NationStates Jolt Archive

The Montauk Monster!

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,395294,00.html

(yeah, fox news, I know)

I don't really know what to make of it, I've been looking for more, better, photos for a half hour now.

What do you NSGers think?

It's a raccoon. The other photo is photoshopped. Badly.

It's a capybara.


http://www.rebsig.com/capybara/

It's a raccoon. The other photo is photoshopped. Badly.

Seconded. The chances of this being an as yet undiscovered mammal species appearing in a highly populated area are pretty slim.
It's a capybara.


http://www.rebsig.com/capybara/

I thought capybaras lived in South America?

What do you NSGers think?
I think that it's a bit of a stretch to describe something less than a metre long as a monster, for starters. ;)

Beyond that, all the photos I've seen of it make it look like the decayed carcass of a dog. The 'beak' that people seem to be harping on about just looks like a regular carnivore's jaw, exposed because there's some tissue missing from the lips (as is frequently the case with bodies from the sea... there are a lot of hungry fish out there).

Slow news week.

Yeah, raccoon.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,396182,00.html

It's a raccoon. The picture there is rather obviously photoshopped.

It's not photoshopped. That's what a waterlogged, partially-decayed corpse looks like. If you note, the body has been flipped over for that photograph.

why do you guys say raccoon? id guess either shell-less turtle or hoax.

why do you guys say raccoon? id guess either shell-less turtle or hoax.
I can't speak for the raccoon advocates but I immediately went with the idea of it being mammalian just on the basis of the fur and the teeth.

why do you guys say raccoon? id guess either shell-less turtle or hoax.

Because raccoons look very similar to that after you skin them.

why do you guys say raccoon? id guess either shell-less turtle or hoax.

Hands and skull. Pity the image is so small. It'd be way easier if we had the raw file.

Hands and skull. Pity the image is so small. It'd be way easier if we had the raw file.

Now the question remains, how did the raccoon end up at sea...?

:confused:

why do you guys say raccoon? id guess either shell-less turtle or hoax.

Um, turtles arn't cute little creatures that live inside body armor. The shell is part of their body; you rip it off and you arn't going to find some small Japanese operator inside like a mecha.

Now the question remains, how did the raccoon end up at sea...?

:confused:

As a wild stab in the dark... via a river?

"At sea" and "washed up" are two different things. It could be anything from found hiding in a boat to taken deliberately in a cage for shits and giggles. Carried by a large hawk and dropped, died on the beach and the tide came in, etc. etc.

Now the question remains, how did the raccoon end up at sea...?

:confused:

Easily. Raccoons frequent salt marshes. Many animals do.

Seconded. The chances of this being an as yet undiscovered mammal species appearing in a highly populated area are pretty slim.


I thought capybaras lived in South America?

They are indigenous to South America, but they have been seen in Louisiana. Since they are water-going rodents along the Amazon, it's not a stretch to think one got washed out to sea, nibbled on by other animals and eventually washed up at Montauk. Stranger things have happened. And the feet do look like capybara feet.

why do you guys say raccoon? id guess either shell-less turtle or hoax.
Because of the link in the Fox article that leads to this:

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l192/whereyouthinkyougoing/montauk_monster_racoon-1.jpg

Also, I heard it was found on Long Island. Emphasis on the "island." It could have died anywhere on the island or coastal Connecticut and gotten washed into the sea by storm run-off -- and there have been lots of storms in this region lately.

Whatever it is -- racoon or hoax -- it's not a "monster." It's just decomposing.

Though I do like the headline about how it has the Hamptons in a tizzy, because, seriously, it doesn't take much to get the Hamptons into a tizzy.

*shudder*

why did i look at this thread again?

No!! Fluffy! That's why you didn't come home... :(

Um, turtles arn't cute little creatures that live inside body armor. The shell is part of their body; you rip it off and you arn't going to find some small Japanese operator inside like a mecha.

:eek:

:(

The Pantless Hero has destroyed my belief in the wisdom of cartoons. Why did you lie to me, Tex Avery? Why?

can't mention much about the article, but I LOL'ed when I saw this on the thread listings.
O no... What is this thing??
The One Eyed Weasel