Skull Identification

Have you ever come across a skull and wondered what it was? You can learn answers by asking questions and finding clues. *Note. I am assuming a certain level of understanding with the following pictures and text. If you have questions, you can always ask. That's how lessons work.

Skulls have clues about how an animal lived.

"What clues am I looking for?"

Start asking a series of questions. 

• What sort of teeth does it have? (Molars, canines, none, both?)
• Where are the eyes? (Front or sides?)
• What size is it? (Break out your measure tape.)
• How did it die? (Look for signs of drama.)

There are more basic interrogative questions, (beaks, antlers/horns/etc.) but you get the idea. If you have time to search or buy a skull key, they can be a valuable teaching aid in the classroom, museum, or when someone shows up at your door and goes, "What is this the skull of?"

---

Inspecting a skull

Let's play Sherlock. If you want the full image collection of this skull, you can see Skullduggery here.

If you found the teeth: incisor, canine, premolar, & molar, give yourself 10 points. If you know carnassial teeth, give yourself another 10 points.

Skulls have clues: Keep looking.

'
​Looking at the skull, we can quickly learn a few facts. We know its teeth tell us it eats a varied, omnivorous diet. We know that it's smaller than a wolf. We know that it's eyes point forward. (As the saying goes: "​Eyes in the front, the animal hunts. Eyes ​on the side, the animal hides.")

Coyote cause of death = an impact. If you found the evidence of trauma, give yourself another 10 points.

Nicely done! Skullduggery was a normal, healthy coyote. Until he wasn't. Best of luck with all your skull identifying adventures. Be safe out there!

​
PS: Creative Commons Zero. As in free. As in, do whatever you want. If these images can help you draw, learn, lesson plan, and, whatever commercially you're using a photo of a coyote skull for: knock yourself out. I really don't have time to answer every image request, so know please you have permission, and I'm happy you found something useful here. Cheers!