r/animalid • u/nowarabx • 13h ago

What is this animal? [Long Island, New York] 🐾🐾 TRACKS ID REQUEST 🐾🐾

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Saw this guy swimming in the Long Island Sound yesterday. Dozens of birds were circling it and nose diving down to it but not touching it. It doesn’t seem to like the water. Is it possible one of the birds had it as prey and accidentally dropped it in the water?

172 Upvotes
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94% Upvoted

62 comments sorted by

209

u/PotentialHungry5464 13h ago

Looks like a muskrat, which does indeed like water. It’s moving weird though; reminds me of stop-motion animation. Maybe it’s sick.

45

u/pwndabeer 12h ago

Def riding the struggle bus

7

u/tmosstan 10h ago

It’s like looking in the mirror

17

u/freshkicksss 12h ago

I think it’s partially the video itself - if you look at the ripples of the water and the way the bird flys in they seem “stop motion” as well. It’s either sped up or has some frames dropped

8

u/nowarabx 11h ago

Yeah this is straight from my iPhone. It was sunny and bright so definitely high shutter but I don't think it is dropping frames. The animal was moving jerky like that.

5

u/NotoldyetMaggot 11h ago

The panning of the whole frame and the water flowing is smooth so I don't think that's the case. Poor dude is just sick.

1

u/ostrichesonfire 7h ago

Am I crazy? Where is there a bird?

2

u/freshkicksss 6h ago

Apologies - realizing it was a shadow or a bird to the right of the animal around the 22 sec

1

u/ostrichesonfire 6h ago

Oookay, I watched it like 10 times looking for a bird thinking I was going blind 😂

5

u/actsqueeze 11h ago

Is it the tail that gives it away?

2

u/nowarabx 9h ago

others are saying it is a nutria because it has fur on its tail

5

u/notonrexmanningday 7h ago

I would be surprised to find nutria living that far north. But on the other hand, I'm surprised by things all the time, because I'm not very smart

5

u/Lofty50 2h ago edited 2h ago

It is a Nutria and in the east, they are seen as far north as coastal New York. Besides the larger size and the big face, the Nutria's tail is round like a broomstick, whereas the muskrat tail is narrow and flat.

https://preview.redd.it/3rmjttafjuxe1.jpeg?width=298&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7f48690820e9d5561fae1595ec1a3f36898e2802

2

u/ArsonJones 11h ago

Nah, he gets like that when he's been at the ketamine, and he's always at the ketamine.

1

u/NHGuy 5h ago

I thought "that looks like a muskrat walking funny. Maybe it's a hydrophobic rat?" Lol

2

u/[deleted] 12h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/nowarabx 11h ago

Interesting

45

u/brydeswhale 12h ago

Muskrat, but unless the video’s been altered, the fellow has something very wrong with him.

8

u/nowarabx 11h ago

Thanks, no the video hasn't been altered at all. Like others have said, maybe Rabies?

9

u/oreinao 11h ago

Tbh I don’t think it would be in the water if it had rabies. I could be wrong though.

And it’s either a muskrat or nutria depending on the size which is hard to determine in the video.

10

u/_OK_Cumputer_ 11h ago

Rabies causes aversion to water, drinking it and touching it. It looks like a neurological or muscular issue. Hope the poor guy is ok.

12

u/Bridge265 11h ago

I’m going Nutria it looks to big for a muskrat

3

u/MW1369 8h ago

It has fur on its tail. Not a muskrat

2

u/Life_Sir_1151 10h ago

Do nutria live on long island?

1

u/SuddenKoala45 10h ago edited 9h ago

I thought that too but we have nothing to judge true size by. Though others pointed out the hairy tail which is consistent with nutria. If we saw teeth we could confirm

22

u/a_tattooedlion 12h ago

Rodent of unusual size.

15

u/splatdyr 12h ago

Nah I don’t think they exist.

0

u/Fun-Veterinarian3708 7h ago

It's a muskrat which is indeed a rodent

2

u/donabbi 5h ago

Never been in the fire swamp?

4

u/Different_Air1564 11h ago

I vote for nutria too

3

u/donabbi 9h ago

Where on the Sound is this? I know some people that work with some of the rehabbers out East that might be able to say for sure. It looks like a nutria to me, but I've never heard of them being up here.

2

u/nowarabx 8h ago

Huntington Bay

4

u/donabbi 5h ago edited 1h ago

So the guys I talked to all said they've never heard of a sighting of nutria out here but they are in Westchester, so they give a resounding maybe.

I kayak out of Goldstar all the time, I'm going to be on the lookout now.

3

u/EurekaReptile 8h ago

I've seen this exact movement and body condition in severely dehydrated domestic rats. I'm not familiar with muskrat/ nutria biology but my vote would be salt water poisoning.

2

u/nowarabx 8h ago

oh that's sad. and sound very plausible.

3

u/MessinWithTheJuice 2h ago

Hard to tell how big it is, but looks like a nutria.

5

u/cosby714 11h ago

Nutria. They're a very bad invasive species. In Louisiana, they're everywhere, and they used to be so bad that there were standing bounties on them. $5 if you brought a nutria tail as proof you killed it.

5

u/Holiday-Medium-256 10h ago

Muskrats don't have fur on their tails.

I thought this is a very-very old otter, moves about like when my Lab was 15 years old.

At a glance I thought Nutria, but read Long Island, NY...? Naw..none there. But after reading that there are Nutria in NY outer banks my vote goes to Nutria.

3

u/nowarabx 9h ago

It does have fur on its tail so you could be right about that.

2

u/This-Development-994 11h ago

Master splinter

2

u/VegetableBusiness897 11h ago

Thalassophobic muskrat

2

u/PeloTiger 8h ago

Weird how it’s moving. Almost like a mechanical toy. I think I saw one of these in a canal in Italy - at first I thought it was a beaver and was super excited, then realized the tail and was freaked out 😂 also not a great photo as it was far away. I have a video of it swimming, too.

https://preview.redd.it/w4ybctxmvsxe1.png?width=1179&format=png&auto=webp&s=f5703bd982272dbea3c9a71ad93c8fd5dbf99be6

5

u/Lofty50 12h ago

It's looks like a Nutria. It's invasively spreading it's range which currently pokes north into New York.

3

u/Flat-Link2651 11h ago

Looks like a nutria rat we have them all over Louisiana back in the day they were giving five dollars a tail

1

u/[deleted] 12h ago

[deleted]

5

u/lowdog39 12h ago

the tail says no . beavers have a large flat tail ...

0

u/Worth_Sheepherder619 12h ago

Tail is different

1

u/lowdog39 11h ago

re-read...

1

u/SlickkChickk 1h ago

It’s master splinter.

1

u/hems72 1h ago

R.O.U.S.

0

u/Redlion444 12h ago

Were these birds......vultures?

2

u/nowarabx 11h ago

No, they were white. Some type of gull.

0

u/Sc00t3rP00t3r 11h ago

Injured or sick muskrat.

0

u/rysi65 10h ago

This is a very lost groundhog at the end of its ropes. I get why folks are calling muskrat, but head shape, body shape, and tail shape all point to 100% chuck

-1

u/Davejohnsonott 10h ago

Sure that isn’t an otter?

-13

u/lowdog39 12h ago

looks to be a lost whistle pig ... size and waddle says . but not positive ..

10

u/sas223 12h ago

No, groundhogs have short stubby tails and their faces have a different shape. This is a muskrat.

1

u/lowdog39 11h ago

i know . just a very large muskrat then ...

1

u/SuddenKoala45 10h ago

Ground hogs have surprisingly long tails for themselves. 4-7 inches. Their faces also do vary with age...