Many critics have claimed this is anything from a "porcupine" to a "hairy teenager". I must point out the location of this camera was in the National Park, not near a trail, and the camera was mounted nine feet off the ground. The trail camera is in the same area where I collected hair samples that are in the Ketchum DNA study.
For me, the most convincing aspect of the video is the speed of the subject. The lick happens in a less than a second. The video camera is recording at thirty frames per second. The lick happens in less than thirty frames. I find it highly unlikely that a human could lick the camera and move that fast.
Below is the lick sequence, note how the face blurs and elongates because the subject is moving so fast.
Also the trail camera was inside a custom built steel box. I used a circular saw with a steel cutting blade to cut the hole for the camera lens. The edge of that cut was sharp and rough. I can imagine it would be a very unpleasant experience to lick that camera, most likely cutting the tongue.
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