill one of our orange-cheeked waxbills through the mesh of the aviary.
PS: On second look, the critter in the picture doesn’t have big eyes, so I could be wrong about the ID. Adult sugar gliders have eyes nearly bulging out of their heads. But since they’re born blind and only “half-baked”, so to speak, the small eyes on this critter could reflect an early developmental stage…
Sorry Mark– Blogger ate some text, now restored.
Annie and I had decided “Marsupial” but had gotten no further.
Funny, flying squirrels will eat birds too.
And not just ‘apparent tail’; it looks like a kinkajou tail, as in prehensile and furry.
A picture of the giant rat (world’s largest) found at the same time as the pygmy possum can be seen here (at bottom of post) >> http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2007/12/coffee-and-provocation_17.html
You would think the rat would eat the possum in the real world.
Patrick