Ever Encounter an Unidentifiable Animal?

Radrook

Radrook

Senior Member
Location
USA
I encountered one just once as a child, and will never forget it. I was playing on the grass at a NYC housing projects with some other kids, and I noticed that there were ants and some other insects frantically scrambling out from a small, narrow clearing as if in morbid fear. Out of curiosity, I leaned down to look into where they had emerged, and suddenly found myself facer to face, with this light beige, slug-like creator with a gaping red mouth and these two large circular maniacally staring eyes while rapidly serpentining towards me. Of course, I recoiled, and we all fled. I never dared to play on that section of grass again. Try as I might, I have never been able identify that monstrosity. Anyone have any clue?
 

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dusty said:
Myrmeleontinae - Google Search


I tried to C&P ---hope it is right
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Thanks for the feedback. I was hoping to see this nightmarishly hideous beast finally identified,. However the Ant Lion is an insect but the one I saw resembled some kind of a smooth skinned beige slug. as long as my adult pinky but not in the same proportion. It was thicker at the upper body, but tapered towards the tail which was pointed. It held its hideous head erect as its body carried it rapidly along with its gaping crimson red mouth and two large, staring, black on white eyes. Very demonic looking. If it had looked like the ant lion, I would not have panicked.
 
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dusty said:
Thre is such a critter called an 'ant lion'-----no joke. Look it up. I've seen a couple when I was a kid.
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Thanks for the link! Interesting critter. Wished the one I saw looked that way though. That other one almost caused me a heart attack.
 
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Yes, I did. When I was in Boy Scouts, we took a 10 mile hike for a merit badge and other things to go with it. As we were hiking up a hillside, another kid yelled for us to "come here." He asked "what is that?" I had no idea, but at first I said it was bird, then a rabbit, then a squirrel. I really had no idea. The chaperone that was along said it's a small dog. It must have been laying there for a week or more as the birds and maybe other animals had picked at it. It smelled to high Heaven, so I am guessing it wasn't more than 1-2 weeks old. Whatever was left of it.
 
Yes. When me & my kids were living in the desert just outside Las Vegas, I encountered several pure white spiders about an inch long that stood up on 2 pairs of their back legs, raised their front legs (threat position), and the whole group chased me relentlessly. It was kind of funny because they occasionally hopped while they chased, so they literally looked hopping mad.

But I'd never seen anything like them before, and spiders aren't normally aggressive.

So, I called the Department of Agriculture and described the spider and its behavior to an agent. The next day, 2 agents came to catch a few of them and take 'em back to their lab or whatever. They said those spiders are def not native to Nevada, and probably not even the US. The Dept of Ag had been studying them for several years, and had some concerns.
 
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Way back when I was in high school I worked evenings and weekends in a grocery store, often working late nights. One late night I was driving home past my old grade school and spotted a cat with it's back all hunched up and fur sticking out like one of those Halloween cat pictures. The cat was scared and was back peddling away from some other critter that was waddling aggressively toward the cat.

Being a stupid kid I stopped the car because I was curious to see what that critter was. I got out of the car and started to approach and the critter turned on me, started hissing and came lumbering toward me. I wasn't sure what it was, it was bigger than the cat. I had seen a rat before that looks like an overgrown mouse, but this thing was white with brown spots and a rat type tail that was very thick and maybe 8 inches long. It looked as large as a possum and the way it was attacking I thought it was rabid.

Anyway, I ran to the car and grabbed the tire iron out of the trunk and connected a couple blows as I was dancing around in the dark trying to keep from being bitten by this critter. After landing a good thump, the critter turned around and ran towards a storm drain along the street.

To this day I have never seen a rat that size, if indeed, it was a rat.
 
Tom52 said:
Way back when I was in high school I worked evenings and weekends in a grocery store, often working late nights. One late night I was driving home past my old grade school and spotted a cat with it's back all hunched up and fur sticking out like one of those Halloween cat pictures. The cat was scared and was back peddling away from some other critter that was waddling aggressively toward the cat.

