Questions tagged [animal-identification]
Use this tag for identification of species and sub-species of animals. Please add a picture, and write as many characteristic details as possible. Include the geographic location. Describe the environment, such as woods, mountains, trails, water, near other animals. For identification of birds please use the bird-identification tag.
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Snake identification
I caught this snake in the Dolomites in Northern Italy, in a high-ish (750m) gorge that was lush and heavy with vegetation.
I think, from the description and photos, that it’s a Western Whip Snake, ...
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Frog/toad species?
Does anyone know what this toad is, I used to see them a ton when I was younger and I saw two today while attending to lawn care.
Does anyone know the species, found in Nebraska; it’s about 1 inch ...
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Help identifying mouse-like rodent in Tuscany (Italy)
I have seen this mouse in a wood on the Via Francigena, close to San Gimignano (Tuscany, in Italy).
I would like to know which kind of mouse/rodent it is.
The mouse was almost not moving, probably as ...
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Wildcats in Scotland
I know there are a limited number of wildcats still roaming free in Scotland but is it ever very realistic to see one? and are there any places that are particularly good to spot them? I also know ...
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Help identifying this animal
Anyone can help me identify this animal? It walks like a cat and climbs trees like a monkey. No tail is visible in the video. This video was captured in Arunachal Pradesh, a provincial state in the ...
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How does the howl of a hyena sound like?
I once heard an animal howl at night while camping in Damaraland, Namibia. I never saw the animal. However, I much later stumbled on a webcam footage where some animal (off-camera) sounded exactly the ...
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What creature sounds like an adult human man saying "Hrmmm"?
Geography
Western Rockies, 6000 feet elevation.
Time of day
This thing only shows up at nightfall. It is gone by early morning even when it is still pitch black outside.
Sound
It sounds like an adult ...
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What animal made this hole?
I was mowing the grass and alongside my house was this hole that I only noticed today:
The hole is no more than a 2 to 3 inches wide and high, and it looks like some dried up grass was pulled into it ...
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Identifying a coastal shark with a broad dorsal fin
Snagged this guy in the Port Royal Sound off the coast of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina last week. At first I thought it might be a bull shark but the dorsal profile doesn't really seem to match. ...
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What kind of sea creature leaves this skin/shell?
While hiking the beach at Cape Scott in British Columbia last summer, I kept on seeing these weird pieces of organic flotsam. I'm familiar with kelp, dead jellyfish, sea urchin shells, etc... but ...
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Identification of bones, looking like a fox / dog, from Poland in a lake / forest area
We found bones near a lake in Western Poland. There is a lot of forest nearby as well.
Since there are fox farms in the area, this is the first thing that came to mind.
Here are the photos, with a ...
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What caused these ~5 cm holes in my front yard?
I found these holes in my yard yesterday, in an area roughly two meters wide. This is in the southern part of the United States. No other yards in the area seem to have them, and they appeared ...
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What kind of owl is this?
A couple of years ago I went to an owl cafe in Tokyo. I held three owls there, but unfortunately I can only remember the species of two of them. I would really appreciate some help identifying what ...
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Identify this insect found indoors in Ireland with a double tail and antennae
About 6 months ago I noticed a new friend in my apartment. It lived in my bathroom and only came out during the night (not sure how it knows when it is nighttime if there are no windows in the ...
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Is this a baby bat and what should I have done?
Yesterday we were outside obliterating some grass when my wife suddenly noticed something small and black in front of her mower. It was a tiny little bat!
Now, the day was quite hot and sunny and the ...
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What coastal creature leaves braid-like trace that has clear landing and take off points?
June 29 around 8 PM EST (within 40 minutes after downpour) the depicted trace was found in swash zone at Jacob Riis Park in NY. For reference the boot size is 12.
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Are these animal droppings?
Here's another early springtime find in some woods of Central NY State (April 19th, snow mostly gone but only the earliest plants flowering or leafing).
A pretty large pile of what could be animal ...
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What animal was killed here?
Yesterday (April 5th) hiking I came across this scene just off a hiking trail:
This is a pile of what appears to be white hair (*). There were no other visible animal remnants around (unless we ...
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What kind of toad is this?
I found him late at night in my backyard. I live in Arkansas, USA. He was fairly large (probably the size of my fist). I know absolutely nothing about amphibians, but I am thinking maybe an American ...
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What is this lizard-like thing?
This just crawled out of a houseplant I purchased last weekend. Can anyone help me identify it? I also need to know what to feed it because it probably hasn't eaten in a long time. It's about 4 inches ...
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Can anyone help identify this skull fragment
Found in the woods next to my home in central Connecticut, USA
Trying to identify, i am putting it on a shelf in my room and would like to know what it is
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What kind of toad is this 2.5 inch (6.5cm) one yellow with brown spots and a white back stripe?
I just found this toad on a sidewalk near a lake the elevation was probably somewhere around 4800 ft (1500m).
Does anybody know what kind it is?
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Help identifying mouse-like rodent in Willamette Valley (Oregon)
I live in the Willamette Valley region of Oregon, USA. A few days ago I noticed these rodents digging in my compost pile. This was in the early-afternoon. If I got too close (closer than 4 ft) they ...
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What aquatic animal laid these eggs?
On April 12, 2019, my sister-in-law was hiking on a mountain close to our home in Central Massachusetts, USA.
There was a pond at the end of an established trail. Near the water's edge were jelly-...
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What type of lizard is this grey and orange one I found near the Grand Canyon?
While hiking to see the Grand Canyon on the North side, I found this grey and orange lizard running through some downed brush and logs (center of picture).
Would anyone know what type of lizard ...
