@did-you-say-bones - Tumblr Blog

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meglyman

Uh oh I found a new thing I love to paint

It may not be pretty, but it's emotional

meglyman

More roadkill paintings!

meglyman

Another! *mug smash*

meglyman

Can't stop won't stop

meglyman

The last partially mummified skull in the yard: done!

meglyman

But wait! There's more!

meglyman

I'm incapable of stopping

meglyman

M O R E

meglyman

Ribcage snow

meglyman

Just your usual Easter holiday activity

meglyman

This bear's ears were eaten off. Less cute now

pacificremains

Here's a way to honor the carcasses you can't take home.

hapalopus

wolfforce58205deads

Sometimes it's fun to shoot holes in your own beliefs to challenge them. I've been doing that a lot lately in my head and figured I may as well get it out there for accountability.

Thinking about the 'ethics' of collecting animal remains and the like and my personal boundaries with it.

For this post I'll focus on fur farming.

I'm honestly rather indifferent with it. To me it's not all that different than farming for meat, wool, eggs, and the like. Animals are bred, raised, and slaughtered (whether it be for use, health, or age) for our benefit. We keep them in what are usually unnatural conditions and for consumers we hope the animals are raised with care. There are farms that go above and beyond, there's the bulk of average farms, and there's farms that are outright abusive. There's likely always improvements that we could make. I'll happily play devil's advocate with it for the sake of being argumentative. Fur is a renewable textile. That said, most people don't need fur, and it's gone from a textile needed for survival to a status symbol of wealth, for the most part. Fur is associated with luxury. Yes, people still use fur for utility or culture, but it's indisputable that the bulk of the current fur market -especially in regards to fur farming- is for luxury fashion.

Personally, I'm generally against a lot of fashion as a concept given the current age of fast fashion and micro trends leading to immense amounts of waste. Fur isn't excluded from this, even though the high costs and durability tend to keep the fur in use. The issue presented here isn't the material so much as it is the supply. The currently clothing supply can keep something like the next 5-6 generations clothed, if memory serves me right. We are currently producing literal mountains of waste via clothing. The primary purpose for fur farming is textile use.

So how can we justify the continuous supply and killing of animals for this end? While someone like me may be interested in a tail or skull or a pelt to be mounted and others may be interested in things like mink oil derived from fat for leather conditioning or cosmetics or maybe some choice stray hairs for fly tying we're not the primary consumer base or target audience for fur farming practices.

And the bones aren't usually reserved, it's hard to justify the effort for the farmer or people assisting with pelting, and these are unlikely to land in the second-hand market. And given the current popularity of animal oddities and the market at large there's no way we could rely on existing stock to cover the market.

So when all is said and done how do we justify not just current fur farming practice, but current textile producing practices in general? Is it right to demonize one without criticizing others? Or is it simply harm reduction? Next, what about the ends justifying the means? Everyone who wasn't born yesterday knows that to get a fur pelt you need to skin a dead animal. Same generally goes for obtaining bones. The price of any animal oddity is a life no matter how it's sourced. I'm not going to factor that into this discussion since this is oddities based and not examining alternatives (though I'd like to do one of these breakdowns for faux oddities later). At the end of the day a fox is dead whether it died on a farm, on a road, in a trap, in a sanctuary, or in the wild. When we examine not just the price of lives, but the resources that go into the product, does that change how we see it?

I've seen other friends mention the types of animals being farmed should be a consideration, like a predator versus a prey animal (think fox vs rabbit). While it's hard if not impossible to scale up to compete with modern fur farm operations, rabbits can sustainably be raised on pastures like the above photo, even being used for things like invasive weed control (something I'm considering implementing seasonally in my own yard). They are a smaller animals who don't need immense amounts of space, and most importantly they can be raised on forage that's easily renewed. Now compare that to raising foxes, who require meat so you're adding more food chain levels into the resource supply, should take up more space purely by nature of being larger animals (although cage standards are based off of older research examining cortisol levels which actually have led to reductions in cage sizing than what was offered in the past), and take substantially longer to grow (rabbits need to grow for about 4-5 months for a good pelt, while foxes need to grow for 9-12 months).

There's also questions about quality of life. A chinchilla will be happy if provided simple comforts like dirt baths, wheels to run in, or wood to chew on. A mink, on the other hand, is happiest when they can exist semi-aquatically, which many farms don't provide due to associated costs and the added complications and work that comes with maintaining an aquatic level of caging. Providing a new stick to chew on is easy. Providing a swimming area isn't. Even studies that have examined if this could be done without terrible increases in space and expense have to admit it adds to the amount of work that goes into it, as well as additional mortality risks (now the animal can drown, get a bacterial infection, the farmer has to consider how to control things like mosquito larvae, etc.). When examining fur farmed animals as a whole versus other species we have to take into account not just things like food and water and space but also consider the human aspect. Electricity. Oil/gas. Caging materials and nest boxes and other supplies. Wild-obtained animals don't typically require these additional resources, or at least to the same extent. Is a matter of the ethics of fur farming simply a matter of species choice? Enclosure setup? Resources needed? Effort? The biggest factor with fur that lets people rally against it is the need. In modern times most people don't need fur. There's a lot of alternatives, there's a global market, and it's especially hard to justify the use of farmed fur when so many animals are already killed for other purposes that we could take from instead. The only thing is the raccoon raiding a small farmer's chicken coop likely won't have the same quality of fur as a tanuki raised on a fur farm, and for all the hunting permits in the world you can't guarantee outcome. As well as wild fur auctions do it still doesn't fill the fur market's demand. While this may be fine for the oddities market this doesn't bode well for the primary fur market: textiles.

