#eastern mole

The fox was a gift from my brother from probably half a decade ago.

It’s my oldest skull and probably what actually sparked my interest in bone collecting. He found it one summer at deer camp and brought it back for me since it was so clean and intact (give or take a few teeth…).

I really liked drawing cow skulls and deer skulls in still lifes, but the bones were always bleached white and stiff since they were probably bought at hobby lobby.

So holding something that wasn’t stiff and bright white, but a little dirty with rounded edges from being weathered in nature. Well. It was kind of like finding a very well written fanfic with your favorite tropes when you’re used to mediocre fics lol

From there, I became interested in bones, specifically skulls. I even did a series of prints based on animal skulls around that time. I just love how recognizable a skull is, and it makes it easier to find and research animals.

The mole was my first ever vulturing attempt.

Honestly, I was SHOCKED at how well it turned out haha! May 2020, I had moved back in with my parents and brother, freshly graduated from college at the worst time possible. My brother’s beloved dog, Kismo, was staying with us as well.

Dear Kismo is a dog pure of heart but not anywhere near dumb of ass. She’s unsettlingly smart. Smart enough to track moles digging underground in the backyard and dig them up.

We were not smart enough to predict her doing fucking echolocation shit to track down and kill a mole Taken style so we ended up with a dead mole on our hands. Mostly mine because no one else wanted to bother with it.

I found a guide on tumblr on how to vulture bones and followed it, starting with putting the body on an anthill to clean all the meat and muscles off. The one thing I do miss about living with my parents is the ease of access to dead animals and anthills lol.

After a few days, it had been stripped and emptied enough that I could dislodge the skull and let the ants keep the rest. Ants creep me out so much, but I appreciate their hard work and skills at cleaning up dead meat.

I was nervous when I found out I needed to soak the bones in isopropyl alcohol, because, yknow, pandemic. But luckily my mom happened to have some that I used very sparingly. A few baths in iso, a couple in dish soap to degrease it, and I had my first vultured skull!!!

My family thought it was a little strange but we’re happy for me and let me talk about the process and how cool I thought it was.

The chickadee was one I was the most excited about.

If you couldn’t tell by the url, I’m a fan of birds. So I was morbidly excited when my dad told me a bird ran into the kitchen window and died 😭

It was kind of cool to be able to closely examine a bird and study its anatomy. Unfortunately, you can’t do that for too long cause it gets rotted and stinky so I gave it to my dear frienemies the ants.

While it’s nice my parents live near woods, that also means they get critters from time to time who would love to eat my vulturing endeavors. Since I couldn’t stand guard over my loyal anthill 24/7, I yoinked a flower pot to cover it and the bird’s body and put a few bricks on top. I don’t know if our raccoons were slacking on their gym routines or what but that kept them away every time.

The chickadee skull cleaned up extremely well. I was worried about how fragile bird bones are, but even the smaller bones came through clean and intact. :3