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Can you identify this lizard-like creature I observed in the UK?
I was lucky enough to spot an unusual animal in my back yard this evening, here's a photo...
... well I say unusual, but that is because this is the first one I've ever seen in my back garden. This ...
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Can anyone identify this small black swimming creature?
I spotted something in a rock pool. It was swimming but appeared to surface to breath, or maybe eat.
The location is Madeira, Portugal, just above sea level. I would expect the water to be saline, ...
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Is there an app to identify flora and fauna
You often want to identify different flora and fauna while hiking. Since I have my smartphone with me either way, I would like to have an app to do so.
Which apps tackle the described use-case and ...
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Are these tracks on the sand in Portugal dormouse tracks?
I've found these tracks just a couple of days ago on the Ursa beach near Cabo da Roca, Portugal. I'm not familiar with the fauna of this place and the only possible candidate I've found for now is a ...
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Bird identification from feathers - brown-black feathers, medium size, West Sweden
While hiking in western Sweden in October this year, I came across a bunch of feathers on my trail:
To me it looked like the leftovers of a small to medium bird of prey, which was seemingly eaten by ...
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Animal Identification from "leavings"
There's a couple of small piles, about 3 inches across on my mom's back deck on the outskirts of Terre Haute, Indiana in the US. The pieces are firm but flexible as if they are plant matter, not sure ...
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How to tell the difference between a pika and a cottontail rabbit?
Some users here seem to think that the animal in question is a pika and not a cottontail rabbit.
How would one tell the difference between a pika and a cottontail rabbit?
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What type of Amphibian / Lizard is this?
This morning when out on one of my usual walks I discovered an Amphibian / Lizard on the path - I did not take a picture as it had clearly been attacked at some point, it was not alive at this time, ...
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Found a black snake in my backyard. Is it dangerous?
We found this snake in our backyard today. It was stuck in a mesh we use to protect a small fish pond from falling debris.
Just wondering if it's dangerous. My kids play in the area where it was found....
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What is this blob found at the edge of a puddle on a forest logging road?
Exploring the woods of the Adirondack Mountains, this gelatinous blob was found near the edge of standing water on a logging road. The entire length of this thing is probably just under 10 inches and ...
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How to tell the difference between bobcats and house cats?
Recently there was a story about some people in Texas who brought three bobcat kittens home and then called animal control after the bobcats bit them.
It's also happened once in California where a ...
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Wild animal in Virginia that sounds like monkey cackling/laughing?
I'm here hunting turkey in Virginia and I keep hearing unidentifiable sounds that I'm pretty sure are not turkey.
One of the most common one is something like a monkey (chimp) cackling/laughing. It's ...
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Is it possible to differentiate between a dog howl and a wolf howl?
I was camping at around 1500m in the Italian Alps, and around midnight I heard howling that sounded very much like a wolf.
I know there are wolves in the area (a friend of mine was lucky enough to ...
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What UK carnivores might I find up mountains?
I found some scats that looked a lot like those of a pine marten or otter at 600-700m in the Lake District, UK.
The scat was full of white claw-shaped items, possibly bone, and was 10-15cm long and ...
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What kind salamander is this black and grey one I found at around 11,000 feet near Mt Ritter in the Sierras?
I was making the last of my approach to Mt Ritter when I saw this salamander.
It was probably 3-4 inches long and around 4:30 in the morning, I think the forecasted temperature was around 40° ...
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What animal would chew up trees in West Georgia?
I live in the West Georgia area. We now have several trees chewed up beginning 5 feet off the ground and all the way around the tree, some to the very top. I found a birch that had a 4 foot section ...
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What kind of animal may have done this?
I was recently hiking around Finland with my girlfriend and we came across several trees that seem to have been had at by some sort of animal. I'm quite curious as to what it may be and any help would ...
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Identification of a jellyfish-like, shapeless sea-creature from India
Photographed off the Western coast of India, Goa, to be precise. Not even sure this is a creature since I've never seen anything like it. It appeared to move by shooting tiny jets of water from its ...
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What animal could strip all the bark off the lower 7 feet of this tree?
I was out in the woods the other day and I came across a tree. It had all of the bark around the bottom removed, and a good layer of wood removed as well. I estimated the damage was a good 7-8 feet ...
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Which types of animals would peel bark off this tree?
I'm just curious which animals would peel bark off a tree like this:
It's a riparian setting in the Mid Atlantic region. I was thinking maybe a beaver?
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What breed is this very large, black, turtle/tortoise found in the Northeast United States?
My husband found this very large turtle (or tortoise) crossing a road from an industrial park towards a wooded area. It was in June, in Massachusetts, USA, at 8:00 in the evening. He didn't touch it, ...
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What are these round, spiny, puffy, green things from the ocean in Northeast United States?
Last October, we were on a road above a beach in a small town near Bar Harbor, Maine, in the Northeast United States. We looked down and saw two fishermen loading their trucks with piles of something ...
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Is it possible to identify the sex of a caribou without a pair of binoculars or a spotting scope?
Both male and female caribou have antlers. Last year we saw a large herd cross the road we were traveling on, but had no way of telling which ones were male and which ones were females. Unfortunately, ...
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Are these tracks in the mud tortoise/turtle tracks?
I was having a nice evening walk near one of the nature reservations in Andover MA, close to Tewksbury, when I've found such a footprint. I'm really sorry for image quality, though. So it's a wet, bog-...
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Is it possible to differentiate between a dog print and wolf print?
This question got my thinking:
Did I see a wolf's paw print?.
I did a bit of Googling and it appeared that wolf paw prints and dog paw prints are very very similar. Is there any good way (given ...
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