basscaster

I was out at Zilker park in Austin last weekend and saw an animal I didn't recognize. If I had a camera I would have shot some pictures, but since I didn't I figured I would see if any of y'all knew what it was.

This animal looked alot like a chinchilla, but it was much larger. Actually, it was about twice as large as any of the squirrels. The head and upper torso were a peppery black color and it faded into a peppery gray color on the lower half of the body. The fur was straight and speckeled with a lighter color, either white or light brown. The tail was short and fat, much more like a chinchilla than a squirrel.

If any of y'all are familiar with Zilker, I was walking with my kids from the little train station over to Lady Bird Lake. We saw this thing just past the Barton bridge. Any ideas?

Troop198

Could it have been a Nutria? I have seen them in different parts of Texas, otherwise choices are very limited.

Home - Nutria.com

basscaster

All the nutria I've seen were brown and looked more like beavers than squirrels. The head on this thing looked just like a squirrel, but the coloring, size, and tail really threw me off.

JohnK

A woodchuck (ground hog) or other marmot perhaps?

Hinterland Who's Who - Woodchuck

To my knowledge, none of the marmots are native to Texas; so, if you spotted one, it might have been someone's failed attempt to make a pet out of one, or maybe a zoo escapee.

JohnK

JohnK

The following link has a nice shot of a woodchuck looking a lot like a rather stout squirrel. Apparently their color varies and they can appear black in some cases. This link shows the range coming very close to Texas; so, who knows? Maybe they've actually extended their range into Texas. So far, though, they're not included in the list of Texas mammals on the Texas Parks & Wildlife website.

Woodchuck | Marmota monax | Mammal

JohnK

basscaster

After checking out the woodchuck pictures, I gotta say it definitely looked more like the woodchuck than it did the squirrel. The tail was exactly the same. Based on the size and color variations described in the links you posted, I'm about 90% sure it's a woodchuck.

I have two hesitations about it not being a woodchuck, both of which could have explanations. It was late December and woodchucks hibernate (but TX is warm and it's been a very warm winter so far). The second is that 2-4 kilos seems pretty big compared to the size of the one I saw (but it could have been an adolescent).

Maybe I'll head back out there this weekend on the off chance I can get a second glimpse at it; and bring the camera .

JohnK

What time of day was it when you spotted the critter and where exactly? Was it close to the water, in the thicket around the trail, in the fields circled by the train track? I go down to Zilker occasionally and may make some trips to look for it as well.

JohnK

basscaster

Here's a link to the zilker park map. http://www.apachecon.com/2006/US/ima...kerParkMap.pdf

Near the bottom right of the map where it's labeled Barton Springs Dr. I saw this critter right between Springs and Dr. As we walked under Barton Springs Dr. on the trail, it was at the base of a tree about 6ft off the trail on the river side. When you go under the bridge, there's a rail. We were standing at the rail and it was at the base of the big ?Oak?/?Elm? tree right in front of us. This was sometime right around noon.