‘Mystery animal’ seen lurking at night in Texas park. Officials may know what it is

An elusive “mystery animal” spotted roaming a Texas park confounded many people, but park rangers believe they have identified the creature.

Officials with the Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park shared a trail cam image of the animal Thursday, April 6, and asked its followers if they could untangle the mystery.

“Is it a new species?” park officials asked, McClatchy News reported. “An escapee from a nearby zoo? Or just a park ranger in disguise.”

Hundreds of people flooded the comments with their best guess for what the creature may be.

Guesses included a mole, pygmy hippo, black bear cub, bearcat and the mythical monster chupacabra.

But one guess — American badger —ruled all.

Park officials later updated the Facebook post to confirm its “very likely” those commenters were correct.

“While American badgers are not commonly seen in the valley (partly due to their nocturnal behavior), this is part of their natural range,” Texas Parks & Wildlife officials said.

The American badger is considered a “rather large, robust, short-legged version of a weasel,” according to Texas Tech University’s Natural Science Research Laboratory.

They can be found in most of Texas “except for the extreme eastern part,” the university said.

“It occupies a variety of habitats and are most prevalent in the prairie and desert sections of the west,” according to Texas Parks & Wildlife. “They seem to prefer large tracts of open, uncultivated ground.”

This story was originally published April 10, 2023 at 9:04 AM with the headline "‘Mystery animal’ seen lurking at night in Texas park. Officials may know what it is."