#ocean fox

[saltscouredwanderingbones]

While normally I collect single bones along the shore or in the sand dunes (sand dunes are amazing for clean rabbit and rat bones!), last October I found a fox that had already been stripped of its internal organs (and probably some of its bones ☹) washed up on the beach :D. I've always wanted a fox skull and I can do plenty with the rest of the bones, so I took it home and buried it, and dug it up yesterday! I scrubbed as much of the tissue off as i could, and the bones are in water at the moment until my washing agent maceration bucket is emptied on Wednesday. Looking forward to seeing how this turns out!

[saltscouredwanderingbones]

Ok so I decided to take advantage of the gorgeous weather to degrease my bones in the maceration bucket (not pictured). They all had tissue still on them so i got bored and scrubbed at the sea fox a little more 😅, then sorted the bones to get a rough estimate of what i'd got/missed. (Vertebrae and ribs not pictured bc the vertebrae needed a lot of scrubbing and i got bored and slightly cold)

I have:

Skull and both halves of the jaw

Both scapulas

Hips

All of the major leg bones

Most of the foot bones

Most of the vertebrae

Most of the ribs

Pile of teeth (1st pic) incl. 3 fangs

9 claws and 3 claw sheaths

Most of the tail bones

Some connecting bones/stuff I'm not sure of yet

I also think I have an anvil bone from the ear and a part of the hyoid apparatus (second pic)! I'm not sure, and some smaller bones might be mixed in with the larger bones or still in the fox water bin, but i'll buy a sieve before I do anything else.

The weather's been improving so I hope the maceration process speeds up!