My other hobby, skeletonization

[lucanidae]

Anyone here do any skull or skeleton collecting? I've recently gotten into it and found it just as addicting as inverts. Personally I just collect local roadkill. Check out my first fully reconstructed skeleton.....anyone guess what it is? This first one took me a month to clean, reconstruct, pose, and finish. Clue: I sacraficed some anatomical correctness for coolness, the lower jaw should really be joined and the rib number is a pair or two short due to some damgage (hit by car....).

 

[bluerich74]

Going by the rear feet Id say Its a raccoon.Cool stuff.:clap:

 

[rag]

ive been meaning to learn how to clean bones for some time. call me creepy but i think it would serve my dead dog right if i dug him up, cleaned him and reassembled him into a living room piece.

any tips for a begginer? thankyou

 

[Socrates]

Why can't I see the picture? :8o

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Wendy
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[Alakdan]

ive been meaning to learn how to clean bones for some time. call me creepy but i think it would serve my dead dog right if i dug him up, cleaned him and reassembled him into a living room piece.

any tips for a begginer? thankyou

I second that. I used to have a pet macaque (monkey). She died due to heat stroke 6 years ago. I burried her in my backyard under a mango tree. I would like to retrieve the remains and reassemble the the bones.

 

[pinkzebra]

That is very cool! So is it a raccoon?

 

[Mechanical-Mind]

Hey Eric,

That's a nice piece!

What did you use to clean them? Dermestid beetles, a bleach solution, something else?

Not unlike to others who've posted, this is something that has really interested me for some time, in the back of the head sort of way; any pointers for sites and books on the subject?

Thanks,
-Matt

 

[Crotalus]

Looks like a ratskull atleast
Nice work!

 

[Texas Blonde]

I collect skulls of species native to my area in Texas. Here is me collecting the skull of a roadkill Pecari tajacu.

 

[lucanidae]

Wowza, did you use a saw to cut its head off? Hate to hit that with my car...

So this first one is a squirrel! Ever seen a grey squirrel look so mean?!?! Haha.

I have a nice dermestid colony set up, takes about 4 days to clean a small skull (think racoon) and took two weeks to do that squirrel. Hopefully they'll speed up soon. After the beetles are done I bleach it in 3% H2O2 until it's the right color and then seal it with a 50/50 mixture of water and clear drying glue.

Here's my most recent addition from road kill, I'll open it up to guesses again but this one will be hard since the skin is gone.... :clap: :clap: :clap: if you guess this one!

 

[lucanidae]

For those who asked, I have three books for this kinda work. Complete Home Taxidermy, Osteology of Mammals, and A Guide to Vertebrate Dissection

A few good sites on the internet plus pictures of the real animal help as well, but it is still difficult to put a whole skeleton together!!!

 

[Crotalus]

:clap: :clap: :clap: if you guess this one!

Perhaps a dog?

 

[GQ.]

:clap: :clap: :clap: if you guess this one!

Small coyote?

 

[lucanidae]

Seems like those big incisors are fooling people....

 

[Texas Blonde]

Wowza, did you use a saw to cut its head off? Hate to hit that with my car...

Here are the rest of the pics. Im rather proud of them because Ive never been photographed removing a head before, nor have I removed one from so large and animal. Lol!

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v85/TexasBlonde/Roadkill/Javalena/

The Javalina was hardly damaged when I found it, so I dont know what hit it, probably a truck. The majority of the damage was centered around the stomach, consistent with it having been run completely over, rather than it having been smashed into. I would guess the thing to have weighed about 50lbs. So definatly not something youd want to hit in a car.

 

[lucanidae]

Awesome pics! Unfortunatley I can't get many people to come road kill collecting with me, let alone photograph. And I'm way to intent on skinning the things to get a good time lapse, although maybe now I will. That animal is way bigger than anything I have done yet! I could imagine that doing it's entire skeleton would take a while, although just one of its hip bones is probly the size of my entire squirrel! Do you have any pics of the cleaned skull? How do you clean?

 

[psionix]

I collect skulls of species native to my area in Texas. Here is me collecting the skull of a roadkill Pecari tajacu.

do you have a pic of the cleaned skull?

 

[wicked]

Here's my most recent addition from road kill, I'll open it up to guesses again but this one will be hard since the skin is gone.... :clap: :clap: :clap: if you guess this one!

Hmm Maybe a ferret or mink?

 

[syndicate]

oh god lol!i think u look a little to happy holding that bloody knife

 

[lucanidae]

Maybe a ferret or mink?

Not quite but you are the closest yet! This is a native species to New York and most of the U.S......