For the past two months a bizarre-looking animal -- employees have dubbed it the "Tyco Animal" -- has been skulking in the fields around Tyco Electronics' woodsy campus in Fuquay-Varina.

With its super-thin coat, the animal looks like a hairless fox from afar. Viewed with binoculars, it appears to have the head of a baby kangaroo and the sleek, elongated tail of a rat.

"It's definitely a very strange-looking thing," said Jerri Durazo, an employee who has photographed the animal.

Tyco Animal has created such a stir at the company that a parlor game has developed around its identity.

"I swear it's a whippet," said Dana Pierce, a lab technician, referring to the pointy-nosed breed of dogs.

This week, the guessing game spread online after Tyco Animal's picture was posted on a North Carolina deer hunting Web site.

Visitors to the site offered several possibilities, including a Mexican hairless dog, a fox-possum crossbreed and the Wampus Cat, a creature from Appalachian folklore that can walk on its hind legs.

In search of more plausible answers, employees sent photographs and video of Tyco Animal to state wildlife experts.

Brad Gunn, a wildlife biologist with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, said Tyco Animal is likely a Sampson Fox. Sampson foxes have an inherited genetic trait that causes them to lack a thick outer coat.

Late Tuesday afternoon, Tyco employees appeared skeptical that a genetic anomaly explained the animal in front of them. Some said they should bring a rifle to work and get a closer look.

"They're kind of divided," Durazo said.