Gray Fox Skeleton Parts

(For each image, you may enlarge it by clicking on it.)

I encountered this disarticulated (but not heavily damaged) partial skeleton in Sierra Blanca Canyon Wash a short distance above the upstream Water Gap. The image at left shows the distribution of the bones (with a separate leg bone in the lower foreground and a scapula near the middle of the photograph). The material was lying right in the middle of the wash where it bends around from N/S to almost E/W orientation, hence the bones would have been scattered had the wash run since the corpse first lay there. Probably the disarticulation was accomplished by vultures or ravens.

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Below, two views of the skull. At left, dorsal view from above; at right, from the side, showing the elongated form of the snout (compare the coatimundi skull, and also the mountain lion skull, with its drastically shortened snout, hardly a "snout" at all). The form of the whiskers around the snout is nicely preserved in this specimen. The very elongated snout, and comparably long array of whiskers, reflect this animal's nasal-sensory predation.

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Below, two views of the upper jaw from below. Note here how worn are the molars, and also the canine teeth. This indicates that the animal was quite advanced in age.

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Below, the lower jaw, seen from above and from the side. The closeup views show clearly how worn these teeth are, and also nicely illustrate the characteristic carnassial tooth characteristic of carnivores. (Note how the carnassial here is discolored.)

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(For each image, you may enlarge it by clicking on it.)