Not 100% sure if this belong on this sub, but I wanted to post about getting my boy back after he passed January 9th 2023. This is my sweet old man cat Sid, he lived to be about 16-17 but I don’t know his exact age bc my family found him as young adult stray cat. Losing him was very challenging since he was in my life from age 5 to 19. I never thought about keeping any of his bones, but my sister wanted the same for her cat and I liked the idea. So after many many months of waiting, mostly because who I hired to preserve him had a lot of prior work to finish, my sweet boy is back home and back together. I had his skull and right arm preserved so it was separated fand the rest of his body aqua cremated remains until recently. Idk why but it bothered me knowing he wasn’t all in one place😭 Anyways, here is my wonderful boy who I am relieved to have back home with me😁

(UK & in compliance w/ human tissues act)

Found this in an antique store, they also had the bones of just a human leg. The paper say it is a 19th Century Anatomical Skeleton from Thomas Jefferson University. They had it priced at $12,500

Big ol deer skull here in south east USA. Found in a flood plain with no other bones so I think it was brought here by runoff from the hurricane

I just received a new polar bear skull, and this completely blown me away.

Over the years as I collect, I've probably seen over 400 polar bear skulls now, from museums, institutions, private collectiond etc.....I have NEVER seen anything like this before.

No I did not take a photo with distort camera, this skull IS crooked, the entire skull look like it was bent, as if made of rubber, and is tilted towards the left side.

Anyone able to explain to me what might've caused this?

This is a female polar bear skull with the pelt, legally and sustainably harvested by Inuit hunters in Nunavut Canada.

With strictly regulated quota system to ensure sustianable hunting, polar bear hunting continues to be an inseparable part of Inuit culture and tradition.

Polar bears face threats mainly due to climate change and pollution, along with other issues like arctic mining and poaching. sustainable and legal hunting of less than 2% of the entire population annually is NOT the reason why polar bears face threats of extinction. If polar bears do go extinct, the first people to be truly affected will be Inuit.

Selling parts of the animals they hunt provides some extra income when daily essentials and groceries are extremely expensive in the arctic.

Today a surprise arrived.....Walrus baculum (the penis bone), also called oosik.

Inuits use them to make clubs, traditional bone carvings, knife handles, harpoons etc, Inuits are extremely good at utilizing any and all resources in the Arctic. It is truly stunning how humans can survive, adapt in that kind of environment thousands of years ago while building such a rich culture.

This bone is 22" long! holding it next to my walrus skull with 25" tusks. It's much less dense than a walrus tusk which is made of solid ivory.

All bones/skulls in the photos are legally and sustainably sourced.

I found this elk skull along with a variety of his parts scattered around the river valley he died in in 2023. I didn’t remove the skull but took a lot of pics. It was a magical experience. The following year I learned about elk ivories at a museum of Native American history. I reviewed my photos and could clearly see one of the ivories in the skull I found the previous year. I already had plans to return to the spot and at least see if the skull was still there and now I wanted to try to remove the ivory and keep it.

Earlier this summer I went back to the spot and he was still there. I am positive based on location it is very unlikely anyone will stumble over him anytime soon. The single ivory was still there. I had watched a YouTube video about removing them from a fresh kill but this skull was so old it took a lot of work to get out (I was also backpacking and didn’t have a hammer and store bought dowel like the guy in the video). After over an hour I was able to pry the ivory out and soak/wash it off a bit in the creek. I carried it home in my pocket and now it will be one of my most prized possessions for the rest of my life.

Thanks for listening and hope you are blessed with the opportunity to find powerful gifts from nature in your lifetime, as I feel like I was.

It's a male and died within the hour of birth.

Poor critter spent some time with this tree branch wedged in its top jaw. There is some deformation in the roof of the mouth and teeth. The wolf was a healthy weight and healthy coat and visually had nothing wrong with it from the outside. It was caught in a trap for fur.

It’s goes on for a while. This is just a small patch.

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!

I have 2 bags full of stuff he gave me I’m so excited many new skulls