When I was a teenager I found a lot of red fox skulls in the woods. It’s fascinating how different they are, each of them is one of a kind. Some of them have short snouts, others are very narrow or have a bone disease. And one of them has a special dentition. See pictures and more info under the cut!
Actually it was my playmate who found that skull. We were in a forest near our school and next to the path we walked was a fox skeleton! I think a hunter killed and skinned it and left its body left behind. Some hunters don’t care if their “leftovers” are in sight or reach of children… Well, good for me! xD
I totally forgot that I named the skulls in the past time. This skull got the name “Wegelagerer”, which means highwayman. I only took the skull but unfortunately it had a few teeth missing. Too bad, because its upper right canine was still a baby tooth! At first I didn’t notice it.
It was an adult fox, maybe in its best years. I don’t think that it was an old fox, because the teeth are in a good condition.
That tiny hole looks so ridiculous next to the bigger canine hole.
Oh look, there’s a little cavity in its upper jaw! It looks fully healed, so it must be an older wound. Maybe the fox had a fight with another fox and they bite each other in their mouth?
There is also a tooth completely broken off. It looks like the bone started to grow over it, so I think it wasn’t post-mortem. What an interesting skull!
There are several tiny scratches all over the skull. A hungry shrew gnawed on it! Once I saw a shrew in an almost rotten fox body. It wasn’t shy and I was able to watch it eating a long time. It was cute but weird, too. Normally shrews are death when inside a fox ;)
I really love my fox skulls. Even if there are so many I can’t give a single one away <3
And that was definitely not the last post about fox skulls!
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