As someone who enjoys animal skulls and bones, I don’t think there’s a forum topic of appreciating the beauty of them yet, so I decided to make one. I think that bones are just so fascinating. I just recently finished learning about the human skeletal system in A&P and I’m going to start researching animal bones next.
Does anyone have interesting stories about finding bones, bone identification tips, tips of best places to find bones or maybe even potential ethically and legally sourced collections? Or even bones found in owl pellets? I’m interested in anything osteology!!
Yeah Skulls and Bones is a great project!! I have 29 contributions, mostly from this summer at the beach. That’s a cool porcupine skull! I wonder why the teeth are like that though?
I have one observation of bones, which is also my only observation of a marsupial. I didn’t know what they were when I found them. I was surveying a lot, which has a power line crossing it, and crossing the lot along the power line, I found these bones.
Where I used to live, the lot borders another lot where there’s a slaughterhouse where hunters bring deer. Sometimes a dog brings a skull of some ungulate (maybe deer, maybe neat) over to the lot where I was living.
I actually collect skulls. I find them absolutely fascinating, especially when comparing between different species.
I have Odocoileus virginianus, Procyon lotor, Didelphis virginianus, Peromyscus leucopus, Microtus pensylvanicus, Blarina brevicauda, Lasiurus borealis, Cardinalis cardinalis, Archilochus colubris, Marmota monax, Terrapene carolina, Rattus norvegicus, Sciurus carolinensis, Oreamnos americanus, and Vulpes vulpes, though I’m probably missing some. All where collected from naturally dead individuals, legal harvests and in one case (mountain goat) dug out of an antique taxidermy no one wanted.
Further investigation of the black on porcupine teeth by AI :
The molars are composed of layers of enamel (the hard outer layer, which can be whitish/grey or slightly colored) and dentin (the softer inner material), often with the dentin appearing darker where it is exposed due to wear. The shiny, dark black appearance in the image is probably just the natural pigmentation or staining within the dentin or a surface feature, which can vary between individual animals and species. Porcupines are known for having orange/yellow incisors due to iron deposits, but this specific black color on the molars seems related to the natural appearance of the material when worn.
Most of the responses to the question sounded like maybe no one actually knows?
The one I found was full adult and maybe elderly, considering the condition it was found in.
I also collect animal skulls and essemble skeletons. In the United States, it is illegal to collect the remains of almost all native bird species, so in order to keep my collection legal, I do not have any birds (with the exception of domestic species, which are perfectly fine), and most of my collection is composed of mammals. My favorite things by far to find are skulls with pathological features: I have a few that had parasites that left identifiable damage, and skulls and other bones that show healed injuries are also in my collection.
As someone who has been collecting animal bones for years, my best tips are to look up what is legal to keep in your country, and to also get in touch with others who enjoy collecting bones. Also, for cleaning, bleach and boiling water should never be used as they damage bones.
My only observation of the rare Nephrurus eromanga (Eromanga Basin Knob-tailed Gecko) was bones. They are distinctive enough to ID to species from the skull.