A small collecton of skulls

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Galemys

Settler
Dec 13, 2004
729
41
53
Zaandam, the Netherlands
Here are some animal skulls I collected over the past two years.

Blackheaded gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus):


Black crow (Corvus corone), herring gull (Larus argentatus) & jackdaw (Corvus monedula):


Grey heron (Ardea cinereus):


Long-tongued bat (Glossophaga elongatus, a South American species); skull, lower jaw and upper canine:


Pipistrelle bat (Pipistrellus pipistrellus, found in Croatia):






Pipistrelles are really tiny animals...:


A live one found in my neighbours garden, probably molested by a cat (one wing shredded to pieces, but otherwise OK, I brought it to an animal care center):


Upcoming project:


Are there more skull collectors here at BCUK?

Cheers,

Tom
 
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Jun 13, 2010
394
39
North Wales
I used to have a small collection of mammal skulls. My favourite was a possum a friend of mine sent me from the states. They were damaged during a house move.
 

uncleboob

Full Member
Dec 28, 2012
915
53
Coventry and Warwickshire
Nice! We (some students and I) came across a dead fox...I wondered about burying it to dig it back up again once all the fleshy bits had been eaten up...how long do you think this would take? Seems like a good experiment to me!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Nice65

Brilliant!
Apr 16, 2009
6,438
2,859
W.Sussex
Nice! We (some students and I) came across a dead fox...I wondered about burying it to dig it back up again once all the fleshy bits had been eaten up...how long do you think this would take? Seems like a good experiment to me!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Stalkers here leave them out but hidden for a couple of years. In amongst brambles etc for flies, ants, slugs to clean. I found this out one day at work when surveying power lines across the countryside. I was in a thick copse, pushing my way through on a hot summers day the sun seeping through making it seem very close and dark in there. I noticed the smell of decay. Nothing too unusual, but the flies were everywhere. When I started to look around I noticed string upon string of deer skulls threaded on baler twine like grotesque beads hanging from the trees. I’m embarrassed to say I completely freaked out. :D

I phoned the landowner to tell him he had poachers, but that I hadn’t finished my survey, so had to go back. He lowered his voice and told me to beware, the copse had long had a reputation for black magic rituals, sightings of demons, and general strangeness. Family friendly forum, I can’t type what I called him. :muted: :rage:
 
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Snake

Maker
Jan 5, 2017
107
52
North Wilts
Nice! We (some students and I) came across a dead fox...I wondered about burying it to dig it back up again once all the fleshy bits had been eaten up...how long do you think this would take? Seems like a good experiment to me!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Don't know about this time of year, but when I shoot a few foxes around harvest time, if you leave them under a hedge the maggots will have eaten everything within about 3 weeks.
 

Galemys

Settler
Dec 13, 2004
729
41
53
Zaandam, the Netherlands
The blue tit's skull:


A common grasshopper warbler (Locustella naevia) I found dead last month (it must have flown some 4000 miles from its winter quarters in West-Africa just to die on a Dutch dune...life is hard):


Compared to a black crow's skull:


Failed project:
A partial skeleton of a common (Bufo bufo) or natterjack toad (Epidalea calamita). I found the desiccated body last week. The bones came out quite good but the skull disintegrated totally.


Cheers,

Tom
 

gra_farmer

Full Member
Mar 29, 2016
1,800
1,019
Kent
What is the best way to clean skulls then please? Could do with a quick tutorial
In the past, I used to find quite active ant nests, carefully dig the required hole very close to the nest, put the head or whole animal in the hole and cover back up with soil, do not compact the soil, but do lay something ove the top to stop foxes and rats digging it up.

Come back 3 weeks later and dig it up...easy, you will have a clean white skull, without the mess from leaving it out in the open.
 

Galemys

Settler
Dec 13, 2004
729
41
53
Zaandam, the Netherlands
New additions:
20201115-151525-1.jpg

Woodcock, a window victim
20201115-151631-1.jpg

View from above

20201201-182231-1.jpg

Great cormorant, from a freshly beached specimen.
The bony spike on the back of the head ('os nuchalis'), flexibly attached by a bit of cartilage, is a unique feature of cormorants & darters. It gives extra attachment for the beak muscles and therefore more biting power.

Cheers,

Tom
 

DocG

Full Member
Dec 20, 2013
869
123
Moray
Wonderful stuff - thanks for sharing.
I’m after a badger skull. So far all the local roadkills seem to have been hit in the head = crushed skull. Is this common for roadkills badgers?
I have a selection of skulls that I’m trying to expand. Any dead animals I come across when wandering will be harvested for the project. Unfortunately SWMBO has some objections- can’t think why .
There’s an airtight box in the back of my car for anything I come across. One work colleague was a little alarmed when they saw a “fresh” collection after a particularly successful backroads journey to work. (Since then I’ve stowed the bloodstained rubber gloves and tools more circumspectly.)
 
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Galemys

Settler
Dec 13, 2004
729
41
53
Zaandam, the Netherlands
Wonderful stuff - thanks for sharing.
I’m after a badger skull. So far all the local roadkills seem to have been hit in the head = crushed skull. Is this common for roadkills badgers?
I have a selection of skulls that I’m trying to expand. Any dead animals I come across when wandering will be harvested for the project. Unfortunately SWMBO has some objections- can’t think why .
There’s an airtight box in the back of my car for anything I come across. One work colleague was a little alarmed when they saw a “fresh” collection after a particularly successful backroads journey to work. (Since then I’ve stowed the bloodstained rubber gloves and tools more circumspectly.)
Please share your pics!

I have found three stoat roadkills; all had a crushed skull as well...

Badger, porpoise, raven, any bird of prey, crossbill & avocet are high on my wishlist...

Cheers,

Tom
 
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