Evening everyone (or good morning/afternoon, depending on where you are :) )

So today I went to check on the earbones... A very attractive solution, but a bit of a dead end because, the skulls being complete, they are virtually unreachable, and we can barely see them.

We (me and my colleagues) checked some drawings from the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals and from Mammal Species of the world, and especially those of the minke whale. Although we agree they are quite similar to our skulls, we found some differences, and we are now thinking they could be humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) skulls. What do you think? I must confess, I'm a bit concerned about the size... Do you think it could be a match?
Two colleagues from Lima (off-list) also suggested they could be fin whale skulls.

For those wondering, we do not have just the skulls. We believe the 11110 specimen to be almost complete, but the third vertebrae is missing, preventing us from connecting the head to the rest of the skeleton. Also, the forelimbs seem too small for a humpback whale... All in all, it's quite a mess! The joy of working with old collections...

11113 seems to be just the skull and mandibles.

That's it for today, please continue to share your thoughts!

Best regards,
Aurélie

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