Sometimes local mammals can look markedly shaggy. I offer two local examples.
The first one is sad: a mangy squirrel. The squirrel is scrawny, shaggy, and bedraggled. Mange is a skin disease caused by parasitic mites that tend to congregate in regions that the animal cannot groom, such as the back. It typically causes severe itching, hair loss, and the formation of scabs and lesions.
The second illustration is shedding: merely a seasonal moulting of fur.
This squirrel (apparently) has the mange. It is losing fur on its back.
This (female) bighorn sheep is going through a seasonal shedding of its coat.
I am reminded of the famous (alas, almost certainly, apocryphal) remark by Winston Churchill. Winston was accosted by Bessie Braddock with:
Winston, you are drunk, and what’s more you are disgustingly drunk.
To which Winston Churchill’s reputedly replied:
Bessie, my dear, you are ugly, and what’s more, you are disgustingly ugly. But tomorrow I shall be sober and you will still be disgustingly ugly.
The relevance of this is that next week, the squirrel will still be mangy, but the sheep will be looking good.
