This Friday I’m giving you a game of heads or tails from the Collections Resource Centre of the Dead Zoo:
I don’t normally add a photo of the tail, but in this case it should make the identification a doddle – literally a 50:50 shot at getting the right species. If you know what I’m talking about, then please be cryptic in your suggestions – don’t spoil it for everyone else!
If you don’t know why this tail is so significant then you should know that the skull is 10cm long and all will be revealed next Friday!
Good luck!
Zygoma 
Well… unless the rest turn up with some clever clues for me, I guess I will be waiting until next Friday. Does this animal at least have short limbs for its body length?
So the Pr-id hints convinced me one of my first guesses was not far off. The tail confirmed, possibly, the species: summat like Trump assortment pack?
That’s very good – and right too! 😉
the shape of the skull screamed feline, but those teeth are a no go…. and the tail clue leaves me hanging… ??
also just to throw out there the hourglass figured temporal ridge… must be diagnostic.
it’s living in Middle and South America….
Yep!
Well, I’m confident it is a placental mammal. Fairly confident it is a Carnivoran. There are a couple of Pr-ids in the part of the world Gerard mentions that have very long tails, but the snout seems too short: the orbits are VERY far forward!
Speaking of Pr-ids in Gerard’s part of the world… There’s a kinky one that seems to have a shorter snout than the others…
Oh really? 😉
There are kinks in the tail, and perhaps a kink in the name as well – 😉
Quite possibly! 😉
General comment: Skulls Unlimited is a commercial outfit (they sell genuine and replica skulls and bones), but their online catalogue is a useful reference library: both of my posts in this string, for example, were made after comparing Paolo’s photos to some of theirs. (I hope this is a helpful, even though non-cryptic, hint.)
Another general comment: Simona FB on Twitter says she will shortly be publishing a fre pdfshe has been working on methods and tips for identifying mammal skulls. I thought of keeping it to myself to steal a march on you lot and subsequently dazzle you with my skillzzzz, but taught it fairer to let you know – Paolo may know her after all. So if any of you are interested, keep an eye out. She seems totally “legit” by the way.
If it’s useful I’ll link to it – I recall seeing something about this, but I can’t find who it is (a search on Simona FB yields no useful results)
Hmmm… she seems to know her stuff but mainly sells palaeontology-related handicrafts on etsy. May not be as promising a prospect as I at first imagined. She is @crazybonelady on Twitter.
I guess we can only tell the quality of the pdf if/when it comes out…