At the end of every year so far that I have been writing my blog, I have written about the five skulls I hope to collect in the next year. Most of the time I have been really lucky, and I have found them, but there have always been some that I didn't find. It helps me think about what I can collect over the next year, and where I might find them.
What I hoped to find in 2010: (I got three out of five !)
At the end of 2009, I wrote about hoping to find these in 2010:
- An owl skull...which I got in a swap.
- A complete sheep skull....which I found myself
- A cow skull....which I didn't find in 2010, but I did get in 2011.
- A red deer skull with more than 8 points.... which I didn't get either, but I did get one with seven points as well as a fallow buck skull.
- A badger skull....which I got in a swap again and wrote about here.
What I hoped to find in 2011: (I got four out of five !)
At the end of last year, I wrote that I wanted to find these ones:
- A pig skull. I got this in a swap with Mrs Powell which I haven't written about yet.
- A cow skull. I bought this off eBay.
- A skull from an animal that comes from a different country. I got loads of these ! The first one was a surprise present from a skull dealer in the US which was an American beaver skull, but then I got an incredible box of skulls sent to me as a gift which included monkeys, a leopard, a boa constrictor and later an armadillo. I also got a crocodile skull and kangaroo skull I haven't written about yet ! This was a fantastic year for foreign skulls !
- A red deer skull with more than 8 points. I still don't have one !
- A complete roe buck skull, with proper, full grown antlers and lower jaws. I found one and wrote about it here (scroll down to "chewed antlers")
So what would I really like to find in 2012 ?
The five skulls I would really, really like to find in 2012 are these:
- A red deer skull with more than 8 points.
- A roe deer buck that had "perruque head". If a roe deer buck starts to grow antlers, then damages its testicles, then the antler just keeps on growing and growing all over the head and never stops being in velvet. I have never seen a roe deer with this, and it is very rare, but it would be a great skull to get. Here is a picture of a roe deer with perruque.
- A new type of deer skull from the UK, which means it would have to be sika, muntjac or Chinese water deer. There are only red and roe deer around my village.
- A Highland cow skull with horns !
- A polar bear skull ! This might seem an odd one but when I met Chris Packham, he told me a story about how it was a skull he had always wanted, how he almost got one once, and how polar bears are one of the most dangerous predators on earth. I think the polar bear skull would need to already been in the UK, though, because of CITES.
These might seem almost impossible to get, but hopefully I will be lucky again !
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3 comments :
wow! a polar bear skul!!!!!!!!!! dont u need like a permit or sumpin?? i dont know :S
but if u get one, that will be one of the coolest... next to all the other cool skulls you got...
by:Emmy
Hi Jake - congratulations! Your collection is growing very well! Good luck with getting the new specimens you're after.
A Polar Bear skull coming from overseas would need a CITES article 30 certificate, unless it dated from before 1947 and was 'worked' (like if the jaw was properly wired and attached or if the skull was mounted on a plaque) - the it would be considered an antique and be covered by the Antiques Derogation.
@Emmy: only if came from outside the UK.
@Paolo: I'm hoping that I find one myself. There used to be a famous bear that was a film star that lived a few miles from my village and they found lion skulls near Glasgow.
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