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New Mexico creature


Saru

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Here's a video i received via e-mail today from Donald Gialanella.

I was hiking with my dog about 6 miles northeast of Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico. I was carrying water, my still camera, some food, a compass, a knife and my phone (which had no service in that area). I never traveled through this remote desert before and I hoped to capture some photos of the spectacular landscape. I saw the incredible carcass after we hiked about 2 1/2 hours and were about to turn around to head back to the truck. My dog wouldn't go near it, which was unusual, as he always finds dead animals eagerly and I have to call him off.

I began to take a picture and the battery died after I snapped one frame. It was fully charged when I left that morning. I knew this was a significant find and I wanted to collect the specimen in lieu of the lack of photographic evidence to document the creature, but there was no way I could carry it back to the car. I decided I would come back with the means to do so, a large backpack with some ropes to tie it on with. As I couldn't record the spot with my phone's gps, I did my best to remember the spot and I marked the trail going back so I was sure I could retrace my steps.

I returned the next day with a friend from Taos, determined to bring the animal home. We easily found the trail that I had marked out the day before. It was gone. We couldn't find a trace.

About the creature itself, it was much larger than any fox, more the size of a large coyote of wolf, about 48" long. It had a pronounced and extremely long snout, like a tapir or platypus. The most unusual features were the bumps along the spine and the approx. 4-5 inch long "sabre-tooth". I could see only a single one of these large fangs. The spine bumps seemed to extend out from the vertebra in line with the ribs. They had the same short dense fur that covered the body (definitely not the hairless mange dogs commonly referred to as chupacabra). It had some longer coarse hair on it's haunches. It's feet were oddly shaped, more like hooves, but with the features of canid paws, toes and nails. It's legs were long and extended, especially the lower rear legs. The gaping hole in the ribcage was the only visible wound on the body and looking into it, I could see no remnant of any internal organs. There were no insects on the carcass.

I believe it is possibly a previously unclassified canine, perhaps distorted by the process of mummification. This was something extremely rare and unusual and I feel privileged to have seen and recorded it.

Another animal with mange or something else ?

Here's a larger picture:

creature.jpg

Edited by Saru
Edited to add extended text and higher res picture
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It appears to be a red fox carcass with the neck and top of it's head scavenged by other animals, the ribcage also shows signs of being scavenged.

edit

By the looks of it, it was mangy and extremely emaciated when it died. Here's another carcass to compare it to.

redfox.jpg

Edited by Fernand0
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I refuse to beliee that that is a red fox simply on the basis that the bottom picture is really really cute. :P

Honestly though, I have no idea what it is.

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Bless the poor little creatures hearts. :(

I don't know exactly what the creature in the video is, but I pretty much agree with Fernand0.

Thanks for posting it Saru! :)

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It looks odd because of the decomposition, I guess.

Then again that tooth looks even odder.

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looks like jar jar

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It appears to be a red fox carcass with the neck and top of it's head scavenged by other animals, the ribcage also shows signs of being scavenged.

edit

By the looks of it, it was mangy and extremely emaciated when it died. Here's another carcass to compare it to.

redfox.jpg

I was thinking along those lines, definitely a canid, just scavenged and deformed though decomposition.

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if you look closely at the larger picture, the tooth and back "spikes" look very much photo edited. and i see no hoof. just a regular padded foot as found in canines. the edges on the spikes and tooth are too blended.

looks like a regular carcass

Edited by mictain666
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I agree with mictain666, the picture looks edited. If I am the one who came across this creature, I would have brought it home and take a video or more pictures or bring the carcass to an expert for examination. It's dry and stiff anyway so no foul smell whatsoever. Not doing so makes it more doubtful.

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Spikes? I thought it was just part of the spine and ribcage.

Edited by Rosewin
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Here's a video i received via e-mail today from Donald Gialanella.

Another animal with mange or something else ?

