haaskalintu

he’s heeeeere

Here’s the other deformed skull I picked up recently.

This poor coyote had a wonky jaw which threw everything else out of whack. It had an overbite, misaligned teeth, and worst of all, one of its lower canine teeth was actually growing up through its incisive foramen. See it peeking out in the second photo? Poor critter!

Sure!

GSD

BM

QH

GSD

Rottie

Rottie

GD Mix

MAS

GSD

GSD

BM

SBT

10 or so not pictured, I forgot to pull them out while I was taking pictures.

Crooked Doe Skull. Some better pics and also some comparing it to a normal doe skull. 

This poor deer was a tough old gal!

Maceration and Simmering are both bone cleaning methods that attract a lot of negative attention, Some deserved, some not. Despite their general similarities, there are some key differences between the two methods that really beg the question; Which is better? Neither! No one bone cleaning method is the ‘best’, it’s just all about what works for you! We’ll be comparing the two methods now, both their pros and cons, to maybe make it easier for someone down the line to choose between the two.

This is a prosection of a young female Tegu I’m preparing for an Anatomy event I’m holding on Saturday. She lived at a nature center and was found dead in her bath. 

A dissection is where YOU personally dig in. A prosection is when an instructor goes in and prepares the dissection beforehand, so that it’s ready to demonstrate to students.

In this case, I’m getting this tegu cleaned up, and the individual muscle groups separated out so we can examine and talk about their function on Saturday.

The Nightmare Pelvis! This is from one of my female Heelers. I’m still twisted about not being able to get her entire skeleton.

Do not handle dead armadillos. Leave them be and call someone to come and properly dispose of it.

They carry Hansen’s Disease [Leprosy] and are unsafe to handle. 

Before 2015, Florida alone only saw about 2-5 cases a year. It jumped to an average of 10 a year after that. 2017 saw 15 cases. In 2015, Scientists estimated at least 20% of the armadillo population was infected. The number could have risen as of this year. Hansen’s Disease is not immediate and can take years for symptoms to show.

Fossil Dawn Horse (Protorohippus venticolus, Early Eocene) - Fossil Lake, Kemmerer, Wyoming

One of  two horse skeletons discovered in Wyoming’s Green River Formation. The five fish embedded in the slab are a testament to the rare circumstances that led to this land animal being buried in the middle of Fossil Lake. The details of this intriguing occurrence remain a mystery. One suggestion is that the horse was fleeing a predator and it made its way to shallow water, but was swept away into to the middle of the lake where it eventually drowned.

The more popular Vulture Culture gets the more demand there will be for things like skulls and pelts. And more often people are going to try and pass off poached/hunted items as scavenged.  Here I will give a few red flags to look out for, as well as some good things to spot and some general tips for buying animal products.

(All photos used are for visuals ONLY. The products shown in the pictures provided are NOT call-outs or examples)

Red Flags:

1. Bulk quantities

If  a seller is claiming something to be scavenged from roadkill, and yet is selling in large numbers, be cautious. This isn't ‘always’ an indicator of an untrustworthy seller. I’ve seen 10 raccoons on one stretch of road before. But use common sense, how likely is someone to find  and scavenge 10 foxes or 10 crows a week?

2. Unusual color morphs, especially foxes!

If someone has farm fox color morphs (like marble foxes, blue, silver, etc) and tries to pass them off as roadkill they arent even trying. It is possible to buy pelts like this secondhand in antique shops and fur farms arent inherently “unethical”. But just know they almost 100% came from a fur farm at some point. 

3. Bones, pelts, and animal products from Asia.

 As most vultures are well aware, different countries have different laws regarding sale of animal parts. Be cautious buying from places like China, Uruguay, and Brazil. Animal protection laws in those places may allow for easier poaching and hunting of endangered species as well an unethical treatment of animals in fur farms. This results in large quantities of VERY cheap skulls and furs, however the treatment these animals received as well as the legality of their culling is questionable. 

4. Failure or refusal to provide permits

If you are looking into purchasing something that requires a permit or license and the seller refuses to provide the paperwork that is a HUGE red flag. Not only would selling without the paperwork be outright illegal, but the likelihood that they obtained the product legally in the first place is up for debate. 

GOOD things to look for

Now ill list a few things that are good indicators of scavenged products. 

1. Imperfections

Bones that are old, weathered, cracked, or otherwise imperfect. Bones that have been sitting out in the woods for a while tend to take on a specific look. Quite different from perfectly white bones. 

2. juvenile or out of season animals

Hunters typically avoid juvenile animals or animals that have “out of season” fur or plumage. If you see someone selling a pelt of a coyote in its spring coat, or a bird skull with juvenile beak colors its ‘safe-ish’ to assume it wasn’t hunted if the seller says it wasnt. However take this tip with a grain of salt. If it WAS hunted it was likely out of season, and therefor poaching. Use this tip in combination with the others to make a safer guess.