Being a stupid kid I stopped the car because I was curious to see what that critter was. I got out of the car and started to approach and the critter turned on me, started hissing and came lumbering toward me. I wasn't sure what it was, it was bigger than the cat. I had seen a rat before that looks like an overgrown mouse, but this thing was white with brown spots and a rat type tail that was very thick and maybe 8 inches long. It looked as large as a possum and the way it was attacking I thought it was rabid.

Anyway, I ran to the car and grabbed the tire iron out of the trunk and connected a couple blows as I was dancing around in the dark trying to keep from being bitten by this critter. After landing a good thump, the critter turned around and ran towards a storm drain along the street.

To this day I have never seen a rat that size, if indeed, it was a rat.
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Was this in New York City?
 
Tom52 said:
Midwest town of 10,000
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I thought it might have been NY City because of its reputation for being infested by all kinds of animals such as sewer crocodiles and rats. That is a horrific experience. I am surprised that hitting it with a tire iron didn't kill or severely injure it. Yikes!
 
Murrmurr said:
@Radrook

You may have seen a pacific banana slug, second largest slug in the world.

Google that and see if that's it.
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Thanks for the help. Unfortunately it lacks the snake-shaped head with its large, stationary, glaring eyes and the red gaping jaw. Maybe it was some kind of natural mutation or one that had been induced in some local experimental laboratory but had escaped somehow..
 
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Murrmurr said:
Yes. When me & my kids were living in the desert just outside Las Vegas, I encountered several pure white spiders about an inch long that stood up on 2 pairs of their back legs, raised their front legs (threat position), and the whole group chased me relentlessly. It was kind of funny because they occasionally hopped while they chased, so they literally looked hopping mad.

But I'd never seen anything like them before, and spiders aren't normally aggressive.

So, I called the Department of Agriculture and described the spider and its behavior to an agent. The next day, 2 agents came to catch a few of them and take 'em back to their lab or whatever. They said those spiders are def not native to Nevada, and probably not even the US. The Dept of Ag had been studying them for several years, and had some concerns.
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The Camel Spider seems similar to the one you describe.


 
Radrook said:
The Camel Spider seems similar to the one you describe.

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It happened a long time ago, but I think that top one might be it. My son served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and he said camel spiders do chase people, but what they're after is people's shadows, to get in the shade.

I wish the Dept of Ag would have gotten back to me or sent me a letter or something. From my description, I bet they figured it was probably a camel spider.

Yeah, I think you're right. I think that's it.
 
Murrmurr said:
It happened a long time ago, but I think that top one might be it. My son served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and he said camel spiders do chase people, but what they're after is people's shadows, to get in the shade.

I wish the Dept of Ag would have gotten back to me or sent me a letter or something. From my description, I bet they figured it was probably a camel spider.

Yeah, I think you're right. I think that's it.
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Spider thinking: "Why duz yow have to be so stingy with the shade bro?"
 
My brother and I seen something as kids in the ditch by our Grandparents in the Catskill Mts. It was orange, 6 legs and shaped like an octopus. Mabee 4 inches around. no one else had ever seen one, never seen it again.
 
old medic said:
My brother and I seen something as kids in the ditch by our Grandparents in the Catskill Mts. It was orange, 6 legs and shaped like an octopus. Mabee 4 inches around. no one else had ever seen one, never seen it again.
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Wow! Was it moving?

BTW
I went camping in the Catskills with my parents as a kid. In my case, what I found was what appeared to be a flower that was as transparent as glass. Its petals were not yet spread out. Its texture was rather hard. Have never seen anything classified with those characteristics.
 
Radrook said:
Wow! Was it moving?
BTW
I went camping in the Catskills with my parents as a kid. In my case, what I found was what appeared to be a flower that was as transparent as glass. Its petals were not yet spread out. Its texture was rather hard. Have never seen anything classified with those characteristics.
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Oh yes.... it scurried into a culvert so fast I thought I was seeing things, but my brother seen the same thing...

Have seen a fungus called dead mans finger thats almost transparent, resembles tiny asparagus
 
old medic said:
Oh yes.... it scurried into a culvert so fast I thought I was seeing things, but my brother seen the same thing...

Have seen a fungus called dead mans finger that's almost transparent, resembles tiny asparagus
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Does the Red King Crab fit the description?


Will look up that transparent fungus.



No, what I found was shaped like a had a flower.​
 

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