So what's my conclusion after all of this? Do I still feel rather indifferent to fur farming, something I've indirectly and somewhat directly financially supported in the past?

I think going forward I wouldn't go out of my way for any fur farmed item. In the past when soft mounts were a new craze I remember wanting different colored red fox morphs and had grand plans of seeking out a variety of mounts. I've still got a couple pelts in my possession that I would like to see mounted, and am waiting on things from a few people I paid darn-near if not a decade ago that were sourced from fur farms. But I'm not going to buy tails at stores or booths like I used to, save for a thrift store or other second-hand shop. I'm not comfortable doing that anymore the same way I'm not comfortable buying tchotchkes or t-shirts from stores like Walmart or Target. While I don't see an animal dying via anal electrocution or heart-stopping injections or suffocating from carbon monoxide poisoning as innately more cruel than dying by being bludgeoned by a vehicle or attacked by another animal or shot in the vitals I don't see a justifiable reason to create more product when so much currently exists. I do also have a renewed desire to advocate for more welfare standards to exist for fur farming, especially with new research into enrichment and caging size and materials. While studies have been done in the past measuring physical aspects like cortisol I'd love to see modern studies done with behaviorists involved.

aydenburd-photography

Corpse eyes are always really wild.

deadbirdsdaily

Prep No. KHE89

The main muscles that power flight are located in the chest of the bird, but thin tendons connect these muscles to control specific motions of the wings. Though a little morbid, during prep, it’s incredibly educational (and maybe fun…) to experiment with which tendons control which movements.

And I think that’s the last pelican post!

zooophagous

The fucked up sculpture I bought from one of my favorite artists got delivered today hee hee ho ho

zooophagous

Isn't she gorgeous? It's a taxidermy of a fox depicted mid-skinning, with the musculature and blood depicted with the use of glittering rhinestones. I've been obsessed with this sculpture since the artist posted it years ago, and always hoped it would be for sale. So when it popped up for sale I immediately had to nab it.

Credit for this work of art goes to Nick DelCastillo, @ranbidermy on Instagram. If you haven't seen his taxidermy work, you should definitely check him out. His pieces are as beautiful as they are provocative.

elbiotipo

why bother caring about the environment when 1. It’s so obviously a lost cause and 2. There’s definitely going to be a nuclear war?

And what are you doing about it Anon? Learn about ecological restoration or get out of my way.

elbiotipo

If you read ecology books printed in the 70s and 80s, they were absolutely convinced that whales and tigers would not survive the century. There's a whole plot in Star Trek about how whales are extinct actually. Here in Argentina, we were sure that yaguaretés would have gone extinct. It was thought that rainforests would be forever lost, because there was no way that such complex ecosystems would be restored.

Now, you can go to Península Valdés and find that the whale population there is growing year after year, people can see them from their windows. In Iberá, where yaguaretés were extinct for over 70 years, there's now a population of 35 and growing, after being reintroduced just five years ago. As for rainforests?

We've becoming very, very good on restoring them. Natural environments, when given space and time to heal, can return to that they were. And after all, all natural enviroments are managed by human societies. It is up to us to implement a good management, un buen gobierno.

I firmly believe our children and grandchildren will see a restoration of Earth like never before.

Millions of people are working on this. You can learn about it, perhaps even become one of them. Or be a pointless doomer in my ask box. Your choice.

crabussy

if there are people who care, it's never a lost cause. at one point, kākāpō, a nocturnal flightless parrot species from aotearoa, were thought to be entirely extinct for decades. until 1977, where booming calls from males were heard on the small island of whenua hou. now, thanks to people who care so much they dedicated their lives to caring, kākāpō numbers are close to 300. despite the setbacks. despite the small gene pool causing infertility and health problems. people cared so fucking much that they survived. this is one of COUNTLESS, countless similar stories. I'm studying ecology so that I can go into conservation and all around me, every day, I see people who care enough to put years of their lives into learning about and solving environmental problems. I don't know man. hope isn't just some nebulous thing. it's tangible if you do something with it.

kedreeva

Tim Wong saw the decline of the pipeline swallowtail butterfly, and dedicated himself to providing habitat and raising babies, and it worked.

Spix's Macaws were extinct in the wild for 70 years, and now captive breeding and conservation groups have reintroduced a small population (with more on the way) and there are babies being successfully raised in the wild again.

And what else is there, but hope? We exist for the grace of hope. Those who have lost all hope don't stay here. If you are here to send an ask like this, it is not because you have given up, it's that you are hoping someone will show you that that hope is worth having.

