Ok aside from the unholy part…what the heck kind of skull or bone is this:
Here, hereand here. [size is 9" across horizontally]
Little background on where I found it. It was found in an intertidal zone while hiking in Marshlands of Rhode Island. I’m guessing avian, but I have no idea, it could be a baby Predatorfor all I know. The crest, if you can call it that looks like something from a dinosaur.
Guesses or taxonomy would be appreciated!
Well, I’ve certainly never seen its like, but then, I’m not exactly an expert in anatomy (are those ribs originating from where one would suspect the temples?). However, I found this site which has a huge bird skull collection, for whatever purposes (though it seems to me the eye sockets, if that’s what they are, are a little small for a bird).
Did you mean the thing is 9 inches long? The way you put it, it sounds like that’s its width…
Similar crests exist as attachment places for muscles operating the jaws, IIRC, like for instance very prominently in gorillas, but they are rarely that regularly shaped.
Are you absolutely certain it’s bone, and not some sort of novelty item? A fancy ashtray for people who wear black all the time and avoid direct sunlight? Alien vs. Predator merchandise?
I’m not a biologist, but those have to be ribs, which would mean it’s likely a birds breast bone. Keel bone.
yes it’s 9 inches long…
A keel bone…hmmm that looks promising, so the crest would be part of the sternum, not a skull at all?
Damn, that is cool looking! (You did bring it home, right?)
Oh yeah, I took the photo on my driveway. I’ve got it outside with other "artifacts’ I bring home from hikes and adventuring. I figure if I can’t find something cool on a hike why hike? I’m being facetious of course - but I do often put a rock or sherd of pottery in my pocket, over the years I’ve picked up a lot of cool objects.
This bone threw me off though, it’s not a usual looking find for sure.
naita beat me to it. Even before I saw the picture with ribs, it was pretty clear to me that it was a bird’s sternum. Sea gull, I’ll bet, being you found it on the beach.
But, if you turn it over, with those suspicious holes and that “keel”, it looks like some weird kind of gorilla or baboon skull piece. And that’s understandable, since the ridge in a gorilla skull, like the keel on this bird’s sternum, is used as an attachment point for powerful muscles.
Misinterpreeting skeletan remains isn’t at all uncommon. In the Middle Ages people found what they thought were Petrified Gands – they were really mammoth molars, with the “fingers” realy being the roots of the teeth. And in the early 19th centurywhat they thought were the teeth of the guanodon (and which gave the beast its name, because of their similarity to iguana teeth) were really the animal’s “thumbs”.
Nitpick: the thumb spikes were mistaken for horns, not teeth.
Thanks Cal - I think it could be a seagull, but it’s a bit big for a gull. Though the black backs can get really big, I was thinking maybe a heron or something along those lines. I really shoud have taken a picture of the scene I found it in. It was on the hightide line and there were all manner of other materials with this one. This had obviously spent a lot of time in the sun because I did not clean it at all.
It’s definitely a sternum/keel bone.
Yup. See those all the time during dinner 
(though I seem to remember it being more cartilage-y). The meat on either side of the ‘keel’ on a chicken is delicious!
Yeah, I do too – for some reason I wasn’t reading the macadam as a driveway, and thought you might have taken the pix in situ.
Certainly a bird’s sternum, as linked to by Really Not All That Bright.
I might have initially guessed gull, but these examples from the same site suggest not. Gulls seem to have deeper keels, and lack the large circular indentations at the rear of the sternum.
None of the other seabirds shown at that site seem particularly promising either.
I wondered about it being a raptor or egret of some kind, we’ve got a lot fo migratories flying through this time of year.
“Seabird osteology” indeed! Man - for some reason that site just cracks me up! It is a wonder I haven’t stumbled on it before in my surfing . . .
Not to be a downer, but do be aware that possession of avian bones (and any other parts of most bird species in the U.S) is illegal. The fines and jail time are draconian in nature.
Hootie
My wag is that it came from a goose, esp given the size of the thing - 9 inches across, likely Canada Goose given the location. Looked up heron skeletons, and the sternum seems to look quite different. Goose skeletons avail online seem to show the relatively shallow keel shown in OP
Er… what about a chicken?
RNATB, without going into details as they can vary from state to state. In general, the only birds from which the general public can legally possess parts are legally taken game birds, poultry and other domesticated birds. That covers your chicken.
Mmmmm… illicit fowl…
Great username/post combo, by the way.
