What is it?

[fujifilmnut]

This animal was in our yard and it did not look like a beaver or a ground hog. Pointed nose, strange ears, etc. Did not move, just stared at me. Had 14-24mm lens on camera and could not get a better shot.

[lightwrangler]

Can't see the tail properly, but my guess is that it's a Gopher, a ground hog or something in that family. Doesn't look like a beaver. But what do I know? I live in a city.

Cheers,
Adrian

[High ISO!]

Hey Jim,
I think it's a Woodchuck/Ground Hog....Gophers are much smaller.

He's very cute....lookslike it might be a young one, the ones I see, are a bit larger than this one.

Alissa

[fujifilmnut]

Thank you Adrian and Alissa. Yes, baby groundhog it is.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Sciuridae
Genus: Marmota
Species: M. monax

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/07/Babygroundhog.jpg

[fujifilmnut]

Look at this one and do you think my image was a muskrat?

http://www.advancedwildlifecontrolllc.com/images/muskrat.jpg

[lightwrangler]

Nah, I still think its a ground hog. Muskrats have very distinctive claws and a more pointy nose, much more rat-like.

Adrian

[fujifilmnut]

Thanks Adrian.

[High ISO!]

Hey Jim,
It's not a Muskrat....Most definately a Woodchuck/Groundhog. :)

Muskrats are much smaller. Kind of the size of a mink, maybe a little bigger, but not much.

Alissa

[fujifilmnut]

Belated thank you Alissa.