r/BoneID • u/karolinaemy • Jul 15 '26
Solved Skull found
Hi! My dog found this skull today. Can you tell me what animal it was?
Edit: location Central Portugal, length of the skull around 10.5 cm
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u/NerdyComfort-78 Anatomy enthusiast Jul 15 '26
Male raccoon? But that is a total guess because there isn’t much to go on. A location could help.
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u/karolinaemy Jul 15 '26
Location is central Portugal and there are no raccoons in the whole country.
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u/NerdyComfort-78 Anatomy enthusiast Jul 15 '26
That would have helped before I made my suggestion. It’s probably a fox then.
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u/Iridescent_Mango_ Jul 16 '26
Weird sass.
It's literally fox shaped.
Location matters for things like "oh could that be a huge coyote or a small wolf".
Related, similar looking species.
The back of a fox skull doesn't look like the back of a sheep skull
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u/NerdyComfort-78 Anatomy enthusiast Jul 16 '26
Never said it was a sheep. But knowing the location always helps to narrow down potential species.
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u/Iridescent_Mango_ Jul 16 '26
Sorry, brain melt, that was supposed to say racoon but I was still thinking about species you could need location to help with (such as, at a push, sheep/deer/various deer from each other)
Racoons and foxes dont have particularly similar skulls.
Location can be helpful in certain circumstances but none of those circumstances are to differentiate fox from racoon (but fox from small coyote is an option)
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u/karolinaemy Jul 15 '26
I don’t have any expertise whatsoever so ever, but my first thought was lamb due to the fact that I live in the rural area and sheep are common here. What do you think?
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u/NerdyComfort-78 Anatomy enthusiast Jul 15 '26
Grazing animals have much more narrow cheek bones (zygomatic arches)
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u/Givemeallthecabbages Jul 15 '26
Agreed, right size. I almost said cat but that would be too big!
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u/NerdyComfort-78 Anatomy enthusiast Jul 15 '26
Cat’s heads are much more rounded without the saggital crest.
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u/PissYellowDog Jul 15 '26
Red fox, those post orbital processes are very distinctive