Mysterious Creature

As Isaac and Aaron launched Grandpa Curt's boat for another spin, a mysterious creature floated near the reeds.

They scooped up the corpse with a wire live trap, brought it in for our inspection and departed again.

Neither

Grandpa

Curt nor I

had ever

seen such

a creature.


Including its long tail, the creature measured 7-1/2 inches (19 cm).

We wondered at its wide flipper-like paws, long claws, no apparent eyes or even eye sockets.



But most incredible was the creature's snout which looked like a pair of paws - only with numerous tentacles for digits. Underneath those feelers was the creature's mouth.

"Did you find out what it was on the internet?" the boys asked upon their return a half hour later.

I turned to Grandpa Curt and smiled. During our examination, I'd wished aloud for that access to help determine whether this creature was one with a proper name or some fluke of nature. Instead, I replied, "Remember boys? We're at the lake! No computers. No internet. It's still a mystery."

Grandpa Curt suggested preserving the creature for the experts. I agreed. Through decades of my fish and wildlife study - beginning in 4-H and FFA - I'd couldn't recall any creature quite like this. I asked Grandma Sue for a plastic bag. She cringed, "I'm supposed to put THAT in the freezer next to my bread?"

I shrugged. She found a separate shelf.

A couple days later on my morning walk around the lake, I noticed a tiny animal lying dead on the road.

I got closer and gasped. This creature was the same sort the boys had found floating in the lake.

This one was at least 200 yards from the water on a wooded hill.

More clues. The creature was no fluke - but still a mystery to us.

Sunday night we returned home from the lake - with the plastic bag. ("Don't forget your little friend!" Grandma Sue had reminded.)

My new computer was waiting. Isaac insisted upon opening the box and setting up access. The first thing I googled was images for "mole with tentacles on its mouth."

A slough of images appeared - some notated its common name: Star-nosed mole. We learned this creature has tiny eyes which are almost entirely blind and its tentacles are used to dig and find food. The star-nosed mole lives near water; burrows in the ground near the shore; swims - even under the ice; eats insects, worms, small fish; fends for itself three weeks from birth and seldom comes above ground.


Mysterious Creature no more. Just a frozen friend in need of... hmmm... a scientific home?