or What's this bone?
This winter while doing
Second Looks, I found several bones in the lower part of my yard. They held a great fascination for me as I tried to guess what animal they came from. Recently I visited with Lynn, a naturalist at a local park, to see if she could give me any clues about what I was finding. While much of what she told me may be old hat to the biologists and naturalists out there, I found it all very interesting.
Since I've been finding mostly jaw bones (mandibles), she focused on teeth. Apparently herbivores have a space between their front incisors and their back grinding teeth, and omnivores and carnivores have a continuous set of teeth from front to back. There are variatons on this theme, but it holds true in most all cases. Next, she looked at size and shape, and then considered where the bone was found. With all of these considerations, Lynn then gave me her best guess as to what I had.
Below I've tried to represent what I learned about my collection. The information is not absolute, so kids, don't use this a reference for your school report. :)
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| We were all sure that this belonged to a deer. |
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| The striations on this bone probably came from mice chewing on it to get calcium. |
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| Notice the eye sockets are large and to the side. This is typical of a prey animal that must always be on the lookout. | | |
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| This is the same skull as above turned over. |
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| The large front gnawing teeth are missing. |
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| Note the relative sizes of the deer, raccoon, young groundhog, and squirrel bones. |
There, wasn't that interesting? (if you're into this kind of thing.)
I used to teach this stuff to my uni students, it's great to see some examples from the northern hemisphere. We mostly looked at dog, cat and kangaroo skulls (and yes, I also like live kangaroos, not just the meat and skulls!).
ReplyDeleteI've heard that kangaroos are kind of mean. Is that true?
DeleteThe males can be aggressive, but only to each other.
DeleteVery interesting, thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteSometimes, I find the smallest things interesting like the general teeth patterns of animals. I'm glad that you did too.
DeleteThis is interesting. I also find it interesting that you've found so many bone pieces this winter. You said, a while ago, that you have found more than previous years. Has there been something different about the climate, predators or populations of animals between this year and previous years?
ReplyDeleteI have no idea why I am finding more bones. I don't know if I have become attuned to them and spot them better or if it's related to the fact that we have had a mild winter. I do think that some of the bones are all from the same bird. However, I find them one or two at a time in different places.
DeleteWow, that's a lot of bones you found in your yard!
ReplyDeleteAnd I found more yesterday. I live on a couple of acres and while the lower part of it is not woods, there are some nice habitats for various animals. I guess nature is taking its course and that's why I'm find evidence of animals both dead and alive.
DeleteYou constantly amaze me with the number of bones you find, showing them like this was very interesting.
ReplyDeleteI am amazed myself and am learning a lot about my surroundings as I learn about them.
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