Sunya

NuwanChathuranga: Thank you! Luckily, it stayed very still for me to focus on it with the camera.

Emma: Any thoughts of giving up went out the window when curiosity kicked in!

EmilyMarino: Wow, thanks for narrowing down the suspects and providing some more in-depth information! Unfortunately, I accurately can't say how large the skull was, and can probably only make guesses by comparing the size of the reddish fruit in the second image with the skull. The "fruit" is roughly the size of an orange.

How do you think the remains could have been mummified (if they were)? Would it have been because of the cold?

I think I'm going to drop by this weekend and search around a bit, this time armed with a measuring tape and high-res camera, so that hopefully you'll be able to get a better picture of what this animal could have been!

BrandonBlount: Hopefully the rodents won't have munched away everything! Is there anything I should watch out for if I find the bones? Is it okay to touch or flip around with bare hands, or should I don some nitrile gloves? (Will a chupacabra curse get me if I find it?)


Thanks for everyone's helpful information--I'll post an update if I find anything this weekend!

NuwanChathuranga: Yes, it was! Being an amateur nature watcher, I completely missed it. I nearly stepped on it before my coworker warned me and pulled me away. It blended in quite well with all of the dead leaves and branches on the ground!

Emma: Yes, we definitely do get a lot of opossums here, mostly in the rural areas. The opossum skull image you linked to looks close, but as Brandon notes, the top front teeth look fairly long compared to remains I found in the creek.

As for the grey wolf image, my memory is a little hazy, but I do recall white fur scattered everywhere. I don't remember seeing any of the brown fur, but that could have been because it was blending in with the ground.

BrandonBlount: The spacing on the teeth from the fox skull appears similar, but I'm no expert. We do get foxes up here in the foothills, however. As for the chupacabra suggestion...ha ha!

KarenL: One of my coworkers suggested a feral dog as well, although the number of teeth remains a mystery.

CindyBinghamKeiser: Thank you for the link! I'll edit the spotting asap to add the mission and see if anybody else has any guesses.

asergio: I have definitely seen skunks running across the road here at night, and I also thought it could have been a skunk, due to the light & dark fur. Size-wise though, I'm not sure how well it matches up.

Thanks for everyone's help and suggestions! I'm amazed by how much can be gleaned from a few blurry snapshots, and how everyone's analytical and observational skills are top-notch! I wish I had taken more notes and better photographs back then--but that'll have to wait for the next time! Maybe if I stop by later, the bones will still be there, despite the months passing by?