Expand Your Animal Skull Options
- More options for your comparative anatomy section
- Replica skulls are available from protected species
- Select from different habits, and dietary types
- High quality casting from a real skull
Each of these Skulls is a great addition for a comparative anatomy course, or as part of an overall collection for comparison in a general biology curriculum. Each skull is cast from a mold made from a real specimen, and is finished for a true bone appearance. Now you can show you students the skulls you could only describe before. Individual species are described below.
Owl Monkey: The only truly nocturnal anthropoid primate is found in the northern part of South America. The owl monkey is a small creature with large eyes and usually weighs under 2 lbs. Its hind legs are longer than its arms, which allows for leaping easily from tree to tree. It is believed that they have evolved from diurnal relatives for various reasons, one being their ability to adapt to new environments. Depending on the amount of danger from predators during the day, they can become partially diurnal. Even so, they are most active during full moons. In addition to verbal means, these monkeys rely on olfaction, vision, and touch for communication.
Harbor Seal: Known also as the spotted seal, they can reach 6 feet long and weigh up to 375 pounds. They are the most common of pinnipeds, inhabiting the coastal areas of the Atlantic and Pacific.
Bottlenose Dolphin: The bottlenose dolphin is what comes to mind for most people who picture a dolphin ("Flipper" was a bottlenose dolphin). The largest of the beaked dolphins, they are 8 to 12 feet long and are found mostly in coastal and inshore areas of tropical and temperate waters. Eighteen to 28 sharp conical teeth are contained on each side of each jaw. In addition to making sounds to communicate socially, they create clicking noises in their use of echolocation for locating prey.
Siberian Wolf: The Siberian wolf (also known as the Gray or Timber Wolf) is the largest of the canids. This particular skull features powerful teeth. Although native to the Holarctic region, wolves in the lower 48 states are endangered. It weighs up to 120 lbs. and grows to over 6 feet. Being ancestors of the dog, wolves observe a strict pack hierarchy. Although highly social, wolves hunt both singly and in packs, feeding on large herbivores and small animals.
English Bulldog: Although it is a short dog (standing about 12-15"), the Bulldog is wide and stocky, weighing 50-55 lbs., giving an overall appearance of great stability. The thick body is matched by a broad head with a short, pug muzzle ending with a wide, black nose. The wide, up-turned lower jaw projects noticeably in front of the upper jaw. The floppy flaps of skin that hang past the lower jaw are called "flews" or "chops."
Cougar Skull: Known by many names, for example, puma, American lion, deer tiger, Mexican lion, panther, mountain lion, and catamount, this giant cat makes its home in mountains, deserts and jungles throughout North and South America. Although the voice of the cougar is like that of a domestic cat, only louder, its mating call is a harsh scream.
Grizzly Bear: In the Rocky Mountains, the brown bear has long, white-tipped hairs on its shoulders and back, giving it a grizzled look, thus its common name-grizzly bear. If the bear survives childhood, it may live in the wild up to 30 years. The brown bear is larger than the black bear and also has a hump on its shoulders which the black bear lacks.
Giant Anteater: The giant anteater, found in Central and South America, has a very distinctive appearance, high-lighted by its curved, tubular snout. It reaches lengths of more than 7 feet and weights beyond 80 pounds. Toothless, this gray diurnal mammal feeds by extending its sticky, worm-like tongue up to two feet into termite nests or anthills, drawing the insects into its mouth at the rate of 150 times a minute. When threatened, it stands on its rear legs, using its long, bushy tail for balance, and strikes at its foe with its powerful forelimbs that are accentuated with long, strong claws.
Elephant Shrew: Also known as sengi or black and rufous, the shrew belongs to the ancient order Afrotheria, which includes a wide variety of dissimilar looking animals who originated from a common African ancestor over 100 million years ago. Sengi are small mammals noted for their long flexible nose, long thin legs, large round ears and their unusual lifestyle. They are one of only 3% of all mammals that mate for life. Although they occupy and patrol the same territory, pairs live separate lives and seldom meet. The male and female are in constant communication with a variety of pheromones and musk they secrete and apply from various body glands. Each defends their shared territory from all comers of their same sex. Sengi are commonly called elephant shrews because they have a long, highly mobile nose, which is constantly in motion in search of food, danger and trespassers. They spend their days constantly running up and down well-worn paths constructed throughout their territories. Their diet consists of insects, other invertebrates, small reptiles and amphibians. In the past, they were variously classified as insectivores, ungulates, rodents, and even as primitive primates. Afrotherians related to sengi include elephants, aardvark, sea cows, tenrecs and hyraxes.
Duck-Billed Platypus: A platypus skull is broad and flat. It has a flexible bill covered with a thin membrane of skin that contains electro-sensitive cells. Their eyes are covered, like many birds and reptiles, by a semi-clear extra eyelid, called a nictitating membrane, which allows them to open their eyes underwater yet still be protected from injury. Their ears and nostrils are all provisioned with small valves to keep out the water when they are in, or under it. Their brain case is small and open, which is a very primitive characteristic, but the whole of a platypus's sensory organs taken together would blow even an advanced submarine's electronic equipment right out of the water.
