A small collecton of skulls
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Upcoming project: a beautiful dead barn owl.
No external damage, only some blood on the beak. It turned out to be a female (judged by the broad black bands on the primaries). It was underweight (222 grams, it should be around 300) and very skinny. I collected the head and skinned it to preserve the skull. The head is a wonderfully soft, baseball-sized sphere, covered in lush feathering, 3 cm deep all around.
Pictures will follow.
Cheers,
Tom
No external damage, only some blood on the beak. It turned out to be a female (judged by the broad black bands on the primaries). It was underweight (222 grams, it should be around 300) and very skinny. I collected the head and skinned it to preserve the skull. The head is a wonderfully soft, baseball-sized sphere, covered in lush feathering, 3 cm deep all around.
Pictures will follow.
Cheers,
Tom
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As promised, some pics. End result will take some time...
Cheers,
Tom
Cheers,
Tom
After rotting, cleaning & bleaching here's how the barn owl skull turned out:
There's small bones connecting the lower jaw to the skull missing in the pictures (too much hassle to keep them in place for the pics).
The beak is much longer than you would expect from seeing a live bird! The upper jaw can move up, independent of the skull (see the thin hinge region where both connect).
A very beautiful skull, I feel privileged.
Cheers,
Tom
There's small bones connecting the lower jaw to the skull missing in the pictures (too much hassle to keep them in place for the pics).
The beak is much longer than you would expect from seeing a live bird! The upper jaw can move up, independent of the skull (see the thin hinge region where both connect).
A very beautiful skull, I feel privileged.
Cheers,
Tom
A short holiday in the Auvergne region, France, delivered an unexpected present...a freshly killed asp viper (Vipera aspis)!
It was presumably the victim of a cat because of the location (on top of stone wall) and the mortal wound (crushed neck).
I cut off the head and took it with me back to Holland in a glass jar filled with salt.
After treatment by bluebottle larvae, some cutting to remove the skin, short boiling, and incubation in a solution with Biotex, the fleshy parts were removed. Some pieces of the lower jaw have lost their attachments so I have a few loose parts now.
Not all ligaments and tendons have been removed and treatment with (nearly) boiling water and incubations were very short because if the treatment is too harsh the skull will disintegrate in to several pieces, and I will try to avoid that as good as I can.
The viper skull itself is tiny in comparison with the big arcs of the lower jaws. The teeth are needle sharp. A surprise was that on one side their was an extra venom-delivering fang (2 instead of one, see pics).
It looked more lively with its body removed...
The bony parts are now being whitened in a hydrogen peroxide solution. Pictures of the finalised skull -when I hopefully have puzzled all the bits back together again- will follow later.
Fun, fun, fun!
Cheers,
Tom
It was presumably the victim of a cat because of the location (on top of stone wall) and the mortal wound (crushed neck).
I cut off the head and took it with me back to Holland in a glass jar filled with salt.
After treatment by bluebottle larvae, some cutting to remove the skin, short boiling, and incubation in a solution with Biotex, the fleshy parts were removed. Some pieces of the lower jaw have lost their attachments so I have a few loose parts now.
Not all ligaments and tendons have been removed and treatment with (nearly) boiling water and incubations were very short because if the treatment is too harsh the skull will disintegrate in to several pieces, and I will try to avoid that as good as I can.
The viper skull itself is tiny in comparison with the big arcs of the lower jaws. The teeth are needle sharp. A surprise was that on one side their was an extra venom-delivering fang (2 instead of one, see pics).
It looked more lively with its body removed...
The bony parts are now being whitened in a hydrogen peroxide solution. Pictures of the finalised skull -when I hopefully have puzzled all the bits back together again- will follow later.
Fun, fun, fun!
Cheers,
Tom
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I don’t have a collection but I’m de-fleshing a road kill tawny owt skull for a friend. I just leave it on an ant hill in the edge of my “lawn.” For the last couple of weeks I’ve just eased it out of the ground as the little workers try to bury it - it’s coming along.
Every so often I bring home a road kill fox. Unfortunately the ones that I want have been hit in the head. I want the pelt. If I find an intact head I’ll hand it to the ants and then put it up here if anyone wants it. Don’t hold your breath but it can happen.
Every so often I bring home a road kill fox. Unfortunately the ones that I want have been hit in the head. I want the pelt. If I find an intact head I’ll hand it to the ants and then put it up here if anyone wants it. Don’t hold your breath but it can happen.
Now that Tom, is absolutely superb. It’s a nightmare to reconstruct snake skulls. Vipers replace their fangs often, which is why you have a replacement ready to go on the one side. If you zoom in on the Gaboon skull below, you’ll see that they can have a few in reserve ready to go. The smaller vipers don’t hold such reserves as their smaller teeth grow faster.After some 3D-puzzling with all the loose bony fragments, this is the finalised asp viper skull:
Cheers,
Tom
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Thank's for the kind words Jonathan!
Both sides of the skull had multiple fangs, some were hidden in the gum/cartilage and were only revealed in the late stages of the preparation process. I'll add some close ups later this week.
@jonathan: could you tell by the initial pictures if this was a female or a male? It should be discernible by the length of the tail but I can't see it for myself.
Cheers,
Tom
Both sides of the skull had multiple fangs, some were hidden in the gum/cartilage and were only revealed in the late stages of the preparation process. I'll add some close ups later this week.
@jonathan: could you tell by the initial pictures if this was a female or a male? It should be discernible by the length of the tail but I can't see it for myself.
Cheers,
Tom
Almost. Sharks teeth, like most snakes are fixed, vipers teeth are hinged like an automatic knife so they fold down along the roof of the mouth when they close their mouths, then spring forward and out when they open them. This is due to them being so long. Elapids like mambas and cobras have short fangs so this isn’t a problem. Vipers can close their mouths without folding their fangs down, but they are left outside of the lower lip like a sabre toothed tiger. It’s rare to see them like that, but they do it occasionally, usually after tiring themselves out by striking repeatedly at a threat.
As promised some more pics of the asp viper skull and its preparation. Not visible is that one of the lower jaw halfs disintegrated in to its 2 components that had to be glued together again. Both sides of the upper jaw contained 3 fangs.
Cheers,
Tom
PS @JonathanD: thanks for confirming this specimen as a female (well almost certain), Could it have been pregnant or should that have been more obvious from the pictures?
Cheers,
Tom
PS @JonathanD: thanks for confirming this specimen as a female (well almost certain), Could it have been pregnant or should that have been more obvious from the pictures?
Nice one Tom, they’re excellent.
Not sure that she was gravid. The bloating is most likely caused by necrotic gasses.
Not sure that she was gravid. The bloating is most likely caused by necrotic gasses.
Nice collection, what's the one with a long beak, heron or gannet?
As for the Dodo, that gave me a really good chuckle
Great collection, keep them coming!
Is that a fox(?) In the background & some boar tusks on the left?
What species are the smaller bird skulls? Sparrow/finch?
I really like the lego dodo! One of my favourite birds.
Cheers,
Tom
Is that a fox(?) In the background & some boar tusks on the left?
What species are the smaller bird skulls? Sparrow/finch?
I really like the lego dodo! One of my favourite birds.
Cheers,
Tom
