raccoon skull

I found this skull during a biology lab. We were walking in the woods, and I noticed something that stood out off the path. When I went to look, I found this skull. If you look closely at the eye sockets, and just above the right nostril, you can see where local rodents had knawed away some of the bone. I find it interesting how much space is left for brains. When you compare it to other animals of similar size and shape, you realize there's definately a good reason behind the raccoon's reputation for cleverness. If you look at a possum skull, or even a dog skull, there's a lot more space given to jaw muscles and a lot less to brains. I think possums do a lot more biting than thinking.

home

here's some pictures from the birdfeeder back home. I threw in a shot of some work the beavers in my woods have been doing this winter down by the marsh

P6010016

P6010016
Originally uploaded by fishertrack.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/43461071@N00/3813257/

smallP6260021

smallP6260021
Originally uploaded by fishertrack.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/43461071@N00/3810912/

smallP6260032

smallP6260032
Originally uploaded by fishertrack.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/43461071@N00/3810904/

smallP6260019

smallP6260019
Originally uploaded by fishertrack.

here's the rest of the photoshttp://www.flickr.com/photos/43461071@N00/3810876/

smallP6260006

smallP6260006
Originally uploaded by fishertrack.

ok, so i'm trying a new method of posing pictures, so we'll see ho this workshttp://www.flickr.com/photos/43461071@N00/3810873/

the rest...

pictures......

I'm still trying to get pictures to work with this, I don't know why they won't, but I'll keep trying.

..."tracking is like dancing, because your body is happy"...

I went tracking the other day, and found some pretty good stuff. the track on the right is coyote I think, and the one on the left is a rabbit trail with a red fox trail coming in on the side. I'm not entirely certain that it's red fox, but I'm pretty sure- the scale matches up pretty well, though you cancheck for yourself - the black lens cap on the closeup below the fisrt two is a little less than two inches in diameter. I suppose it could also be a coyote, but it would have to be a small one...



below is a long shot of the trail - not too fast, but a pretty good clip.
I also found a couple rabbit kills. I believe the one shown here was the work of a coyote due the the scat at the site(also shown). there were bird tracks everywhere, mostly crow I think.
sorry, i forgot to put a scale indicatorby the scat, but the two clumps together were about 4-five inches long.

we'll see how this goes

ummm, i'm attempting this for the hell of it, so we'll see where it goes...
I'm a tracking enthusiast, and enjoy hiking. I've got a gecko, and I figured I'd post a picture of him. His name is Wade, and he leads about as exiting a life as you would expect from a leopard gecko - he lies under a rock all day.
That's him, such as he is. I suppose that as I get the hang of this, I'll be able to make this a bit more interesting. If I can't I guess I'll try a different sort of personal site.