Skull of European badger (Meles meles) - maxilla and cranium

Uploaded on request from ThylacineAlive.

As my girlfriend Hel lives out in the Northumberland countryside, we sometimes come across interesting animal remains. If the remains are in good condition, and are of a noteworthy species, I have taken to collecting them if possible and burying them in Hel\'s garden, for later exhumation and cleaning. Study of these bones has improved my knowledge of the morphology of native UK wildlife.

TLD did you see yesterdays Telegraph magazine by any chance? it has a 4 Page spread on a guy who collects such things he has House full of skulls skeletons etc.
dean

I do bone preparation too, both local, domestic & zoo species included, and must say that burying (and boiling also, as many hunters do) isn't correct option for cleaning bones, if it's not a whale
They're either cleaned by dermestid beetles, or by maceration (with help of bacteria, smelly though), then degreased & whitened. The result is 200% better than unearthed or boiled skull/skeleton.
Check here: Skulls and Skeletons
And this Flickr page Flickr: JC-Osteo's Photostream - you'll find badgers here too.

Elephas Maximus said:

I do bone preparation too, both local, domestic & zoo species included, and must say that burying (and boiling also, as many hunters do) isn't correct option for cleaning bones, if it's not a whale
They're either cleaned by dermestid beetles, or by maceration (with help of bacteria, smelly though), then degreased & whitened. The result is 200% better than unearthed or boiled skull/skeleton.
Check here: Skulls and Skeletons
And this Flickr page Flickr: JC-Osteo's Photostream - you'll find badgers here too.

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The difference being that when you are an amateur with little money, obtaining and maintaining dermestid beetles is infeasible! I never boil bones - this forces the fat deep into the bones, making the process of degreasing infinitely more difficult.

I do macerate smaller animals, and everything I macerate or bury is later degreased. But anything bigger than about badger size is best buried in my experience. The stoat which I have also uploaded a photograph was buried due to another animal being on the go at the time.

By the by, I am familiar with the above forum.

I don't have beetles & extra money either, and macerate everything that fits into bucket.
Dermestids can easily be caught in summer, and some people managed to raise their colonies from a single female. Just try it. Soon there will be enough to clean small bird, shrew or rodent.
My first dermestids were of a wrong species, very small one that destroys insect collections and has fluffy larvae - of course they're too lazy to eat dried meat.
Is the badger completed already, or the pictures are taken just after it was dug up?
BTW what's your nickname on TN?

Elephas Maximus said:

Is the badger completed already, or the pictures are taken just after it was dug up?
BTW what's your nickname on TN?

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Dug it up some weeks ago - it is midway through the degreasing process currently. As I am only up in Northumberland - where I keep the bones - once a fortnight it is easier to degrease them at a lower temperature for a longer period of time, rather than worrying about them not being attended to.

I only read the TN forums - I do not have a profile.

Elephas Maximus said:

I don't have beetles & extra money either, and macerate everything that fits into bucket.

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Maybe you should start a new thread? There are at least 3 men in this forum who interested in taxidermy.

By the way I have received positive response to the proposal for the organization of the museum in our zoo. But "initiative is punishable", of course you know what I mean

callorhinus said:

Maybe you should start a new thread? There are at least 3 men in this forum who interested in taxidermy.

By the way I have received positive response to the proposal for the organization of the museum in our zoo. But "initiative is punishable", of course you know what I mean

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Sounds great, good luck

Sorry for long non-replying, have to compose a long mail message yet.
"Initiative is punishable" in my case too - they rush me to articulate a real dragon skeleton, and the wings have to arrive yet (from a fruit bat). The rest bones are from iguana.
And you got a responsibility that animals will look good, or what?

A separate wildlife/zoo taxidermy thread is a nice idea. However, pics of taxidermy specimens exhibited in zoos are already shown in most zoo galleries, or, in the case of wildlife - in country galleries.

Maybe personal gallery is a better option.
And, there'll always be controversial people who are against using any dead animals, no matter how they lived and died.
They'll post comments like this: 'oh poor little monkey, why not letting it rest in peace? You humans are disgusting!', etc.
In many zoos, iconic animals like great apes are often cremated to avoid bad PR from zoo/museum visitors. As in the case with Snofwlake the gorilla from Barcelona zoo, who was the only albino of his species ever known.
He was turned into ashes which were used to grow a tree... Just useless soft tissues could be enough for the ceremony!
And remember the reaction of Knut's fans to the decision of his preservation. 'Don't make him stuffed!'. Several petitions were launched against it.
In fact, when Knut's mount was being made, it was called 'an artistic sculpture using a real fur' - just a description of modern taxidermy method. Nothing about stuffing, don't cry little kids.