Quote Originally Posted by Gigmaster
The over-all appearance is much too brachycephalic to be a fox, as well as the fact that it is missing the occipital crest, common to both foxes and canines. The dentition is more consistent with an omnivorous diet.

All I have to go on here is a right-side lateral view, partly obstructed by unknown debris, but I will take a stab at it. We can rule out foxes and dogs for the previously mentioned reasons. There is a well pronouced diastema in the dentition, consistent with an herbivore, or omnivorous diet. The skull is, again, too bracycephalic to be from an opossum, weasel, mink or skunk. Lack of a pronouced Interparietal bone would rule out any of the Lagamorphs (rabbits, hares and pikas). The presence of 2 occipital condyles on the foramen magnum indicate that we are definitly dealing with some species of mammal, as birds and reptiles only have 1.

The lack of an apparent saggital crest would seem to indicate a young animal. Combined with the other evidence, here is the 'smoking gun'. A close examination of the visible teeth show a selenodont ridge pattern, coupled with a smooth ramus and pronouced premaxillas. The only mammal that posseses all these attributes, indigenous to N. America, is Procyon lotor.....the Racoon. It appears to be a young female specimen.

Semper Fi!
I am sorry if I got too technical. It was actually a very enjoyable intellectual exercise and I guess I became lost in the moment. My Bachelors Degree was in Zoology. My Masters is in Biology. My Doctorate is in Naturopathy.

I'll try to translate. Bracycephalic means the head is too short front-to-back to be from a fox. They have a much slimmer profile. The occipital crest is a ridge that runs along the back of the skull, and is an anchor for strong neck muscles, mostly from animals that hold thier heads in an upward posititon relative to the body stance, such as dogs and foxes. Dentition is the type of teeth an animal has. In this case, the skull has well developed molars designed for crushing and pulverizing (chewing), as well as fairly efficient front incisor teeth, which are more like steak knives, for cutting tissue. Carnivores, as a rule, do very little chewing, and have sharper, more pointed molars. They are more in the 'bite-and-swallow' catagory. Since this skull has both kinds of teeth, its owner must've eaten both vegetables (trash) and meat. This rules out pure carnivores, and pure herbivores.

A diastema is a separation between the set of incisors and the rear teeth. This is a good indicator of an omnivore, or an animal that eats both meat and vegetables, fruit, etc.... It doesn't have enough teeth to be an opossum (they have 12-14 per side...this has 7), and again, the skull is too short from front-to-back. An Interparietal bone is a ridge along the top center of a skull and is peculiar to rabbits, hares and pikas. They have a very specialized sinus cavity, and this bone is an extra support for it. The foramen magnum is the large opening at the back of the skull where the spinal column exits into the vertabrae. The occipital condyles are smooth rounded knobs on either side of the foramen magnum where the first vertabra is attached to the skull. Mammals have one on each side. Birds and reptiles only have one.

A saggital crest is a ridge that runs along the top of the skull to provide strength and stiffness. It is not present in very young animals and develops in adolecence. It is significant because it tells us that many features of this specimen may not be fully developed, and can lead to mis-identification if allowances are not made.

A seledont ridge pattern is a crown pattern on the teeth made up of crescent half-moon type ridges. You can just make it out on the rear molars. This is common only to raccoons, badgers and wolverines. The ramus is the main horizontal part of the lower jaw. In this case, it has a smooth surface, as opposed to being rough-textured. Wolverines have a rough textured ramus. Badgers and raccoons have a smooth ramus. The premaxillas is the front part of the jaw. A badger has a straight premaxillus with no drop or hook (straight-faced). A raccoon has a pronounced 'hook'. This skull has a well defined 'hooked' premaxillas, therefore, it can only be a raccoon.

Incidentaly, for a bit of trivia, the proper name for the common raccoon, Procyon lotor comes from 2 Greek words: Procyon-meaning "before dogs", and lotor-meaning "washer" (from lave-"I wash"). Raccoons are believed to be ancestors of dogs, and they have a habit of washing thier food before eating it, if possible.

Glad I could help.

Semper Fi!