This week I have a tricky object for you to have a go at identifying:
I’ve not managed to work out what it comes from myself as yet so I’d appreciate you thoughts. Enjoy!
Zygoma
Adventures in natural history collections
This week I have a tricky object for you to have a go at identifying:
I’ve not managed to work out what it comes from myself as yet so I’d appreciate you thoughts. Enjoy!
Zygoma 
Well… It’s a mammalian sacrum and tail… Probably easier to identify if the pelvis had been attached, of course… The sacrum is wider than I may expect from a prehensile tailed rodent…. Would I be warm if I guessed a small pr1m*te?
@Ric I think you are right. It reminds me a bit of an Squirrel monkey, but that tail is a bit longer I think.
It’s not like any of the primates I’ve compared it to, but I might simply have not found the right specimen. I don’t think this tail is prehensile – they’re made of multiple relatively shorter elements with a very clear process on the ventral side of the vertebrae, but it could be an Old World Monkey…
Hi Paolo
I have similar skeleton from my beach combing in UK ,may be sea otter .Regards Jack
The sacrum looks quite like that of a cat
It does a bit, but I compared it to a cat and it’s not right – especially the caudals that make up the tail.
but the first bones attached to the sacrum don’t look catty
Hmm, I think you are correct.
OK, how about a Bettongia sp?
I quite like that suggestion. I can’t remember if I compared this to any marsupials, so I will do that!
The lateral processes near the base of the tail are quite large. Does that suggest some quite vigorous tail wagging is possible?
could it be from a Numbat?
Wallaby?
Otter ? But not dog or cat.
That’s an interesting suggestion Jake – I don’t have an otter’s tail for comparison, but I think that they probably have better developed lateral processes, as the tail is very muscular for use in swimming. I’ll see if I can find something to compare it to!