The other day I was cleaning up the backyard and found this bone just outside of a squirrel hole. It was just sitting there on top of the mound. I guess the squirrels didn't want it in their hole. LOL. Can't really blame them eh? I figure they came across it during their neverending expansion on the hillside and in the lawn. All 8 of them! Anyway, my girlfriend and I think it's either a opossum or skunk bone. We get a lot of those around here. What do you think? Don't think it's a cat or dog bone. Hope not anyway!!! :p

Here's the other side of it. As you can see the tip of the jaw is missing.

I would guess that it could be a housecat or a ferret or something like that. Skunks are herbivores and would not have the large canines. It looks like an animal that eats meat. Certainly not a rodent. Opossum is a possibility.

A cat was my first guess as well. I compared it with this one. The overall shape and teeth look similar.

t-rex i figure :) drac (rawr!)

Cat was my first guess too, but Rudy found a sample image before I did.

Its the top jaw bone of a Catimuscarniverous

Message edited on: 01/09/2006 08:54

Well, thank god its only this small......would start to get very nervous having this outside my home when the size of its jaw bone is in feet rather than inches!!

I'm thinking it's a cat's jaw?

My guess??? Well, I don't actually have one (not being familiar with US fauna), but... Given the examples above, I very much doubt it's a cat's jaw. The original is far longer and has a lot more molars than the cat jaw shown by rochr. I hope you find out what it really is (was), just out of interest..:-)) Cheers, Diolma

Fox? Too long to be feline. Opposum, maybe; but the 'possums I've encountered seemed to have needle like teeth (appeared that way when hissing at me to stay away: I stayed away) Only skunks I seen were dead on roadway. I sped up. Racoon?

Hmmm, interesting, at 3 inches I would also think it to be a cat's lower jaw, or maybe a small dog or raccoon. Being a city boy Im not too familiar with possums and skunks only from far awayvery, very far away.

Cat, definitely not racoon as they have two very large canines up front.

Not cat. Where have you seen a cat that has head so big? Unless it's a Maine Coon or Norwegian, but even then... Might be fox, but I doubt it, because it's too curved. Ditto a dog. Skunk has flatter teeth. Possibly a fisher or a wolverine or a opossum. Although the wolverine is quite far-fetched. :-)

possum

or skunk

Okay so now my cat's pissed off at me and so are my girlfriends two cats. Her dog seemed to like the attention though, lol. I checked their teeth and the dog's teeth looked the most similar to this bone. Close but no cigar. So I looked all over google, which didn't take as long as I thought. There really aren't that many pictures of animal jawbones surprisingly. It came down to opossum or skunk. They're very similar. And the winner is.... Opossum! I managed to find a decent image at: http://www.digimorph.org/specimens/Monodelphis_domestica/adult/ I clicked on "About this specimen". And there it was. But just to be entirely certain I'm gonna take it to the natural history museum in town. Sorry I bugged you all with this but I really wanted to be sure it wasn't a cat's jaw. My girlfriends cat was run over by a car about 10 years ago. She saw it happen. Very traumatic incident. Still upsets her. Needless to say all the cats are now indoor cats. Long story short, she buried it in the hillside in the backyard. When I found this bone I freaked thinking the squirrels had somehow dug up her pet! :P ugh! Skiwillgee, yeah the baby 'possums are the ones that have the needle like teeth and like to hiss when threatened or scared. The adults just slowly walk away dripping stinky stuff. lol. If that doesn't work they fake death. LOL at draculaz and CrazyDawg! So I,m thinking of putting this into a Bryce image. I haven't posted one in so long...I'm a little rusty. :) What do you think? It would make a cool terrain object, yes? If it turns out halfway decent I'll post it in freestuff. Thanks for helping me try to solve this, and for the laughs too. :D Persevere, Mark

Because of the absence of Integumentary system I would have to say that this is a Dead animal bone. If you look carefully you will probably find a series of parallel scratches along the edges. These are left by squirrel teeth. They scrounge bones for calcium.

Looks suspiciously like an 'Alien' to me........

Attached Link: http://www.deskpicture.com/DPs/Nature/Animals/opossum.jpg

Yep, just as I thought, Opossum. Marc (Yeah right, I thought it was a large rat!)

that's odd..you usually find them in the middle of the road..;) least 'round these parts..;)

Still think it's a cat, as I have 5 cats, large males with a jaw bone of 3.5" to 4" long, I measured...and there are larger feline jaw bones in the lynx and bobcat (saw a bobcat the size of a full grown Rotwieller), other possibility depending on where you are, coyote....

Yeah, I've seen a couple of bobcats around here over the years while I was mountain biking/hiking. There's also mountain lions. Never saw one but I could here them at night sometimes. A very strange sound. There's also ALOT of coyotes very near by. I hear them screaming and howling while they trap some hapless victim. The first time I heard them I thought there was a party up the street! LOL. Also seen several small red foxes on or near the bike bath by the mesa. I'm pretty sure it's 'possum. But like I said I won't be 100% sure 'till the Natural History Museum has a look at it.

Where are you located?

Latitude: 34.4360 N Longitude: 119.8270 W 93111
Santa Barbara, California
Right next to a large avocado orchard. Yummy! Probably going to move soon though.
It's just too bloody expensive to live here.
Other than that it's nice though. :)

Message edited on: 01/11/2006 02:12

not to forget feral cats that can have jaw bones that are over 4" long...i know about that, shot a few in the country near Bunbury West Australia.. Some of them grew as big as an australian blue heeler.

"Australian blue heeler"? Is that anything like an Australian Shepard? The biggest cat I ever saw was my friends daughters pet. It had to weigh 30 pounds. It was huge. But luckily very gentle! I'm pretty sure it was a Maine Coon like Erlik mentioned. CD, are these feral cats recently "freed" cats or does their lineage go back a couple hundred years?

Feral= born in the wild with no human contact

Feral can also apply to cats released by their domestic owners...I think...

yes Bryster that is correct. It is what Zhann said but also counts to those cats that are let go in the wild by uncaring people. @marc strangely enough there is no such breed of dog here called Australian Shepard. the sheep/cattle dogs we have here are the Kelpie, border collie, Queensland Bluee Heeler and the Red Heeler. I have no idea who or where the name Australian shepard came from..that breed of dog looks more like a kangeroo dog(Roo dog) to me. The image i posted is of a Queensland Blue Heeler(Blue Heeler) which have 5 different breeds of dogs in them including the Dingo, BullTerrier, Kelpie and a couple more that i can't recall at the moment.

Feral just means "wild, brutish" (according to Chambers). But it is usually applied to domesticated/tamed animals that have been let loose or have escaped and are now living in the wild. And their descendants... Hope that helps..:-) Cheers, Diolma