Bog Myrtle & Peat

This rather grisly article came into my possession today after it was found on the Langholm Demonstration Moor (more on this presently). It is the skull of a stoat, and it shows the incredible dental formula of my favourite wild mammal. The photograph above shows the skull beside a 1 pence piece, and it is clear to see that these little brutes are capable of packing a seriously nasty nip. The eye sockets are surprisingly large for an animal that is characterised as having beady little eyes, and despite the fact that this skull belonged to an animal which has been dead for several months, the teeth are still as sharp as needles.

I have just been looking on a website which gives very precise dimensions for stoat skulls, and the information I have found tells me that, at 470mm long, this skull belonged to a juvenile female. Like the majority of “factual” information available online, I think that this is probably a little too precise to be reliable, and I’ll take that with a pinch of salt…