Beaver Skull (1) - a photo on Flickriver

Beaver Skull (1)

            Skull from an American Beaver, Castor canadensis. The European beaver, which is larger, and this species are the only extant members of their family (Castoridae), but their next closest living relatives are squirrels - makes sense after seeing those huge teeth! This entire skull is about 6 inches, or 14 cm, long - and very tall and wide, as well. Impressive for a rodent! After the European beaver and Capybara, it's the 3rd-largest extant rodent.

During my last sampling trip, my mom found a partially mummified beaver laying on the creek bank. Since they're not a common animal, I didn't want it to go to waste, especially since the skeleton was complete. I had a bit of a tough time relieving the remains of this skull, and hung it up outside awhile to dry off more. Then a few rounds of soaking and scrubbing with hydrogen peroxide and hot water to get off the small remaining bits of flesh. I did do one short hot bleach soaking to sanitize it more, but too much bleach makes bones brittle, I've read. Once it was pretty well cleaned off, I boiled it in a junk pot I found and brought home for just such a project, and then put a coat of clear spraypaint on every surface of every piece for sanitary reasons. The teeth were all glued in place with epoxy (except for the exemplary removable incisors, shown out), as was the broken lower jaw symphysis. Those two incisors were what really got my attention about this skull - they slide into long sheaths, but are incredibly long! The ear bones are also very interesting, as they're somewhat loose in the skull and project upwards (their ears are on the top of the head). 

Nikkor 60 macro, SB-600 bounced from ceiling and mixed with ambient light (longer exposure, on tripod).

Taken on: August 25, 2010

Tags:

american

beaver

canadensis

castoridae

giant

rodent

skull

teeth

incisors

skeleton

skeletal

remains

oklahoma

nikon

d60

nikkor

macro

micro

sb-600

speedlight

speedlite

flash « less

Sets appears in: • Non-domestic mammals • Miscellaneous

Groups appears in: • Tulsa • Oklahoma more » • Oklahoma Photographers • Everything Oklahoma • Studio Photography • Self Taught Photographers - LOOK AT DISCUSSIONS FIRST! • Oklahoma Through My Eyes • Nikon D60 Club • The Neighborhood Ecologist • I did not know that! • Nature Nerds « less

Camera: Nikon D60, f/13.0, 1/15 sec, 60mm (=90mm), ISO 400 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D60
Aperture:	f/13.0
Exposure Time:	0.067 sec (1/15)
Focal Length:	60mm (35mm equivalent: 90mm)
ISO:	400
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Auto, Fired, Return detected
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Gain Control:	Low gain up
Contrast:	High
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows
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