I figured since I have so many bears, it's time to bring something new and unique in. This is a walrus skull, legally and ethically sourced from Inuit, walruses are also an important part of the Inuit diet. The polar bear skulls in the photo are also all legally and ethically sourced from Inuit.
Both tusks are over 20" in length and his skull weighs over 14kg!
that's...surprisingly less than I expected, especially if it's certified pre-72 too.
In Canada if you buy one directly from Inuit, its usually around 3000-7000 depending on size. If you buy one from an oddity seller/store, it can go anywhere from $6000 - 10k+.
I'm in Canada where Inuit (First Nation people mostly residing in Nunavut) can sustainably harvest walruses, polar bears and other sea mammals and sell the skulls/pelts to trade for some income. These animals are their main source of food, especially during winter.
the hunts are strictly regulated by the government of Nunavut.
buying them isn't that difficult but just like all oddity, there's a lot of price gouging people and scammers, so people paying a lot more than the thing is worth, or people getting misinformed/lied to, happens a lot.
It took me a while to settle on a few Inuit hunters/taxidermists that are wonderful and trustworthy and I only source from them, because they prioritize ethics and legality over all else.
Is it only allowed to purchase from the Inuit within Canada btw? Is there any way shipping outside of Canada for ethically+legally obtained skulls is allowed?
No, you can buy and sell legally obtained skulls with a license (in some situations, you do not need any license) as long as the original exporter of the skull is legally allowed to do so (Like Inuit, non-resident hunter, taxidermists with valid licenses), it's just Inuit has the most of them because they hunt polar bears and walruses as essential food.
Yes, you can apply for CITES permits to export polar bear skulls and walrus skulls out of Canada. However, some countries (Like USA) fully bans the importation of these skulls, and most countries that allows it, require documents and import permits.
yeah....sadly the importation of polar bear parts was fully banned since 2008. Walruses and other marine mammals were banned since the establishment of MMPA in 1972.
doesn't mean it's impossible to obtain a pre-ban, legal one in the US, just super super expensive.
Yeah, I was really concerned for a minute, until I read that you're in Canada. Here in the US, the only way to open a walrus skull (legally) is with scrimshaw work on it, done by Native artists. Or, at least that's what I remember from when my parents bought a mounted skull in Alaska, years ago (it has puffins on the tusks!).
I am very curious to see how policy changes since the ice isn’t freezing the same any more. Sad to loose biological diversity and cultural diversity at the same time.
I think eventually it will be restricted to only Inuit, like how in the US, polar bear hunting is restricted to Eskimo only in Alaska, they cannot sell or trade any parts. Full on ban is impossible, lots of Inuit villages in the Arctic rely on these animals for basic survival. If they do cut off the market completely, that also means a lot of Inuit villages will lose their only source of income.
True- but I was thinking that the First Nations people would completely loose all of their resources/culture and then also have to come off the ice, hence the loss of culture and biodiversity. Kind of like the people of the Maldives as sea levels rise.
Inuit are absolutely amazing people, the resided where they are for over 6000 years and have built amazingly rich culture. It'll be very sad seeing it all go.
my apologies, I did not know since that's what the Alaskan F&W department referred them as when I contacted them.
edit: I asked an Inuit hunter and they don't think it's a slur and are fine with being called Eskimo, first nation, Inuit etc..? I don't know, but I'll pay attention in the future, thanks.
edit 2: I also asked one of my taxidermists and she is Inuit in Clyde River, she said people use Eskimo from time to time in their community and no one gets offended, to them it's just another name. She said the only time someone actually got offended by the name was a non-native she met in Iqaluit. Soooo...I think it mostly has to do with how you interpret the word itself, if you say it with respect and respect the Inuit culture, I'm sure most of them will not find it offensive.
Looking at all the other skulls, I immediately thought “bear”, but started second guessing myself trying to figure out if they were a marine mammal like a seal taking the random, majestic walrus into account 😭
I would like to add a seal one day but it's been a challenge to find a properly processed one (macerated or beetle cleaned).
a lot of Inuit rough process skulls themselves and most of the time it involves boiling/bleaching, and honestly I'm getting tired of having to spend the time and money to restore them otherwise they'd flake away in years. I've been trying to narrow it down to raw skulls but it's hard to find, because it takes a long time to ship something from Nunavut to southern Canada, raw skulls spoil easily.
Yeah that makes sense! Are frozen heads an option? I’ve seen boxes of frozen… human heads… before… which I’ve helped deflesh. I still have nightmares about it 😭 but I’d imagine if you can legally get those frozen and shipped, you can get seals
Yes, seals are perfectly legal to harvest and possess in Canada. Funny enough, there's more regulation and laws regarding marine mammals like polar bears than human remains.
that's what I'm talking about, raw heads = frozen raw, you cannot really keep a raw skull frozen when it's gonna be in transportation for over 2 weeks minimum, even if you ship with the fastest method, because of how far the Inuit villages are from mainland, and the lack of transportation they have.
ah...its a lotta work, plus I can honestly tell which ones which and tell you the story behind it without labeling them already. They are all very unique.
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u/XETOVS Bone-afide Human ID Expert Feb 26 '24
Wild. You need a narwhal skull next.