As usual you can make your suggestions, comments and questions below. Good luck!
Is it what it looks like because that would be too easy ?
If it’s not the obvious thing it could be a GG or a MP ?
Ah, I see there is a scale if I open the image in a new window.
Is it genus M_s_e_a, often illegal as pets although pet shops still carry food and treats for them? Or is it the skull of a character in a story from The Jungle Book that isn’t a bird at all, but has one in its common name?
If it is what I think it is, I’ve only ever seen one alive, despite living in the country most of my life. I’ve seen many pancaked on roads, however.
Also looks like a juvenile judging by the visible suture line on the cranium and lack of a sagittal crest.
I certainly want to say “Something Something Something Something Mushroom Mushroom” but I feel like I’m missing something – maybe the premaxilla is a little too jutty for this?
Oh dear, I have just realised that I have been checking out possibilities for over two hours and only have a list of what I don’t think it is.
Hi, I’m new at this but I love the game. From the look of it, it’s a carnivore, a predator with forward-looking eyes. It’s small and since I cannot for the life of me figure out what the other folks are saying or guessing in the previous comments I am thinking that it might be a shrew of some kind. Mongoose comes to mind, also, though I am probably as off course as I could be. Thanks for the fun. I have the beginnings of a skull collection I hope to use for a program at the museum where I work as a naturalist.
From the teeth and the size of the skull, you’d be looking for a flesh-eating animal that’s well over a foot long, but not as large as, say, a wolf. That might narrow it down without giving away the answer!
oh yikes I guess I read that ruler wrong, too! Ok, shall I go for coyote? We have loads of them here and they are quite common. The embarrassment is that I even have a coyote skull in my little collection!
Thanks for your help. Please let me know if I am still wrong….
The presence of carnassial teeth and the shape of the skull suggest a member of a group I’ve been blogging about lately… most of them, though, seem to have a rather more gracile zygoma than this fellow. It’s rather small, but not as small as, say, a stoat. Of course, if it’s immature (as seems likely) that changes matters. One of the bigger ones, then, and possibly tautonymic?
Of course, that still leaves me with two options, so… how about a gluttonous geegee?
Yet another carnivore. I shall *ahem* you into giving us some more invertebrates.
Well it’s been interesting this week. Like Jake I imediately assumed that it couldn’t be the obvious candidate, although it seems an exact match to what I have in my hand. So, as a result, I have learned loads about all sorts of interesting beasties from all around the world but still not found a better candidate, although it would need to be younger and smaller. Thank you Paolo, you provide a real learning opportunity every week.
Very unsure about this, but based on the shape of the rear of the mandible I’m going for G.g.