Underlying Form

 Bones fascinate me. I love the myriad of shapes they take, how each one is perfect in both function and form, and the vast amount of information you can get about the organism from them. It's like reading the animal's biography.  I especially like skulls. I collect skulls. For the record I did not and would not cause the death of any animal  for my collection I found and cleaned most of them myself, the vast majority by the roadside (I could elaborate on that point and discuss various cleaning methods here, but, trust me you don't want me to!).  I wanted to get some practice taking photos today and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to show off some of my more interesting specimens. the first picture here was a nice accidental still life. I was doing a few sketches on my porch while waiting for the camera battery to charge. One of the nice things about having a few skulls around the house is that I always have something interesting to draw.

Here we have my Canid collection. From smallest to largest: Red fox (Vulpes vulpes),North Eastern Coyote (Canis latrans thamnos), and Feral Dog (C. lupus familiaris). I find it really interesting to be able to compare these closely related species with one another. Note the bullet hole in the coyote's cranium. I found her along a farmer's fence row. It should be mentioned that there is a chance that the bottom skull is possibly a coyote/dog hybrid,  judging by how deep in the woods I found it. It is very difficult to tell from morphology alone.This is the one most likely to get me in trouble with people. It is a Domestic Cat. (Felis cattus). This specimen was hit by a car. I didn't want somebody's beloved pet in my collection, so I made absolutely certain that he was a stray before I took it. I just love how compact the jaws are and those fantastic large sockets.
 The whole skull has a pleasing round form

This is one example of why comparative anatomy is so intriguing to me. On the left is the North American Beaver (Castor canadensis) and the one on the right, the Common Porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum) These are the two largest rodents in North America. They are from entirely different branches of the Rodent family. One is adapted to aquatic life and the other is largely arboreal, and yet, their skulls are remarkably similar because they eat the same type of plant matter. 

This one was on my wish list for a very long time. It is hard to find an intact skull of the Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) because most animals that eat them aim for the head. I found this about a quarter mile from the cat, and on the same day. Sometimes you just get lucky. A rabbit's skull has a surprisingly aggressive character for such a timid animal.

The only native marsupial in North America, the Virginia Opossum (Didelphis virginiana) has the most teeth and smallest braincase of any mammal on the continent. I really like the sleek looking zygomatic arches (cheekbones) and large sagital crest on this specimen. I think it may have been quite young when it died.

When I want to stump someone, I usually try to have them guess what this next one is. Very few people could tell without being told first that this wonderful piece of Gothic architecture is what's found beneath the jowls and floppy ears of the Domestic Pig (Sus scrofa domesticus).

I probably have more Whitetail Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) skulls than anything else. The one depicted here  is neither my best specimen or my most interesting, but she was one of the first skulls I found and the one that really got me started on my morbid little hobby. Deer skulls seem very graceful to me

The skull of  a Sheep (Ovis aries), on the other hand, is  charmingly cumbersome looking object.I'm not sure what breed this is, but  the arching Roman nose and high set eyes give it a lot of character.  A friend gave me this.

Finally, I had to sneak at least one drawing into this post.  This is a sketch I did a while back. It is the skull of a Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata)  from a private collection. (9x12 graphite on bristol vellum).

Well, that's all for now. I hope you enjoyed seeing some of my collection nearly as much as I liked showing it to you