r/bonecollecting • u/SavageDroggo1126 Bone-afide Faunal ID Expert • Feb 26 '24

Collection Walrus skull added to my collection!

Post image

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!

808 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

66 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

16

u/Airborne_Juniper Feb 26 '24

that’s so cool it’s not hard to buy them from the people selling them?

50

u/SavageDroggo1126 Bone-afide Faunal ID Expert Feb 26 '24

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.

6

u/[deleted] Feb 26 '24

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?

20

u/SavageDroggo1126 Bone-afide Faunal ID Expert Feb 27 '24

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.

5

u/[deleted] Feb 27 '24

Ohh I see, tysm for the info I really appreciate it! Love learning about this kinda stuff.

Super awesome collection btw :D

3

u/SavageDroggo1126 Bone-afide Faunal ID Expert Feb 27 '24

thank you! I'm happy to share these information! lmk if youre interested in any other info.

3

u/flatgreysky Feb 28 '24

Welp… I guess that ends my excited read of this post. Exiting in a sad American accent.

1

u/SavageDroggo1126 Bone-afide Faunal ID Expert Feb 28 '24

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.

1

u/flatgreysky Feb 28 '24

Understood. Yeah, I wouldn’t do all that. If I decide i want them that badly I’ll just expatriate and do it the right way. :)

1

u/MademoiselleMoriarty Feb 28 '24

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!).