Pair of Coyote Skulls
More bones, this time a pair of coyotes.
This is my first coyote skull. I am pretty sure it is a female, although I haven't taken calipers after her yet.
Her nasal bones are not completely sutured in place, but they do not move freely. Her crest is fairly small. This, together with her small size, paints a picture of a young adult animal of petite stature. I don't know her subspecies, which would give me more insight.
She was very greasy when I got her, and had been waiting for me to degrease her since last year. Yuck. These were taken after she was degreased with an ammonia bath. You can see that she's still quite dark in places.
Here you can see that the two bones of her zygomatic arch are not yet fused; more evidence of her comparative youth.
For comparison, here is a gray wolf in profile:
Compare her delicate bone structure to his. His snout is shorter, thicker; her cheekbones more robust, his crest well-developed, his forehead higher.
You can really see the darker areas here. Degreasing and whitening is meant to get rid of this, but some skulls are more stubborn than others.
A forward view, showing the narrowness of the front row of teeth, and the delicacy of the bone structure.
The cheekbones are fairly widely-spread, indicating a maturing animal, but they are still lightweight, hinting at a female.
I just love the light in this picture.
And now for the male:
Compare this skull to that of the female coyote above. Note the deeper groove between the nasal bones, the unclosed sutures just on the inside of the eye. This is a younger animal.
The coyote is one of the most successful and adaptable carnivores. We're in no danger of running out of them, thankfully.
The discolored areas are spongy bone. Bone like this occurs in fast-growing young animals, though it can sometimes be found in very old animals as the bones deteriorate. This was clearly not an old animal.
The teeth are split, a common occurrence when skulls are prepared by boiling and sometimes even when they are prepared by cold-water maceration.
Again, compare the two. His snout is longer and heavier and his sagittal and occipital crests, though small, are still larger than hers.
While coyotes are strongly sexually dimorphic, there are significant variations between regional populations as well. In accordance with Bergman's rule, Coyotes get very large in the north, while southern subspecies are smaller.
A view of the skulls together, giving you an idea of comparative size.
Another view. Clearly the same species, but very different individuals, a good example of different sexes from different subspecies.
This week has been gloomy, and the next week is predicted to be gloomy, too, so the pictures of my new skulls will have to wait -- as well as pictures of the art I meant to take. I'm annoyed by this, but I want to get good pictures, and not just halfass something to have it there. It's partly sunny right now, but it's two in the afternoon, not exactly the best time for picture-taking.
If you want to know how I get the bone pictures to turn out so prettily, I wait until I have oblique, yellow light in the late afternoon. It's flattering, not too powerful, and throws good shadows. There's a reason they call it the "magic hour."
This is my first coyote skull. I am pretty sure it is a female, although I haven't taken calipers after her yet.
Her nasal bones are not completely sutured in place, but they do not move freely. Her crest is fairly small. This, together with her small size, paints a picture of a young adult animal of petite stature. I don't know her subspecies, which would give me more insight.
She was very greasy when I got her, and had been waiting for me to degrease her since last year. Yuck. These were taken after she was degreased with an ammonia bath. You can see that she's still quite dark in places.
Here you can see that the two bones of her zygomatic arch are not yet fused; more evidence of her comparative youth.
For comparison, here is a gray wolf in profile:
Compare her delicate bone structure to his. His snout is shorter, thicker; her cheekbones more robust, his crest well-developed, his forehead higher.
You can really see the darker areas here. Degreasing and whitening is meant to get rid of this, but some skulls are more stubborn than others.
A forward view, showing the narrowness of the front row of teeth, and the delicacy of the bone structure.
The cheekbones are fairly widely-spread, indicating a maturing animal, but they are still lightweight, hinting at a female.
I just love the light in this picture.
And now for the male:
Compare this skull to that of the female coyote above. Note the deeper groove between the nasal bones, the unclosed sutures just on the inside of the eye. This is a younger animal.
The coyote is one of the most successful and adaptable carnivores. We're in no danger of running out of them, thankfully.
The discolored areas are spongy bone. Bone like this occurs in fast-growing young animals, though it can sometimes be found in very old animals as the bones deteriorate. This was clearly not an old animal.
The teeth are split, a common occurrence when skulls are prepared by boiling and sometimes even when they are prepared by cold-water maceration.
Again, compare the two. His snout is longer and heavier and his sagittal and occipital crests, though small, are still larger than hers.
While coyotes are strongly sexually dimorphic, there are significant variations between regional populations as well. In accordance with Bergman's rule, Coyotes get very large in the north, while southern subspecies are smaller.
A view of the skulls together, giving you an idea of comparative size.
Another view. Clearly the same species, but very different individuals, a good example of different sexes from different subspecies.
This week has been gloomy, and the next week is predicted to be gloomy, too, so the pictures of my new skulls will have to wait -- as well as pictures of the art I meant to take. I'm annoyed by this, but I want to get good pictures, and not just halfass something to have it there. It's partly sunny right now, but it's two in the afternoon, not exactly the best time for picture-taking.
If you want to know how I get the bone pictures to turn out so prettily, I wait until I have oblique, yellow light in the late afternoon. It's flattering, not too powerful, and throws good shadows. There's a reason they call it the "magic hour."