Here's a larger picture:

Very interesting, and of course I'm bound to shout "hyrax!". But I'm also deeply suspicious. The annotating is annoying, especially since the 'duck-bill' is a mis-nomer for starters. It does have look of photo-shop about it. A professional autopsy would be good though, if genuine. Why did they mention 'hoof-like feet' when they aren't particularly. I almost feel as if someone is specifically trying to play a prank. I hope the dermal ridges are real though..wishful thinking?

Saru: could you send this to the Animal Pathology Field Unit for their professional opinion please. APFU

post-94765-040934100 1277295527_thumb.jp

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I'll agree. The "Spines" look like they were just stretched out in photoshop. Just a dry, dessicated canine of some sort.

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They look like loose flaps of skin, well at least to me. A loss of volume from within such as from scavenging would cause that.

Edited by Rosewin
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if you look closely at the larger picture, the tooth and back "spikes" look very much photo edited. and i see no hoof. just a regular padded foot as found in canines. the edges on the spikes and tooth are too blended.

looks like a regular carcass

I looked at the negative, a JPG image has a smooth texture to it normally, the only area where there is obvious cubic blurring from resizing is the tooth.

2z7o7te.png

I also noticed some cubic blurring along the back spine, possibly a result of Photoshop's Liquify tool.

4shg5t.png

Edited by Fernand0
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Looks like a dessicated critter, canine.

As far as the photoshop, I'll leave that to the forensic computer nerds.

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If there is only one photo of this thing, i'm already jumping to the conclusion it's either staged, digitally manipulated, or shot on an angle that creates an optical illusion.

If it was really so 'strange', would that not warrant taking up a little extra space on your camera?

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It appears to be a red fox carcass with the neck and top of it's head scavenged by other animals, the ribcage also shows signs of being scavenged.

+1 on the fox carcass.

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When you showed us the video, Saru, I was hoping it was 26 seconds of live footage from multiple angles. With it just being a single photo, there's no credibility to it. If he had time to take that photo, he could have shot more photos from different angles.

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I vote Jar-Jar too-too ! :wacko:

Everything looks nasty after the Sun gets its Time !

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This should be a poll thread. Jar Jar or fox? IMO it looks shopped. Especially the spine. Can't say on the canine although, it could be a trick of the mind and part of the jaw bone.

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the "elongated snout" looks like the back of a fox ear to me

+1 on the fox

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I looked at the negative, a JPG image has a smooth texture to it normally, the only area where there is obvious cubic blurring from resizing is the tooth.

2z7o7te.png

I also noticed some cubic blurring along the back spine, possibly a result of Photoshop's Liquify tool.

4shg5t.png

I take it that means you reackon its been manipulated?

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looks like a decomposing carcass to me. the tooth only looks funny because after death when decomposition begins to take place, the gums and nail beds recede giving the appearance that they are longer or have grown when they are the same as they were before death. the spikes on the back are the vertebrae protruding through the thin, decomposing skin. since this "creature" was found in New Mexico where I assume it gets pretty damn hot in the desert, I'd say that the decomp was accelerated and the sun contributed to the deformation of the carcass as well as scavengers (I'm training to be a coroner, decomp is a big part of our studies ;] ) it looks like a dog of some sort. nothing paranormal. :/ how cool would it be though if it was unexplainable?

i do agree though that the tooth doesn't look natural. it looks fabricated as do the humps on the back, even if the humps weren't fabricated, it could easily be explained by the tightening the skin does during decomp due to loss of moisture on the vertebrae causing them to appear to be strange paranormal appendages.

People used to dig up bodies that were suspected of being vampires and find that their nails appeared to have grown and that their teeth and hair had also appeared to have grown after death. now with decomp research we have explained those occurrences to be the result of the skin receding and causing more of the nails, teeth, and hair to be exposed, which appears to have happened with this picture.

this is definately a canine carcass

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Odd looking. the spikes go down even it's tail. The most logical conclusion would be a photoshop, as I've never seen decomposition "deform" anything in this way.

Edited by ShaunZero
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