Guest Stan Norton Posted November 2, 2012 Posted November 2, 2012 Hi all, For my first post I thought I'd find a topic which is actually meaningful - forgive me but I can't get excited about endless circular debates and photoshopped arrows/circles etc regarding the PG film! The bones thing is really of interest to me and for what it may be worth I have something to say... I am a professional field ecologist based in the UK and my job has found me trawling the (admittedly parochial) countryside of England for over ten years. In that time (of crawling through hedgerows, scouring woodlands, trekking across open fields, fens and bogs) I have only ever found one single badger skeleton (articulated that is, and not legs-up next to a road: the skull now adorns the window sill in our spare room) and two roe deer skulls. Given that the UK badger population is estimated to be in the region of 290,000 and the total English roe deer pre-breeding population is c.150,00, that's a poor hit-rate for someone who spends most of their time outdoors (and who hopefully is keen eyed!). I think this goes someway to demonstrating that, even in the fairly tame landscapes of southern England, finding wild animal bones is not commonplace by any means. Keep up the good work!
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