beautyofscience
The Beauty of Science
Celebrating the beauty found in the exploration of nature
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Friday mystery object #485
A great specimen from the Dead Zoo to have a go at identifying - bonus points for a creative response!
This week I have a mystery object from the Dead Zoo for you to have a go at identifying, that might be a bit on the easy side for some of you:
Despite the fact that I don’t think it will be much of an identification challenge, I just wanted an excuse to feature this specimen, simply because I really like it. Perhaps you can share your thoughts on what it could be using some suitably subtle clue,…
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Friday mystery object #484 answer
The answer to last week's mystery object is a New Zealand duck that's as dead as as Dodo:
Last week I gave you this fantastic specimen from the Dead Zoo to have a go at identifying:
It wasn’t a hugely difficult object to identify, given its distinctive narrow serrated bill on a duck-like body, which are hallmarks of the mergansers – a genus of piscivorous ducks:
There aren’t many species of merganser – just six alive today, so on the face of it, there aren’t many to choose from.…
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Friday mystery object #484
It's a #FeatheredFriday mystery object this week. Any idea who this handsome chap might be?
This week I have one of my favourite specimens from the Dead Zoo for you to try your hand at identifying:
Do you have any idea of which species this handsome chap might be? As ever, you can leave your hints, questions and suggestions in the comments section below. Have fun with it!
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Friday mystery object #483 answer
It's not the Easter Bunny, but it is a rare and special Rabbit. The answer to last week's mystery object:
Last week, with Easter in the air, I thought this specimen from the Dead Zoo might be appropriate:
Of course, it wasn’t as simple as this being a European Rabbit or ‘Mad March Hare’. Of the 70 or so species of rabbits and hares in the family Leporidae) found around the world, this one is rare and pretty special. In fact, it’s a special national monument in Japan.
As many of you managed to work…
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Friday mystery object #483
Any idea what this fuzzy faced friend might be? Beware, it's not as easy as you might think!
Happy (Good) Friday everyone! It’s that time of year when a lot of people in the temperate zones of the Northern Hemisphere are thinking about the springing of Spring and all that entails in terms of flowers blooming, bees buzzing and cute little bunnies doing what they’re famous for.
To mark the upcoming celebration of the pagan fertility goddess Ēostre and the Christian festival of Easter, I…
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Friday mystery object #482 answer
The answer to last week's mystery object, with a photo guide to some commonly found ungulate mandibles:
Last week I gave you this specimen to identify, which came to me as an enquiry, after being found in the sea by a fisherman:
I don’t think it posed too much of a challenge, despite some damage, which has left sections looking a bit different to usual for this skeletal element – which is a section of the lower jaw or mandible.
This piece of the mandible includes the ramus (the rear part of the…
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Friday mystery object #481 answer
A Friday mystery object fished out of the Irish Sea. Any idea what it might be? Bonus points for cryptic clues!
Happy Friday everyone!
This week I have a mystery object for you that came in as an enquiry from a regular donor to the Dead Zoo’s collections. It was found by a fisherman in the Irish Sea, just off Howth, which is a lovely seaside village on a peninsula that marks the northern tip of Dublin Bay :
Any thoughts on what it might be? I suspect some of you will have a pretty good idea, so keep your…
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Friday mystery object #481 answer
Did you work out which climbing critter this skeleton comes from? If not, you're in for a tasty surprise!
Last week I gave you this skeleton fron the Dead Zoo to test your identification skills:
In retrospect I think I was a little unfair with this one – the photo is not very clear and there is no scale bar, so the identification relied mainly on the context provided by the mount and a lot of deduction. Not an easy task with a rodent, since there are so many different species.
The branch used as a…
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Friday mystery object #481
Any idea what this bony little critter could be? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
I have a potentially perplexing mystery object for you this week from the Dead Zoo. Any idea who this bony character might be?
If you think this is an easy one, then I would be both surprised and impressed, so let me know your thoughts through a crytic clue or two below. Enjoy the challenge!
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Friday mystery object #480 answer
The answer to last week's mystery object includes a mouse that's not a rodent, a label mix-up, an historic misidentification and gratuitous Dik-dik pics. Find out more on the blog:
Last week I gave you this doe-eyed specimen from the collections of the Dead Zoo to try your identification skills out on:
I didn’t provide a scalebar as I think it would have made it too easy, but even so, it’s clear that the specimen is a very small species of artiodactyl (the group containing pigs, deer, antelope, bovids and a variety of related herbivores).
There were some suggestions that…
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Friday mystery object #480
Who's bright eyed and bushy-(if short)-tailed this Friday? This mystery object from the Dead Zoo, that's who! Any idea what this could be, and where it might be from?
This week I have a slightly startled looking mystery object for you, from the Dead Zoo:
Do you know what this wide-eyed critter could be? Bonus points if you know where it’s from.
If you think you know, drop a cryptic clue in the comments below. I hope you have fun working it out!
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Friday mystery object #479 answer
Did you manage to figure out last week's Friday mystery object?
If you need a clue, it has a long nose and isn't usually quite so blonde...
Last week I shared this fuzzy critter as mystery object for you to identify:
It was probably a bit of a mean one, as I didn’t provide a scalebar. It’s also a species from a group of small carnivores that contains over 30 species that can look quite similar, and (perhaps most importantly) the specimen is old and very faded from being on display in a gallery space with lots of light for the last…
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Friday mystery object #479
Any idea what this Friday mystery fuzzball might be?
This week I have a fuzzy friend from the Dead Zoo for you to have a go at identifying:
Let me know what you think this cute critter might be – and have fun with it!
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Friday mystery object #478 answer
Did you work out what last week's mystery blob was? If you guessed whale puke, then well done!
Last week, I gave you this shiny blob to have a go at identifying:
There wasn’t much to go on, since it is just a blob that looks like a chunk of hardened tar, but it is in fact a rare and valuable natural material. It’s actually a small piece of ambergris.
Ambergris has always maintained an air of mystery, since it’s formed deep within the bile duct of a Sperm Whale and its function in the…
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Friday mystery object #478
Any idea what this blob from the Dead Zoo could be? If you know your blobs, be sure to keep your answer cryptic!
This week I have a specimen that we recently had an enquiry relating to at the Dead Zoo:
Do you have any ideas what this shiny blob might be? If you’re confident in your blob identification skills, maybe try to keep your answer cryptic, so everyone gets a chance to work it out for themselves. Have fun!
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Friday mystery object #477 answer
The answer to last week's mystery object is not an old shoe. It's part of the feeding apparatus of the second largest fish. Find out more on the blog:
Last week I gave you this mystery object from the Dead Zoo as a way to kickstart 2024:
While it does indeed look a bit like an old Roman shoe (thanks Adam Yates – I will never unsee that now), these are in fact the gill rakers from a Basking Shark Cetorhinus maximus (Gunnerus, 1765).
This was spotted early on by Dennis Nieweg and several other people worked it out, both here and on social media…
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Friday mystery object #477
The first Friday mystery object of 2024 - any idea what it could be?
I’d like to start by wishing you all a very Happy New Year! This week’s mystery object is from the Dead Zoo in Dublin:
Any idea what this gnarly looking object might be?
I look forward hearing your thoughts!
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