# Can you identify this weird bone? (skull?) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 13, 2013, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-weird-bone-skull/655641 "2013-04-13T23:12:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2013, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-weird-bone-skull/655641/1 "2013-04-13T23:12:27Z")
While on a hike today, we found the weird bone pictured in the blog post below. This was in a wooded area near a marsh in western Massachusetts, USA. The size is kind of impressive, though the whole thing is quite light. The side views below make it look like a skull, but given that something like a spine appears to run along the entire underside, I’m not sure about that identification. Any of the SDMB zoologists & naturalists want to weigh in? [Gallery of bone photos, with water bottle for scale.](http://sites.williams.edu/ms10/articles/weird-bone-found-in-the-ma-woods/) ---
**Author:** ![PurpleClogs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@PurpleClogs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PurpleClogs)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2013, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-weird-bone-skull/655641/2 "2013-04-13T23:28:19Z")
It’s like the pelvis of a bird. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2013, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-weird-bone-skull/655641/3 "2013-04-13T23:41:10Z")
Concur. Save it, and compare it with what you get the next time you cook a chicken. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2013, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-weird-bone-skull/655641/4 "2013-04-13T23:51:33Z")
Compare to this turkey pelvis somebody is selling, displayed with a ruler: [http://www.etsy.com/listing/90363556/turkey-pelvis](http://www.etsy.com/listing/90363556/turkey-pelvis) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-weird-bone-skull/655641/5 "2013-04-14T01:23:38Z")
Yeah, from the size I would say turkey pelvis. Here’s a similar view of a [chicken pelvis](http://throwingchicken.com/offsite/roboanimals/bird/ref/chicken%20pelvis3-small.JPG)for comparison. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-weird-bone-skull/655641/6 "2013-04-14T02:30:08Z")
Given that it was a marshy area, I wonder if it might be a heron pelvis. [Blue heron pelvis here, about a third of the way down the page.](http://bio.sunyorange.edu/updated2/comparative_anatomy/anat_3/v_sacrum.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-weird-bone-skull/655641/7 "2013-04-14T02:46:36Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > Given that it was a marshy area, I wonder if it might be a heron pelvis. [Blue heron pelvis here, about a third of the way down the page.](http://bio.sunyorange.edu/updated2/comparative_anatomy/anat_3/v_sacrum.htm) The heron pelvis is much too narrow, and the part around the spinal cord is much thicker. It differs in quite a number of other features. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-weird-bone-skull/655641/8 "2013-04-15T14:08:55Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > Given that it was a marshy area, I wonder if it might be a heron pelvis. [Blue heron pelvis here, about a third of the way down the page.](http://bio.sunyorange.edu/updated2/comparative_anatomy/anat_3/v_sacrum.htm) I wondered about that too; but the bone looked fresh enough to me that I doubt it was there all winter, and the herons haven’t migrated back up here yet. Plenty of wild turkeys in the woods around here, though, year-round.