𓍊𓋼𓋼(୨୧˶ᵕᴗᵕ˶)𓋼𓋼𓍊

Here’s all the bones I’ve recovered from a squirrel that died during a big summer heatwave last year. I do also have the paws and tail, which I preserved as whole pieces in borax, but they aren’t included in these photos, just the bones. 

The body of the squirrel was buried, and it took me two rounds of digging it up and burying it again to get all of what I have here. I dug it up twice because only some bones were ready enough to come out the first time, while the rest still had a lot of tissue that still needed to decompose. 

After digging them up and letting them sit in water for a while to make sure all the tissue was eaten away at, I washed them with soap and water, then gave them a soak in hydrogen peroxide. 

Once all the cleaning was done, I gave them the same stain treatment that I give all my bones. I stained them with some hot water and instant coffee, because I like the “aged” look it it gives them. 

Some bones are broken and I’m sure I didn’t get all of them in the end, but I’m still very happy with what I was able to find! <|:^)

I’m very happy with how these bones turned out! I think this is the best batch I’ve done so far!!! (๑˃ᴗ˂)ﻭ ♡～('▽^人) ❀ They’re from a crow that landed in our yard and passed away naturally near the beginning of May this year. 

The body was buried with a wooden board underneath so the bones wouldn’t get as displaced. Of course, some parts did go missing, but I’m still extremely pleased with the amount that I was able to retrieve! ( ◡‿◡ )

After digging them up, they still had some tissue on them, so I used the water maceration method and let them soak in a bucket of water for quite a while. Some of the bones are actually still in the the water bucket, since they still have some stubborn bits stuck on them, so this isn’t quite all of them. 

I gave them a stain with some instant coffee and hot water. Now here they are! (ﾉ>ω<)ﾉ·₊˚𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂˚₊·

(Also, I do know about the Canadian Mirgatory Bird Act, don’t worry. ) 

✧d(•̀ v•̀ ) Happy Mabon, Autumnal Equinox and Bi Visibility day!!

A sparrow skull I recently dug up from my yard, it’s from the same sparrow that I preserved the wings and feet from in a previous post a while ago. The beak part wasn’t on it and the very delicate and cracked skull was all I managed to find. Though it does kinda remind me of a weevil’s face, because some weevils have got those litte snout things. 

There’s also a piece of bone I randomly found in my yard at the same time, it’s probably food-related and a crow or something just dropped it. The tiny thing is a very small, broken snail shell I found under the hedge next to my yard. 

I tried dyeing them in instant coffee this time and it ended up a lot more pigmented than I was expecting. So the pieces ended up being very dark, especially the skull, but I think it’s interesting though, makes them more unique <|:^)

A rat head was left in our yard by a neighbourhood cat, so I tried just water maceration for the first time. I think it worked out really well and it didn’t take too long either. I think the little teeth are probably my favourite part <|:^D

After the bones were completely clean and dry, I decided to give them a couple rounds of staining with coffee, since I like the more aged, non-pristine look it gives them. 

My big doofus hands did break a fragile part of the snout area of the skull, but I’m still proud of how my bones came out ♡( ◡‿◡ )

Also, since I’m no anatomy expert, and since this specific rat was so small, so some of the pieces are harder to recognize, if anyone knows the terms for some of the specific parts, feel free to share some information in the replies and stuff if you’d like! :)

These bone fragments are from a mole that I found dead in my backyard a while ago last year. This is all I was able to find and dig up recently, probably because it was such a small animal and I maybe left it underground too long and things got displaced or eaten away at more, I don’t really know ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But I’m at least happy that I was able to find some of it. 

(I also stained them with coffee, so that’s why they have that colouring.)

I’m not completely sure what each of the bones and pieces are, so if anyone has an idea of the identification of what the parts are, that would be very helpful! ʕ •ᴥ•ʔゝ☆