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Odocoileus hemionus
I was hiking down a tiny canyon with my dad when we found this unfortunate fellow… I wanted to stick around and take pictures, but there were very fresh big cat tracks in the sand around the bones, so we kept walking.
High desert canyon.
Happy Halloween!
15 Comments
Please consider adding this picture to the "Identifying Animals Through Osteology" Mission! http://www.projectnoah.org/missions/8475...
Thanks Fiana and Carol... it was a very odd thing to find. There was almost no flesh left on the bones, but the joints in the neck and spine were still flexible. So it was very fresh.
Yes, weird and crazy! Good find!
Oh wow, it's weird how the whole skeleton is so intact.
It does kind of look like a deer-headed caterpillar now that you mention it. :)
First picture looks like a caterpillar with a deer head
Thanks Alice... I was really excited about it even though I felt bad for the poor deer.
I finally got back to look at the footprints, those look pretty big to me. Good work!
Thanks CorduneauVlad and Longmustache. I'm pretty confident about the tracks based on others I've seen... These were definitely at least 3.5 inches long. Here's a pretty good comparison of bobcat and mountain lion tracks, with coyote thrown in for good measure: http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-153... :)
Amazing spotting!
Nice shot of the cat tracks. I'm no expert but by the looks of it, I would suggest bob cat tracks. I think cougar tracks should be larger.
Hi Alice, and thanks for the nice comment! Pictures 3 and 5 are of the cat tracks... the first with my hand for scale and the second with money. :)
A Big Find for Signs of Wildlife! Thanks. Perhaps you should have taken a picture of the big cat tracks also.
Thanks Karen... I thought it was really spooky!
Great spot - & very appropriate for halloween!