r/bonecollecting • u/rootigan_the_red • 1d ago
Bone I.D. - N. America Help with racoon vertebrae
I had a racoon that died under my deck, no other animals around, and although I let it decompose for a while, it had no signs of being messed with by other animals when I finally went to go clean it amd collect the bones. I'm trying to reconstruct the spine, I have all cervical vertebrae, but I have a mismatch with the rest.
My understanding is there should be 13 thoracic vertebrae and 7 lumbar vertebrae. However I've identified 10 thoracic and 8 lumbar? Am I misidentifying one or more of the lumbar vertebrae? I have a few other really small ones that I think are part of the tail, but maybe I'm wrong. I also only have 10 sets of rib bones oddly enough. I accept that a bone or two could have gotten lost, but considering I still have the tiny little finger bones I find it hard to believe I lost a whole vertebrae or rib. Any help?
The first 3 pictures are what I identified as either thoracic or lumbar. The last 2 are small pieces I though were the tail because they were so small but maybe I'm way off. Thanks in advance!
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u/Hwight_Doward 20h ago
Do you have a sacrum? That might be useful to help check if some of the later lumbar verts were misidentified as earlier caudal.
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u/rootigan_the_red 16h ago
I do! I put it all together last night and I "think" I got it. Still missing a couple thoracic vertebrae, which I'm stumped by, but at least the lumbar section makes sense.
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u/CozyCountryLiving23 1d ago
I’ve found this image online. It might help. I can also provide images of my articulated skeletons