No, it’s not a new member of the Flight of the Conchords group, which already include performers with the pseudonyms of the Hiphopopotamus and the Rhymenoceros. No, the Kangahippomouse is the thing above.

Mark Frauenfelder has blogged an entry entitled “Mystery creature photographed in Seattle — a kangahippomouse?” over at Boing Boing.

A reader at BB recently sent in a photograph (above) of this whatever: “Just outside of Seattle, WA my roommate Ed recently took a photo of this . . . thing.”

Mark is looking for help in identifying it.

My first thoughts ran to that of the naked mole rat (Heterocephalus glaber), also called the desert mole rat or the sand puppy, but they are only found in East Africa, naturally. Naked mole-rats live in underground dwellings in Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya. Why worry about al Qaeda, when the naked mole rat may be coming into our country?

Could our own military have brought back some and then one escaped in the Seattle area? Humm?

I don’t know, it might be one from their routine colonies of 100-300 members. But the naked mole rat’s ears look a little flat or shorter, in comparison to the Boing Boing Mystery Animal’s ears.

How about a wombat with mange? Why not, you might say, even though Australia is a long way?

Nope, they are not a good match. (Poor critter looked in pain.) But I like the sound of the name “wombat,” so it was worth a pull out of the hat.

Naked mouse, a rodent with mange, a naked mole rat, a black squirrel waiting for its Bigfoot costume to be fitted, an otter out of line and without hair – what is it? Think about it. Iraq is having trouble with those nasty honey badgers or ratals. Why shouldn’t Seattle be invaded by naked rats?

But seriously, any ideas what this strange animal is?

The naked mole rat seems a natural, doesn’t it? Take a peek at the two again: