It was Sunday afternoon that Oddgeir Furu and his family found the animal when they were out for a walk. – We were shocked when we saw the animal, which was lying directly below the fall of a waterfall. At first I thought it was a doll. His mother posted a picture of the animal on a Facebook group for the village, which caused a lot of talk among the local population. Wolverine, bear, albino badger, sheep, dog, badger, polar bear or doll? The thoughts were divided and many, says Furu. It was Aura Avis that first mentioned the case. The animal was initially lying on its back, which made it even more difficult to see what it was. Oddgeir Furu and his family therefore got a stick and turned the dead animal around. Photo: Siv Thorvik Furu – Unusual pigmentation When predator contact Bjørn Sæther got a good look at the animal, he knew what it was. – A badger with a slightly different colour, he says. Sæther elaborates that this badger has an unusual pigmentation or lack of pigmentation. It therefore lacks, among other things, the usual characteristic, which is black stripes on the head. – It is much easier to determine the species when you see the animal for real, than in pictures without a scale, says Sæther. He himself has never seen a similar type of badger. The badger was to be sent to the Norwegian Institute for Natural Research (NINA) in Trondheim for a DNA test if they did not find out, but now the mystery on Nordmøre has been solved. Predator contact in the Nordmøre region, Bjørn Sæther, says that the animal was exactly like a normal badger, apart from the color of the fur. Photo: Siv Thorvik Furu Several cases in central Norway Jørgen Rosvold at NINA says that it is not so unusual to observe a bright badger, especially not in central Norway. – We have actually seen several cases of it there, also on camera traps we have set up, he says. Jørgen Rosvold at NINA says it is not unusual for fair-haired badgers in that area. Photo: Private Researchers at NINA published a study in 2021 related to just that. There they observed three light-haired badgers. Two were observed in Halsa, which was previously a municipality in Møre og Romsdal, and one in Orkdal municipality in Trøndelag. – But most people have never seen a badger like that before, so in that sense it may seem unusual, says Rosvold. He believes that it would not have been necessary to take a DNA test on this animal, as you can clearly see from the claws and teeth that it is a badger. – You can also see that it is not an albino, because it does not have red eyes and it has a black nose.
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Found mysterious animal in Sunndal – now the mystery in Nordmøre has been solved – news Møre og Romsdal – Local news, TV and radio
