Wandering around my woodland today I found a dead three foot long grass snake. Well, I found the last couple of inches of it's tail and the rest was just the bones as if something had filleted it. I assume some animal has carefully eaten the rest but what animal would be able to keep the entire skeleton intact and clean off all the meat?
Filet-O-Grass snake
- Thread starter slowworm
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Ants are a possibility. Carrion beetles do a great jobe of cleaning a skeleton but they take their time doing it.
It's not ants, well I hope not...
On closer inspection the remains couldn't have been very old as the remains were still flexible and wet. Today the bones are rigid and dry. About 6" of the tail left and no head. Remains left on top of long grass.
So, I expect the remains were only an hour or so old when I found them early in the morning. My first thought was a bird of prey but perhaps fox and the remains were picked up by something like a rook?
On closer inspection the remains couldn't have been very old as the remains were still flexible and wet. Today the bones are rigid and dry. About 6" of the tail left and no head. Remains left on top of long grass.
So, I expect the remains were only an hour or so old when I found them early in the morning. My first thought was a bird of prey but perhaps fox and the remains were picked up by something like a rook?
Who ever it was I don't want to meet themlol
There's more than a hind of Predator about it. I would be more worried if I didn't know the screechy barking I often hear was from the resident Roe Buck
If the bones were picked clean and intact, it must have been something small, with a small mouth (and teeth?)
Anything large would surely damage the delicate bones?
Anything large would surely damage the delicate bones?
I don't know, hence the question. I've found the bones of pigeons connected but with all the flesh removed by sparrow hawks.
Not for the squeamish!
Funnily enough I found the remains of a fox as well, too far gone to know what had happened to it.
In the snakes case, the bones were too fresh for maggots.
In one Bio lab complex that I worked in, they had 3 barrels of wood chips and sawdust.
All the mucky bones got threaded onto a length of copper wire and tossed in a barrel with a tag.
Those barrels were dermestid carrion beetle colonies = the ideal beasts for cleaning skeletons.
All the mucky bones got threaded onto a length of copper wire and tossed in a barrel with a tag.
Those barrels were dermestid carrion beetle colonies = the ideal beasts for cleaning skeletons.
Some businesses do, Janne. Particularly those that show the origins, insertions and names of the muscles.
The disposal of the sheer numbers of daily dead in some countries is a serious logistics problem.
So, those countries learned long ago that there was a steady market for skeletons, in whole or in part,
In Western medical schools and Biology departments That should be enough of a clue to origin.
Zoology departments try to build collections, skulls in particular, as a public awareness aspect of the school.
I was teaching ar 54N in BC. We knew lots of hunters and trappers. We had skulls cooking for as long as I can remember.
Small animals with fine bones were particularly difficult to process and even more expensive to buy.
This snake skeleton suggests to me that the carrion beetles got to it and ate
as much as they could before the connective tissues dessicated (too hard to chew!)
Are there any of the scales left on the top of the skull? That pattern is a common first clue to species.
The disposal of the sheer numbers of daily dead in some countries is a serious logistics problem.
So, those countries learned long ago that there was a steady market for skeletons, in whole or in part,
In Western medical schools and Biology departments That should be enough of a clue to origin.
Zoology departments try to build collections, skulls in particular, as a public awareness aspect of the school.
I was teaching ar 54N in BC. We knew lots of hunters and trappers. We had skulls cooking for as long as I can remember.
Small animals with fine bones were particularly difficult to process and even more expensive to buy.
This snake skeleton suggests to me that the carrion beetles got to it and ate
as much as they could before the connective tissues dessicated (too hard to chew!)
Are there any of the scales left on the top of the skull? That pattern is a common first clue to species.
No barrels about the place so I can rule that out.
As mentioned, the head was missing. The corpse was too fresh for any maggots or carrion beetles, I've seen both and around here in the UK they'll not strip something in a matter of a few hours and remove the head and skin without leaving a trace.
The only options here is a mammal or bird, or perhaps a mix of both.
As mentioned, the head was missing. The corpse was too fresh for any maggots or carrion beetles, I've seen both and around here in the UK they'll not strip something in a matter of a few hours and remove the head and skin without leaving a trace.
The only options here is a mammal or bird, or perhaps a mix of both.
Th e act that the head was missing made me wonder if a human wasn’t in the mix of animals that stripped the skeleton.
I have cooked and eaten snake. The common grassnake, the one with the yellow halfmoons on the head.
Difficult to clean. Easy to eat, bland flavour. I do not recall any problems with the bones, but then I do not mind the small bones in fish eather.
Difficult to clean. Easy to eat, bland flavour. I do not recall any problems with the bones, but then I do not mind the small bones in fish eather.
