Skulls

Added this beauty to my collection. Harvested in the NWT and professionally clean by a taxidermist.

is that a snowy owl behind the skull?

Yes it is.

very nice.

Does not seem to have a high arch above the eyes , so not a Grizzly then

what are the measurements ?

It is a young Polar Bear.

Scooter I think it would be good to hear the story that goes with the picture ,that is if it is not to controversial !

It was purchased from an Inuit hunter and all appropriate permits were obtained before I had it cleaned by a taxidermist for my small collection.

Thanks Scooter ,we will never know the good part and I suppose that is best in light of the way a large majority of folks think these days .Several years ago there was story about a pest bear that some Inuits followed into the willows on a river island and the kid got it with a Mini 14 as it was coming to him .I think they believed it to be a Grizzly but it turned out to be a Polar .

Polar bears are killed in Alaska by natives for subsistence purposes and are also killed around towns, villages for safety reasons. Natives also kill whales and the carcass is a big attractant for bears.

Saw a big whale carcass the other day that washed ashore last year. 3 p. bears on it. Not much left but still enough for the bears to come to it a year after washed ashore. A big whale can take a long while to get down to just bones. Some really big bones there cleaned by the small sea creatures, the water n weather for someones if they want.

Easy way to clean bones if you live near salt water is to throw them in box with holes for the small sea creatures and fish to get in. Don't have to bother with cutting all the meat off but cutting skin off helps. The small sea life does a great job and you only have to bleach afterwards. Have a solid bottom in your box so that smaller bones and teeth do not fall out to the water bottom.

The closest salt water near Scooter is on Lake Winnipegosis , Salt point area north of Water Hen and it is X 10 the level of the ocean and fresh water shrimp would do the deed in a day
historically they dried salt there for the HBC to use in the pemmican trade

Explain that one N50. Are you saying 10X level of salinity of ocean? Missing something here. Shrimp survive in that?

yes it is a very high level of salinity. Yes there are quite a few invertebrates that survive. It is a majour molting spot for redheads and cans because of this food source

There is a multi million dollar industry harvesting brine shrimp eggs in the Great Salt Lake of Utah. Not to get off topic, that skull turned out beautiful. Have been told that if you clean one in the sea to make sure it doesn’t come in contact with the bottom or it will absorb mud.

Yes good point on the mud 3 Finger.