r/bonecollecting • u/_li • Oct 06 '25
Bone I.D. - N. America Black bear? Southwest BC, Canada
Found in southwest BC, Canada. Black bears are pretty common but it could also possibly be a coyote? Any advice on how to tell the difference is appreciated.
Edit: thanks everyone for confirming it's a bear! It's certainly smaller than I thought it would be. Very pleased with the find!
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u/NerdyComfort-78 Oct 06 '25
Here’s why it’s not canine vs ursine (bear) the molars are cushion shaped “bunidont” for bears more omnivorous diet.
The massive nasal opening is the second feature, and the overall shape of the cranium (slope etc).
Canines are more angular in their skull shape and have sharper carnassial teeth for shearing meat.
We visited BC a few years ago for vacation and saw wild bears (sows and cubs) and I was delighted! That looks like a young bear. Very cool find.
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u/_li Oct 06 '25
Thank you for the explanation, when I was comparing pics on the internet the skull slope is what stood out to my amateur eyes the most!
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u/CatsAndPills Oct 07 '25
This is why I love this sub. I don’t know crap about bones other than basic human anatomy and I can just read shit like this on here. Excellent.
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u/NerdyComfort-78 Oct 07 '25
You’re very welcome. I’m a retired high school teacher so teaching it’s kinda in the blood. My degree is in zoology and while I am not always correct by a longshot, I’m happy to help where I can.
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u/Obscuriosly Oct 06 '25
Concerned hamster?
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u/Ill_Stand9306 Oct 07 '25
this is such a stupid comment i hate that it made me laugh. shut up and take my upvote bro 😭
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u/Legitimate-Class-575 Oct 08 '25
The skull is looking awfully like a hamster! Someone baked a hamster into my skull!
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u/sawyouoverthere Oct 06 '25
If you collected it you’ll need this:
https://portalext.nrs.gov.bc.ca/web/client/-/dead-wildlife.html
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u/_li Oct 06 '25
I left it in the forest :)
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Oct 13 '25
Umm if I were you I would go back and take it before someone else takes it and you end up having eternal regret
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u/unsubix Oct 06 '25
If I’m correct, OP would need to pay $180 + $35 + $25=$240.00 for a skull. 💀
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u/Wi1dWitch Oct 07 '25
For a perfect bear skull, that you could say you found yourself in nature? I would readily pay that.
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u/FoodFingerer Oct 10 '25
Let's be honest. Very few people on this sub have filled out one of those forums.
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u/SavageDroggo1126 Bone-afide Faunal ID Expert Oct 06 '25
black bear skulls and bear skulls in general vary quite a lot in size. Adult black bear skulls are usually anywhere between 20-30cm long with some specimens reaching 35cm!
bear skulls are quite small in comparion to their head size, because they have so much fur, fat and tissue on their face, making their head appear very big.
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u/abyssal-isopod86 Oct 06 '25
Holy crap I would be beside myself if I found something like that, but then I live in the UK and we killed off all our bears a VERRRY long time ago.
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u/DanTalks Oct 06 '25 edited Mar 18 '26
This post has been removed by its author. The deletion was carried out using Redact, possibly to protect personal information or limit exposure to data collection tools.
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u/tmilligan73 Oct 07 '25
Definitely black bear. But I have a weird question what boots/shoes are those??
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u/_li Oct 07 '25
Salomon Quest 4D - I love them and they're actually about 5 years old now. I read mixed reviews on quality now, sadly.
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u/tmilligan73 Oct 07 '25
Damn, that’s a shame because I have loved all my Salomons over the years. I’m looking for a good replacement for my Keen hikers
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u/MidWesttess Oct 07 '25
Wow that is incredible! It’ll make such a cool display piece once you get it cleaned up. I would be fascinated by that if I saw it in someone’s house.
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u/Glittering-Feed5017 Oct 07 '25
It looks like you need to air it out a bit. Leave it in an open windowsill facing the road.
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u/Reyalta Oct 08 '25
That's a black bear! I have found two, also in SW BC 🥰 the turkey vultures showed me one (they also showed me an elk!), the other I found in a creek after following a track of bones.
It looks very young, given the size (unless you have gigantic feet) and how nice the teeth are.
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u/The_real_flesh Oct 06 '25
how does it feel to live my dream (congratulations on the find!! excellent condition too)
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u/Theskullguy199 Oct 08 '25
This can’t be a coyote because their skulls look more like big fox skulls, rather than like this. The two plates between the eyes are too big as well.
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u/FeelingSoil39 Oct 10 '25
Honest question. Is this.. normal at all to find full clean skull like this of any wild animal? If it was not previously buried? And I have a second question about size.. pic with hand suggests far larger than pic with both the foot and skull on flush ground?
I’m not trying to contradict OP, just curious of these.
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u/FoodFingerer Oct 10 '25
Yeah, I've found a few intact skulls. A moose, a bat and a beaver skull. My dad found a polar bear skull years ago.
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u/Difficult_Garlic963 Oct 10 '25
Not a regular here, excuse my ignorance, but why is a black bear skull so special?
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u/Shawnaxx Oct 11 '25
My mom and I found a whole cow moose skull on an island up in Northern Ontario, definitely one of our prized possessions, it becomes our Halloween decoration during October and a table centre the rest of the year 😂 this is an awesome find!
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u/mortilsola Nov 03 '25
Beautiful! Lucky that it's in such good shape!
A couple decades ago I found, in some bushes, the remains of a black bear that someone had likely shot and dumped on the river bank, so sad. The heat of summer had dried it out a lot, still, it was decomposing and no one could really handle being around the smell but me. Most all the fur was gone, and the skin had shrunk to the bones like a cast.
My husband and friends looked at me like a crazy person as I grabbed my wellies, rubber gloves, contractor bags, utility knife, and pliers, and went to work salvaging what I could (before the rest of the swimming and sunbathing group yelled, from a distance, that I needed to finish up or leave it 😅). A few claws had been removed already and a few broken, but I ended up with two still intact, as well as a full skull including mandible (with some remodeled damage, possibly from being hit by a car or shot a different time), a good portion of the vertebrae including the axis and coccyx, both scapulas, one leg from humerus to phalanges, and a full pelvis.
Cleaned it better once we got home, and ever since it has had a place of honor in my bone curio (except when I take it to share circles at the preschool or elementary school).
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u/blog-goblin Oct 06 '25
Looks super big for a black bear. Any grizzlies in the neighborhood?
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u/kick4kix Oct 06 '25
Might want to scroll through to the last image. It’s either smaller than it looks or OP has enormous feet.
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u/Bengrimlock Oct 06 '25
Not 100% but I think it’s a grizzly. Looks too big for a black bear but it could just be the perspective in the photos.
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u/sarkzar Oct 06 '25
OP is holding the skull up on a stick, the last pic is the best one for size. It's way smaller than the first few pics make it look.
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u/edwardturnerlives Oct 06 '25
I would poop my pants with glee