Mysterious cat-like creature leaves people baffled as it's spotted raiding store

The internet has been thoroughly bamboozled by a strange cat-like creature that was caught on camera skulking around a shop in India. 

Equal parts creepy and cute, a four-second clip shows the hairless creature scurrying up some shelves in a hardware store situated in the Muzaffarpur district of Bihar, leaving the internet pondering in unison: “What exactly have we got here, then?”

In fact, some Twitter users reckon the animal looks like a demogorgon (if you haven’t watched Stranger Things, we recommend getting on that), but let’s face it, the chances of it hailing from a parallel dimension are pretty slim. 

According to local media, the local forest department has been informed and officials are trying to capture and identify the critter. 

Taking to Twitter on 25 August, journalist Siraj Noorani posted a clip of the animal captioned: “#Watch - A strange animal has been seen in Muzaffarpur district of #Bihar. A large crowd gathered to see this animal.”

Someone quickly replied to Noorani’s post saying: “A civet, I imagine.”

The social media user doesn’t seem far off, with the small nocturnal animal native to the area. 

Although civets are normally covered with tawny fur, there are plenty of reasons wild animals can lose their coat, from fungal infections to parasites.

After watching the clip, another person wrote on Twitter: “It is not a strange animal. It is a wild cat whose disease has caused hair loss. It is also seen in the video that he is suffering from skin disease,” while a third suggested it could be a genet, elaborating: “Only this one is infected with hair loss as seen in street dogs.”

The animal kingdom is truly mind-blowing, as a group of scientists attested to earlier this year when a terrifying new species of tarantula was discovered in Thailand.

The new breed of creepy-crawler was discovered by JoCho Sippawat, a famous wildlife YouTuber from Thailand. 

He'd been exploring Mae Tho, Mueang Tak district, Tak province, when he came across some spiders inside mature culms of Asian bamboo stalks.

After collaborating with Dr. Narin Chomphuphuang of Khon Kaen University and Chaowalit Songsangchote of Kasetsart University, they came to the conclusion that it's the first case of a genus of tarantula that lives exclusively in bamboo stalks.

It was named Taksinus, in honour of the Thai king Taksin the Great, who reunited Thailand after its defeat at the hands of the Myanmar, and is recognised as one of the country's great rulers.

If you have a story you want to tell, send it to UNILAD via [email protected]