This week I have a detail of a specimen for you to have a go at identifying:
Any idea what this toothy critter might be? I look forward to hearing your thoughts!
Friday mystery object #491
Zygoma
Adventures in natural history collections
This week I have a detail of a specimen for you to have a go at identifying:
Any idea what this toothy critter might be? I look forward to hearing your thoughts!
Zygoma 
Would guessing it to be an amphicyonid be a stretch?
Maybe a bit of a stretch.
I can’t bear the thought, but this seems rather familiaris.
Not very familiaris, so you might bear it…
A poorly mounted lion?
Cats (big and small) have very prominent vibrissae: this critter does not have the cat-characteristic array of whiskers (you can see dots at their roots even if the whiskers themselves don’t show very well in a photo) above the mouth.
So my cautious first guess is: Carnivora but NOT Felidae.
(I’m feeling a bit bearish, but not ready to come out of my den and commit on that.)
Nice reasoning – and so far, so good!
I feel it LOOKS big. Why? One thing is that the canine teeth look fairly stout: diameter near the base fairly large in proportion to the length. I (rightly or wrongly) tend to think of this feature as characteristic of larger carnivorans. Which is why it looks more bearish than doggish to me. But I haven’t spent enough time examining real specimens in my life, so I don’t have much faith in my instincts on this sort of thing.
Use the Force – trust your instincts…
I used to have a girlfriend who smiled like that called Ursula Brown!
A relative perhaps?
I used to have a girlfriend who smiled like that called Ursula Brown!
I have come to the conclusion that is is not a brown sin ce i feel the profile is more slanted than this one is.
I am thinking of an island. I very cold one. I know it’s a long arc tos go.