This week I thought I’d give you a skull to identify – probably a bit too easy, but it’s a nice specimen!
Pop you questions comments and suggestions below and I’ll do my best to respond. Good luck!
Zygoma
Adventures in natural history collections
This week I thought I’d give you a skull to identify – probably a bit too easy, but it’s a nice specimen!
Pop you questions comments and suggestions below and I’ll do my best to respond. Good luck!
Zygoma 
Juvenile because of pm2 but has all molars. Is the skull sitting right on the jaws ? The teeth don’t match up.
I thought maybe M.R. but he doesn’t have the bump before the eye so H.I. ?
I think you’re right about it being young, and it doesn’t sit very well on the jaws as they have flexed somewhat over the last 97 years – probably when this was on display in a sunny gallery. It’s neither M.r. nor H.i. – but you are definitely on the right track!
That is a huge eye orbit! The teeth don’t look worn at all. I can’t tell if the sutures are fused or not. Because there are no front upper incisors, I have a few guesses for ruminants: C. hir_us or a young E. cab_ _ _ us.
Big eyes and unworn teeth tend to suggest juvenile animals. It does ruminate, but it’s neither C. hir_us or a young E. cab_ _ _ us.
Oh deer. I smell a rat… or maybe a mouse.
Squeak!
I wondered about juvenile muntjac, but the skull doesn’t have any deep pits below the eyesockets. And googling a bit, I would say you are quite right about the mouse connection 😉 .
I said mouse, but I didn’t mean a rodent.
C.n.?
Not sure which C.n you meant – if it has links to an ant killing product then no.
It did. (I thought there was only one extant C.n; can’t find any others.) More research required…
. 5 cm is really quite a
. height for the skull of
. a mouse: I’m sure you
. all agree, esp for
. a young ‘un,
. when its
. growth
. wasn’t
. ever
. to
. be
I hate you WordPress! I spent a whole train ride formatting that so it was a tale of the mouse – with apologies to Lewis Carroll
does this beastie escape predators by hiding underwater?
It has a relative that does…
Without having read any of the other responses yet, I’m torn between whether this belongs to a mouse or a deer. Hmm… there’s probably a clue in there somewhere…