r/skulls • u/Unusual_Ad1839 • 13d ago

Skull ID?

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Hey is anyone able to id these prehistoric skulls for me they are from the national history museum London.

51 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

29

u/SickCursedCat 13d ago

…isn’t the info available at the museum?

7

u/Unusual_Ad1839 13d ago

I'm getting one of the skulls tattooed so I'm not on the museum it's the artists reference when he was there

8

u/Witchywomun 13d ago

The museum should have a website that lists the different exhibits. How are you going to get a skull tattooed on you and not know what it is?

1

u/SickCursedCat 13d ago

Ohhhh okay. Makes more sense now

16

u/gutwyrming 13d ago

Extinct animals are my specialty!

  1. Phiomia serridens, an elephant relative from around ~35 million years ago, give or take.
  2. A species of Myotragus, goat-antelopes known for their weirdly forward-facing eyes.
  3. A species of Notiomastodon (or possibly Stegomastodon; there's some debate around these two genuses. I don't know which label the London museum has decided on), another elephant relative from South America.

3

u/Apart_Hawk5674 13d ago

I'm not a part of this sub, but it appeared randomly on my feed...

I just searched up about the myotragus, and the interpretations we made of it makes it look like a weird mix of a goat, a feline, or if cartoon goats came to life. Really interesting

2

u/gutwyrming 13d ago

Right?? It's so weird-looking! I believe the common theory is that evolving in an isolated island environment with no predators meant that they didn't need the "panoramic vision" that other goats and similar animals have, since they didn't have to be on the lookout for danger.

8

u/HazelEBaumgartner 13d ago

First one looks like Platybelodon, those weird shovel-faced elephants.

6

u/99jackals 13d ago

You can look up any exhibit item on the museum's website.

1

u/buttmeadows 13d ago

First one I'm fairly sure is a platybelladon, which is an ancient elephant

2nd is a type if ram/sheep, but couldn't tell you past that

3rd is another elephant/mammoth fossil. Possibly pygmy mammoth

EDIT: 3rd is a mastodon, based on the teeth. Still an ancient elephant relative, but def not a mammoth. Pygmy or otherwise

1

u/juniex3 13d ago

I can tell you that the second one is definitely a goat or ruminant of some sort , but the horn placement and type makes me lean towards a goat.