Mystery Beast – Danum Valley, Borneo
These two camera trap pictures from Borneo’s Danum Valley have created quite some discussion among experts and – so far as I know – the jury is still out on what they are.
What do people think?
Jon
14 Comments
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Jon Hall
THat was my first reaction but others have question the shape of the snout (in the lower picture it does look a bit odd for an Otter), the length of the neck, the ear, the length and giz of the tail…
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Vladimir Dinets
Here’s an older image from Sabah. At least the head shape looks very similar. http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8854000/8854530.stm
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Anonymous
It does look like Hose’s Civet. The Arkive picture looks pretty similar to this one – and the hose’s civet has got a long tail.
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Matthew + Maureen
It’s definitely an otter, the hunched shape of the spine in photo 2, the stiff down-pointing vibrissae and the taper of the tail are diagnostic for me. Hose’s Civet has much bigger ears and longer legs, by the look of its photo.
Is it a hairy-nosed otter? The length of the head makes that more likely than smooth-coated for me, so barring an undiscovered species of otter (!) I would say hairy-nosed. These photos aren’t good enough to ignore the possibility of strange shadow/exposure effects making some features look a little odd.
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Stefanie
It looks like an otter to me too. The tail is broad at the base and then gets more narrow, while the long tail of the Hose’s civet has more the same diameter from base to tip.
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Reza Lubis
its definitely an Otter. Having seen several hairy nosed otters in both sumatra and kalimantan, the above picture have some indication of Hairy Nose! but the lack of possibilty to see the rhinarium part and how natural the color of the fur is (HNO that i observe has a very dark brown color compare to 3 other asian otter species),. There is also possibilty that this is the asian version of Lutra lutra which is at the moment in Sumatra/Borneo is more unknown than hairy nose. I suggest to put more camera in the area, then we will have more picture to study, Better resolution photo (if available) also will be very helpful.
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Jon Hall
Thanks to everyone for all these comments which I am sure will give added food for thought to those trying to identify the species. My feeling when I first saw them was Hairy Nosed Otter but the scientists in the Danum had a lot of reasons why that was not the species in the photo. Those same scientists have changed their minds a little as the pictures are not great quality and some of the reasons why its not a Lutra sumatrana might just be tricks of the light etc. Hose’s Civet seems unlikely according to those very familiar with that species. Otter Civet even less likely.
So I think Reza’s reply above – that it could be either L. lutra or L.sumatrana is about as good as anyone can say at the moment. If anyone catches the beast or gets better shots hopefully we will hear.
Jon
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Vladimir Dinets
Any reason it can’t be a hairy-nosed otter? I can’t think of any off the top of my head.