This week I have a pretty cool skull from the Dead Zoo for you to have a go at identifying:
It’s one of those that should be easy for anyone who has seen one before, due to its weird morphology, but if you’ve not seen it before then it could be a real challenge.
So, if you know what this is please leave a cryptic clue, and if not feel free to pop your questions, thoughts and suggestions in the comments section below.
Have fun!
Last week I gave you this weird, but rather nice object to have a go at identifying:
Most people seemed to recognise it as the tympanic region (that’s the bony ear-related region) of a whale. But of course, I’m demanding when it comes to getting an identification and there are plenty of species of whale to rule out.
The size immediately narrowed down the possibilities – this is pretty small for a whale. But what really gives it away for the small number of people intimate with the cranial anatomy of whales (which goes beyond even my bone-nerdery), is the spongy bone attached to the tympanic bulla (that’s the bulb-shaped bit of bone that houses the inner ear).
This feature is proposed as a possible pressure receptor that’s found in the Pygmy Sperm Whale Kogia breviceps Blainville, 1838. Amazingly, Conor Ryan identified this on Twitter – his handle of @whale_nerd explains everything you need to know.
Kogia breviceps by George Brown Goode, 1887
These toothed whales only grow to around 3.5m, which is pretty small for a whale. They share some features with their much larger Sperm Whale cousins, particularly in relation to adaptations for echolocation.
I was fortunate enough to meet Conor Ryan at the weekend at the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group conference. There were plenty of whale enthusiasts around and it was fantastic to get a chance to learn more about this incredible group of animals from a lovely bunch of passionate people.
While I was there, I also picked up some useful tips on differentiating between species of dolphin, so I may have to share those with you soon…
This week I have a nice mystery object for you to have a go at identifying, with views from four angles to help you work out what it is and a nifty NatSCA scalebar to give a clear idea of the size:
If you have any ideas what it might be, you can leave your thoughts, questions and suggestions in the comments section below. Have fun!
Last week I was a bit mean and gave you a really difficult mystery object to identify:
I say it’s difficult, but that’s only if you wanted to get the species, which is probably impossible to do with certainty from just this photograph. But, if you don’t mind sticking to the broad taxonomic group, then it’s fairly straightforward.
That funny-looking tucked-in tail-like appendage with the bifurcation at the tip shows that this is very clearly a springtail or Collembola. These tiny, six-legged, insect-like, arthropods are hard to spot, but they’re all over the place.
This particular specimen was found on a coconut that had been washed up on a beach on the West Coast of Ireland and which was offered as a gift to the Dead Zoo. As the name implies, the Dead Zoo is Zoological (although we do have Geology collections too), so the coconut went to the National Botanic Gardens. We froze the coconut before sending it on, just to make sure no pests accompanied it, and we kept any of the hitchhikers we found – which included this springtail.
The closest I managed to come with an identification relied on the general body shape plus the fact that the 3rd segment of the antennae is longer than the other segments. From online resources I figured this to be Tomocerus sp. possibly Tomocerus minor (Lubbock, 1862) at a push. A proper analysis using the FSC Key to the Collembola would probably help.
It turns out that in the comments Zoobooks and Tony Irwin were of a similar opinion – and I’m fairly sure that Tony knows his springtails quite well, so I’m hoping I interpreted his curly-horn clue correctly!
Maybe I’ll find something a bit less challenging to share next week…
This week I have a really tricky mystery object for you to have a go at identifying:
It should be easy enough getting the Order, but beyond that it gets harder, especially with a photo like this.
If it makes things any easier, this was found on beach on the West of Ireland and it’s less than 4mm long.
Let me hear your thoughts!
Last week I gave you this rather exciting new specimen from County Kerry, Ireland to have a go at identifying:
Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was recognised by pretty much everyone. For people based in the Americas it’s not that unusual a species and for people on the other side of the Atlantic, especially those with an interest in birds, there has been a bit of a stir in the press about this specimen.
This bird is clearly a member of the heron family – the Ardeidae – with its distinctive spear-shaped bill, relatively long legs and long and somewhat kinked neck. But it’s tiny. In fact, this is one of the smallest members of the Ardeidae, perhaps a bit longer in the body than a Dwarf Bittern, but just a bit lighter and quite different in plumage.
Dwarf Bittern in South Africa. Image by Mark Tittley, 2011
And this particular specimen is very light indeed. Sadly it was probably undertaking a migration south from its North American breeding grounds, when it got caught up in hurricane Lorenzo, which blew it off course, forcing it across the Atlantic Ocean, where it finally made landfall in Farranfore in County Kerry, on the west coast of Ireland on 7th October this year.
Exhausted, emaciated and severely dehydrated, the poor bird lasted less than an hour in Ireland, despite efforts to keep it going by John O’Donoghue, the owner of the garden it ended up in. John and his neighbour Anthony O’Connor recognised that it wasn’t a bird normally found in Ireland, so they got in touch with BirdWatch Ireland to find out what it was and let people know about their unfortunate visitor.
Brian Burke and colleagues from BirdWatch Ireland identified the specimen as being a Least Bittern Ixobrychus exilis (Gmelin, 1789) and they got in touch with me at the Dead Zoo about getting the specimen added to the collections, since it’s a first record of this species occurring in Ireland – and only the 10th known to have made it across the Atlantic.
Of course, I was delighted to accept on behalf of the Museum and John arranged to get the bird to me in Dublin via his local Teachta Dála (the Irish equivalent of a Member of Parliament). Now the bird is safely stowed in the Museum’s freezer awaiting assessment by a taxidermist, to see whether it’s in good enough condition to be mounted, or if I’ll need to find another way of preserving the specimen as part of the permanent collection.
If not as taxidermy, this might be as a study skin, a fluid preserved specimen or even a skeleton – each offers different information for future use. But however it gets preserved, it will provide an important physical record of an unusual visitor to the Nation for future scientists and members of the public. After all, that’s a huge part of what collections are for.
This week I have a fantastic mystery object for you to try your hand at identifying:
It was collected in County Kerry, Ireland and is a very recent acquisition. Any ideas what it might be?
Obviously if you already know don’t just blurt it out, have a go at crafting a clever clue to share.
Have fun!
