The Plot Thickens: New Skull and Bones Discovery
While driving to the Thompson Park Longbridge Annex in Lincroft, New Jersey last Friday afternoon, I noticed this large tree on the side of the road that had been split in two about 6 feet up its trunk.
I could tell that it was fairly recent, based on the coloring of the splintered wood. And I also surmised that the plastic pink ribbon that was wrapped around the trunk of the tree was put there by the township to mark trees that are slated to be removed.
There were several trees on that road with such markings.
But this particular tree caught my attention because I could see a bunch of orange stuff sitting up on top of the part of the trunk that was still grounded.
So I pulled over to take a look.
And what I found were a bunch of animal bones literally sitting atop the tree, and the orange stuff looked to me like it was some kind of carpeting material.
On further inspection in and around the tree, I found other bones and also a small skull (in the broken off downed portion of the tree).
This skull was similar in size and shape to the skull I found and shared in my earlier @steemit post entitled:
In that post I thought it might be a baby red fox or a raccoon skull, but @haphazard-hstead postulated that it could also likely be a canine skull of some kind. Sounds reasonable to me, because I'm certainly no osteologist!!!
But regarding this new skull, I feel it's highly unlikely to be dog bones and a dog skull. I think this was an animal that was living in this old, rotted, hollowed out trunk. How it met its death I have no idea.
I also have no idea how that carpeting ended up inside this big tree, unless it was some animal that gathered it and put it there, maybe for nesting material?
After examining some of these bones, I took the liberty to position them together to take a group photo (see below).
So I'm wondering, could these bones and skull possibly be from an opossum or a raccoon?
The original farm house at the Thompson Park Longbridge Annex.
All images (except as noted) @cognoscere and taken on 03/03/2017 and 03/06/2017 on Longbridge Road in Lincroft, New Jersey near the Thompson Park Longbridge Annex
(Sony RX100 V)
I would guess the carpeting was meant as a nest or home for some animal.
The skull looks a bit big for a raccoon.
Thats a cool find though. Birds of prey could have fed the babies there. Not sure how big the birds are in ur neck of the woods but if it was from a bird like an eagle or falcon they do eat people pets so it could be small dog.
Cool find. Always pays to stop and smell the roses. Thanks for sharing
Great points @solarguy! Now all I can picture is a red-tailed hawk swooping down out of the sky and scooping up poor sparky in his fancy little knitted orange vest that Grandma made 😳
You sure are good at finding animal bones! And you take good photos of them, too!
The easy thing to say, is that it's not an American Opossum. They have such a tiny brain case and they have 50 teeth. Your skull has only 10 on each side for the top part of the skull, so that's 40 or 42 teeth total. So not a 'possum.
Raccoons have 40 teeth and a dog has 42. The two 'extra' teeth are in the bottom jaw, in the very front teeth. I can't see them from your photos. I think a raccoon skull seems really round, with a shortened and really sloped face - shorter than your skull. But the center little teeth in the bottom jaw would be the check on that.
Either way, we can tell that this is an older, or at least a mature animal, because of the raised crest on top of the brain case, where the muscles attach. Younger animals don't have that.
So here's my take, from the other side of the Internet, lol. I think someone had a older dog that died. Rather than bury it, they took it to a hollow in a tree, and laid it to rest on a piece of carpet that they put there. To me, that makes more sense than a piece of carpet just being there and then a raccoon dies there. If it's a dog, someone must have cared enough to put it in a special place.
What I love about this is all the other possibilities that you can entertain about the actual story. It's fascinating to me that it could be what you suggest or what @solarguy suggests. Both very plausible but, I must confess, I would never have come up with those theories on my own. Thanks for helping to play detective!!!
What is interesting is the length of the long leg bones! Very cool indeed!
Thanks @old-guy-photos! Yeah, those straight bones are unusual.
I have other theories. Were there any scorch marks nearby, on any of the trees or rocks of the area...from a high vantage point?
No, not that I could see.
Ok, that wild theory is out the window. Would have kept some folks on the site up at night anyway...