Kangahippomouse?

No, it’s not a new member of the Flight of the Conchords group, which already include performers with the pseudonyms of the Hiphopopotamus and the Rhymenoceros. No, the Kangahippomouse is the thing above.

Mark Frauenfelder has blogged an entry entitled “Mystery creature photographed in Seattle — a kangahippomouse?” over at Boing Boing.

A reader at BB recently sent in a photograph (above) of this whatever: “Just outside of Seattle, WA my roommate Ed recently took a photo of this . . . thing.”

My first thoughts ran to that of the naked mole rat (Heterocephalus glaber), also called the desert mole rat or the sand puppy, but they are only found in East Africa, naturally. Naked mole-rats live in underground dwellings in Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya. Why worry about al Qaeda, when the naked mole rat may be coming into our country?

Could our own military have brought back some and then one escaped in the Seattle area? Humm?

I don’t know, it might be one from their routine colonies of 100-300 members. But the naked mole rat’s ears look a little flat or shorter, in comparison to the Boing Boing Mystery Animal’s ears.

How about a wombat with mange? Why not, you might say, even though Australia is a long way?

Nope, they are not a good match. (Poor critter looked in pain.) But I like the sound of the name “wombat,” so it was worth a pull out of the hat.

Naked mouse, a rodent with mange, a naked mole rat, a black squirrel waiting for its Bigfoot costume to be fitted, an otter out of line and without hair – what is it? Think about it. Iraq is having trouble with those nasty honey badgers or ratals. Why shouldn’t Seattle be invaded by naked rats?

Loren Coleman About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

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