It is!! It always is!!

There will be good things and if you cannot find them, make them! The time will pass anyway, you can choose what to do with it, and so many, many people are choosing to try to help.

coinin

The Lord Howe Island rodent eradication project never fails to make me cry, it’s so beautiful.

The population of an entire island working together to eradicate every last rat and mouse to save the native bird populations. They had to trap a bunch of the birds and keep them in captivity so they wouldn’t be hurt by the rodenticides, and released them after the rodents were gone. Normal residents helped by phoning in tips whenever they saw rodents. And they did it. Lord Howe Island, last I read, remains rodent free, and the native bird populations are rebounding!

Acid rain and the hole in the ozone layer, both of which were terrifying specters of my childhood, have been largely dealt with. Ecosystems devastated by acid rain are also recovering.

We are making a difference!

aetherograph

In 1979, an audacious, expensive conservation project was begun to try and breed california condors in captivity toward being released into the wild again. This was considered useless and hopeless by many people, but many more people said we had to at least TRY.

In 1991, the first captive-raised condors were re-introduced to Big Sur, Pinnacles, and Bitter Creek.

In 2006, three months before I turned eighteen, the first wild pair of condors was seen nesting in Big Sur in over a hundred years. A hundred years.

We did that. We fixed it.

How about another example.

When my mom was small, in the 1960s, there were many, many days of the year she was not allowed outside. Days and days they had recess indoors, because the air was so poisonous to breathe. Here's an article about it, with some good pictures.

My mom was 13 in the picture on the left. She was 50 in the picture on the right.

In 1987, there were 27 California Condors in the world, all captive.

In 2024, there were 566.

369 of them fly free.

That happened within my lifetime, and I'm not even 40 yet.

When you lose hope, think of our stories we're telling you. Recount them to yourself like a prayer. That's what I do.

There are 369 California Condors flying free in the sky right now.

There is no more acid rain.

There is an ozone.

There are wild tigers.

There are still birds on Lord Howe Island.

There are 369 California Condors flying free.

the-prophesied-disco-gay

A friend stopped by

szethsmom

Raccoon premolars, ancient (Pleistocene Florida) and modern (2025, Midwestern United States)

mossymossman

Okay, I have thoughts about bone collecting. I think it's one of the most respectful and beautiful things. Especially when you are processing and dealing with fresh or decomposing carcasses. You have to carefully watch and mind the body. Then you clean each bone individually and carefully, and then you sterilize it. And it's intimate. Like you hold a creature's skull in your hand, and you carefully clean it, and you love it, and it lives on. Maybe you make it into art, maybe you display it, maybe you wear it. But that creature lives on. The whole process is also an incredibly intense confrontation with death and the process associated with it. "This is what I will turn into when I die." It's a scary process, it's gross, it smells, and it's beautiful. I remember wondering how I would feel if someone displayed or made art out of my body when I started collecting bones. For a long time, I didn't know. But, I think I would like to. I would like someone to care for my body and help it transition as I become bones. I would like someone to carefully wipe down each bone. I think that would be nice.

roadside-reaper

Katahdin ewe lamb suddenly passed away. We suspect worms. I wanted to share some more of the process this time- So far she’s been washed and fleshed, and now she’s getting salted.

arsanatomica

About 10 years ago I was working for a gaming company doing creature design. After work, I would go home and dissect animals in my garage. I borrowed a tiger carcass from a local taxidermist. I wanted to understand how the jaw muscles worked, so I stop motion animated it.

The muscle on the back of the head (Temporalis) bulges out when the jaw is closed. But when the is jaw is open, it depresses in like the surface of a trampoline. But not uniformly, in a Y shaped pattern.

I ended up getting evicted for stop motion animating tiger parts in my garage…..but it was worth it. I still have hard drives full of animal carcasses reference animations today. Fun Times.

arsanatomica

I've gotten a lot of questions about this animal. He was an 11 year old male living at a big cat sanctuary. He DID NOT die of natrual causes. He was euthanized. He had VERY ADVANCED spondyloarthropathy.

This is an autoimmune condition found in about 5% of big cats, and has been documented in sabor-tooth tigers. Basically, his immune system kept attacking his joints causing them to erode and weaken over time. This meant that he grew TONS of bone spurs that were breaking, healing and rebreaking all the time. By age 11, his spine had mostly fused into a solid rod, and he was in significant pain and also couldnt walk.

brokenmusicboxwolfe

I know I don’t usually post dead things. I take the pics but they don’t seem appropriate for Tumblr.

Still, when I found this this head out by the swamp today I wanted to share it with someone…and you folks are all I have. I mean look at the fishy’s teeth from inside the skull!

Yes, I hauled it home and put it where “still got some rottin’ to do but I want it later” stuff gets stashed.

What? It’s not like the critter needs it anymore!

(I suppose I inherited this habit from Pop. He could never pass up a cool skull. Or bone. Or shell, Or leaf. Or feather. Or rock. Or stick. Or…. LOL)