Need help for an Animal I.D.

[Doc McPeak]

As I was descending from Lost Lookout in the AMR (Adirondacks) I saw a good sized animal shoot ahead of me and into a hole beneath a boulder. It was agile, a thick body some 15-20 inches, and very dark, mostly black. I thought maybe a fischer, or bobcat (because of its agility and speed) I peered into the hole but to no avail.

Well, about fifty feet past this guy I started down a twenty foot slope down to a stream when little guy number two appeared. Making his/her way down to the stream was a jet black animal about 12-15" long, and very wide (maybe 12") It looked like a pure black long haired angora cat the way it moved. The coat was thick.

Anyone have any ideas? Do skunks come in all black? It seemed too thick to be one of the weasels, and didn't seem to have a long neck. It also moved faster than the waddling action that I have seen with skunks and their kin. But jet black? I can't think of anything that fits the bill...

 

[DeadFred]

Beaver? (Of course, I'm sure you know what a beaver looks like, Doc, but this sounds like a wet beaver, and you said you were near a stream.)???

You made me laugh: "I peered into the hole but to no avail." I thought you were gonna say: "AND THAT SUCKER RIPPED MY NOSE RIGHT OFF!"

Or maybe it was one of those Adirondack mountain seals.

 

[woodstrider]

Mystery Animal

Well Doc McPeak- I don't think you have provided enough info for a positive ID.

Did they make any noise?-Kinda crying like? They may have been a pair of twin bears, running for cover. It seems likely as the most significant bit of information supplied is that you spotted two of the critters, so I'd venture to guess they were youngesters. The other animals you're suggested are pretty much solitary.

By the by, skunks, fishers, pine martens and weasels- not to forget ferrets, minks, badgers, otters and wolverines are some of the more then 80 members of the same family. In the US we have about 14 representatives, if memory serves. They are noted for strong smelling scent and fierce apetites.

 

[carole]

mink were hunted for their coat.

 

[el-bagr]

Interesting sightings. I'd expect bear cubs to be fairly leggy at this time of year -- definitely standing taller above the ground than a beaver, cat, or porcupine. Bear cubs strike me as being leggier than a domestic dog of comparable size. Still, based on what you've described, bear cub would be a good guess.

 

[Jaytrek57]

Feral cat?

 

[Doc McPeak]

I hadn't thought bear cubs because of the movement and shorter leg, but especially because their heads were pretty small. As I think back, they definitely didn't move like the other bears I've seen. Maybe though, pretty scary if they were! Especially being alone on a trail that gets visitors once every few weeks! I did run past some rather large piles of bearscat on that trail, but a good distance from that spot. The movement of these two was more slinky, which made me think cat. Also no noise at all.

Great site, carol, and it may have been a mink I saw. The pictures I looked at had mink looking browner, but the one on that page looks like the color I was looking at.

What's a feral cat look like? I thought they were from Asia?

Maybe it was a bearmink? Has Monsanto been in the area doing some GM field trials?

As for the beaver. Not the right color or shape. However I did have an awesome beaver sighting later that day. Heading back from Sawteeth down the East River trail I saw a big splash in the river in Beaver Meadow. I scanned the water and followed a wisp of a wake until I saw the HUGE beaver swimming beneath it. This guy was at least four feet long and looked like an alligator skimming over the bottom of the sandy brook. Hmm, Lake Placid is right up the road...

 

[KZKlimber]

Could it have been a fox ? You did not mention anything about a tail - that would be the dead giveaway.

I saw one this morning riding my bike that was dark, could have been described as black.

KZ

 

[peak_bgr]

Doc, I ahve seen mink in the AMR before. They are very fast, and agile, and can swim like a fish. The one I saw was brown and white, but who says they can't be black.

As for the skunk idea. I have seen albino skunks on a couple occasions, so an all black one could be just a possible, and just as rare. My only other guess would be a pine martin.

 

[HockeyPuck]

My Guess

Doc

by the description I would suspect a Fisher cat. SEE HERE for a picture. From what I've heard these guys can be nasty.

Hockeypuck

 

[Jaytrek57]

Feral cats are undomisticated or "wild" cats. Usually what happens is that a family brings "Fluffy" on a camping trip and the cat gets lost/takes off. This happens more than you might think at roadside campgrounds/state parks.

"Fluffy" then meets up with other cats who have gone through the same process and a couple of generations later....you have a feral cat(s).

They can get rather large...well bigger than most house cats at least.

Either that or it was a sabertooth tiger.

 

[el-bagr]

Fishers (mustelids, like mink, weasels, &c) would be another good guess based on size and shape, though they are fairly solitary and generally nocturnal. This, plus their general avoidance of open areas, makes sightings by humans infrequent. Any chance you saw the same one twice rather than two different individuals?

Two summers ago when camped out beside Flagstaff Lake we were treated to a wonderful night-fight between a fisher and its main prey, a porcupine. They were just yards from our screen-tent, and were making quite a racket. As usual, the fisher won; after making the kill, it fed partially, then dragged the carcass off into the woods.

 

[Doc McPeak]

Or a sabertoothed fisher.

After the great links I imagine it was either a mink or fisher, with a darker than normal coat, possibly still thick and fluffy from winter? Not sure if they thicken up a winter coat. The trail is a desolate one which could explain why they might be out in the mid-morning.

Here is a cool pic from the same trip. The first time I've seen a Heron standing up straight. Another awesome critter in these woods waiting for us to see.

 

[Jim lombard]

I would say mink or fisher, both are dark at this time of the year. I've had close encounters with both. I was in Boothbay harbor one summer morning (early) and was crossing the footbridge when an adult black mink swum underwater beneath the bridge and over to the shore. I can't imagine what it was doing in salt water but it was clearly a mink not an otter because of the tail. I don't know if you guys have pine marten up there but they are a weasel and can have a dark coat (are chunkier than a mink.) I saw one close up at Thoreau falls once, beautiful animal.

 

[el-bagr]

Both mink and (river) otter use salt water in addition to fresh water. From Maine north through the Bay of Fundy, a larger mink species called the "sea mink" existed through the 1800s, but was extirpated through the fur trade.

http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/heywood/geog358/extinctm/SeaMink.htm

 

[percious]

Possibly a pine martin. I have seen them in colden and up on Wright (believe it or not) before. They are particularly vicious with your food in the winter when supply is scarace. Doesn't sound like it though, due to the bushy hair. Pine martins are dark brown with tan "highlights" in their faces.

-percious

 

[dave.m]

Pine Marten (smaller, some golden brown on legs) or Fischer Cat (larger, all black)

 

[mavs00]

- THIS - is a Pine Martin. Sounds like it might be one.

On a sad note, I just saw my first Pine Martin, as it darted under my car along Upper works road at dusk on Sat. night (6/26). It was long and black like you described (huge teeth too). As far as agility, I barey had time to move the wheel before it had crossed the road and was under my car. No, it didn't make it. I was bummed.

 

[Jaytrek57]

Could it have been this?

Critter

 

[Jim lombard]

Both mink and (river) otter use salt water in addition to fresh water

I still can't imagine why it was in the ocean, do they catch fish? I know at that time the harbor was teeming with herring. It was odd to see how easily it swam underwater.

Nice picture Mavs, very cute but also very ferocious (if you happen to be a squirrel.) Sorry your first encounter had to be that way.