This week I thought I’d give you a break from the bones and offer up a fuzzball for some Friday fun:
Any idea what this (slightly dusty looking) critter from the collections might be?
It’s probably a bit too easy for some of you, so cryptic clues and subtly veiled hints would be appreciated in the comments section please. Have fun!
Zygoma 
Phew. Finally! I’ve been refreshing this for at least two hours.
As for clues, subtle or otherwise, I am committing to nothing yet.
Based on standardised wood plank sizes, and the standard distance of slots in adjustable shelving, plus a little four-dimensional trigonometry (parallax being taken into account), I posit that this critter is… well roughly the size of a creeping fox terrier*, give or take 50%**. That should make it easy for everyone, so I won’t offer any further hints.
*Homage to Stephen Jay Gould
**Linearly, of course. Apply the cube if you want volume/mass calculations.
I (or us? his?) chiral Paris?
Looks all wrong and too gracile to fit my guess, but (armed strong in my ignorance and made bold by stupidity) I am going with it anyway. Juvie?
After much thought, in between the farcical efforts I call “work”, I have concluded that Wouter’s idea is better than mine. So I’m switching to that. No, in fact I meant it all along, of course. Despite the straggliness and thinness of the tail I still think it’s uniqueness will out.
“its” dagnabbit “its”!!! I do not know where that stray apostrophe came from, I swear. It were the devil made me do it or some such… my weekend is now officially ruined.
It looks just like my dog, only much stranger!
I’m more into birds than mammals, so I’m no specialist in this kind of furballs. Maybe a young A..s b..g?
Hmmm. Does this have two fairly well known common names, one of which includes the names of two other animals?
Yes!
My best guess is that it could be American or European. Not often seen by human eyes, but they’re out there. It shares part of it’s name with my pets – but they’re not the same species, and not domestic, but still extremely cute.
Pretty sure these smell like popcorn when alive.
That popcorn clue is a new one to me! …but it works.
Hmm… The snout looks narrow to contain super sized incisors, so I don’t think it’s a rodent. All in all, I’d say it is a carnivoran (Australian marsupial analogues have spotted pelage). The paws in particular look right for this. (Face and snout look bare: has the specimen lost fur here?)
Started looking at images of canids. If it’s one of them, I’d guess it is a more fox-like and less doglike species: the legs seem a bit short for a running pursuit predator (though that may be because it’s mounted in a semi-crouch).
My guess is it’s a viv but I don’t want to be too rong on this
no spots, so no cuppa joe
But close?
That’s a funny looking one. I appreciate the ear hair though – if only mine looked that cool. A tail…catlike toes…bad posture…maybe I’m missing some special bit…I could be wrong…