It’s been a while since I gave you something partial to identify, so here’s something to be going on with:
As usual you can put your suggestions, comments and questions below and I’ll do my best to respond. Good luck (I have a feeling you might need it)!
On Friday I gave you a bit of a tricky mystery object:
Jackashby spotted that the skull is from a bat and Rob Hinkley did a bit of research while on a trip to the Horniman and was able to identify what the specimen is labelled as. Apparently it’s a Continue reading
Apologies for the slightly late posting today – it was out Xmas Party last night and an early start was simply beyond me. Another skull, but a bit trickier than last week:
I will try to answer questions and respond to your suggestions during the day, so put them below. Good luck!
On Friday I gave you this very easy, but hopefully interesting object:
Unsurprisingly most of you managed to identify this as being the skull of a juvenile or more accurately neonate (new born) Continue reading
This week I probably won’t be able to respond to comments on the mystery object as I’m in Liverpool at a conference about Dinosaurs (yay!), but I have a feeling you’ll get this without any help from me, as it’s pretty distinctive:
Good luck!
On Friday I gave you a genuine mystery object from the Horniman’s collections:
It had been highlighted as potentially being human in origin, but it’s very short, despite being fully fused (therefore from an adult) and the condyles (the bumps that make the top of the knee) are too similar in size – humans have a bigger condyle on the inside of the knee.
However, the general shape is quite similar to a human femur – the depth and orientation of the condyles and the groove between them is all wrong for a quadrupedal animal and the femoral head and neck (the articulation at the top that goes into the hip) are at an angle and shape similar to that seem in humans.
There were some great observations and suggestions and I was pleased that henstridgesj managed to get the same identification as I finally decided on, with Matt King making a very similar suggestion. I think it’s the femur of a Continue reading
This week I’m giving you a genuine mystery object – it was found in the collections without any kind of label or identification:
I’m pretty sure I know what it’s from, but I’d really appreciate your thoughts, in case I’m missing something. Cheers!
On Friday I gave you this object to identify:
As I suspected, everyone spotted that this skull belonged to a member of the Cat family (the Felidae). However, cats are very conservative (as Julie Doyle pointed out) – their skulls all tend to look much the same, which made it hard to identify the species.
This skull is even trickier to identify than it might have been because it comes from a young animal, so it hasn’t reached the full size or development that you might expect from an adult.
Nonetheless, several of you suggested cats from the same genus and henstridgesj worked out that it was between two species. It is in fact the skull of a Continue reading
This week I have a skull for you that should be easy to identify to the family level, but may prove a tad more tricky to the species:
As usual you can put your suggestions, comments and suggestions below. Good luck!
Apologies for the late posting and brevity of the FMO answer today, I’m not feeling at all well.
On Friday I gave you something a bit more ‘taxing’ than the previous week’s mystery object:
Some of you spotted the clue hidden in my statement and Bubba, Carlos, Will, Neil, henstidgesj and Julie Doyle all implied or identified that this as the skull of Continue reading
After last week’s ridiculously easy mystery object, I thought I’d go for something a bit more taxing:
So any idea what this skull belonged to?
As usual, answers, questions and suggestions below and I’ll do my best to respond. Good luck!
As promised, last Friday’s mystery object turned out to be easy:
The very first reply by Gerry gave the correct species and every subsequent suggestion was for the same animal.
With those huge razor-like incisors and canines what could this be other than a Continue reading
An easy mystery object this week, to make up for last week’s rather difficult spirit-scaring firebird:
Any idea what this skull belonged to?
As usual you can put your (preferably cryptic) suggestions, observations and questions below and I’ll do my best to respond. Good luck!
On Friday I gave you this object to identify:
I asked you what this is, what it’s for, how it works and where it’s from – no easy task based on the limited information available from the photo.
Nonetheless, through a process of group deduction you worked out that it’s a copper container that holds water and produces steam and it’s from Tibet. Pretty good going. The one thing that nobody got was the purpose of this object.
It’s been a long time since I gave you an anthropological mystery object, so here you go:
Any idea what this is, what it’s for, how it works and (if you’re feeling up for a challenge) where it’s from?
Comments, questions and suggestions below and I’ll do my best to respond – I hope you enjoy the challenge!
On Friday I gave you this complete skeleton to identify:
As I expected, you managed to identify it in no time, with excellent use of hints and clues to get the answer across without spoiling the fun.
John the Hutch was the first to get it right (and was in fact the first to respond) with Carlos, henstridgesj, Jake, Henry Gee and Julie Doyle also recognising that this was the skeleton of a Continue reading
This Friday I have a pretty straightforward mystery object for you. I was going to make it difficult by giving you an image of the specimen without the skull attached, but I am at a NatSCA meeting in Leeds today, so I probably won’t get much chance to provide clues during the day (although I will do my best).
So what is this the skeleton of?
As usual you can put your answers below (using clever clues if possible) – I will try my best to respond. Good luck!
Huzzah, it’s Friday!
Here’s this week’s celebratory bit of dead critter from the Horniman Museum for you to identify:
I hope you have fun with it! As usual I will do my best to respond to your questions, observations and suggestions as the day goes on.
Good luck!
On Friday I gave you this skull to identify:
Jake spotted that this was a marsupial’s skull straight away and many of you suggested Kangaroo using a variety of crafty clues. There was also a well reasoned suggestion of Koala that fell just a little short.
Obenedo missed the correct answer by a hair(y nose) but got the right type of animal, as did jonpaulkaiser, Matt King, Jake and Cromercrox.
Neil managed to go that little bit further and get the right species – Continue reading
Apologies for the rather late answer to last Friday’s mystery object – it’s been a hectic few days!
I asked you to identify this skull
which you managed to do very quickly.
The first suggestion of a Vulture by Rosa Rubicondior was along completely the right lines, while KK and Steven D. Garber, PhD suggested a Turkey Vulture – which isn’t quite right, but it’s in the same genus – Cathartes.
From there, Julie Doyle and Jake managed to get the correct species identification of Continue reading
Zygoma 