This small ani-mummy was found at an abandoned construction site in Northern CA, north of Shasta Lake. The construction efforts seem to have unearthed the mummy and left it exposed to the elements. We collected it at dusk and placed it in a paper grocery bag to help avoid the accumulation of moisture. Due to time constraints unrelated to the mummy there was only a short amount of time the following day for examination and photos. All photos were taken on a fence post at our motel, and we used plain white copier paper for contrast. A standard measuring tape was borrowed to help lend scale to the photos. More photos are available, and I will try to post the better ones to the Gallery. Unfortunately, not all the photos turned out satisfactorily. In fact, some of the more crucial photos turned out almost black. Following are the details from my visual inspection of the mummy the following morning.
The mummy is in a contorted (or death rictous) body position. This made some of the examination difficult as I did not wish to do any damage to the specimen. The tail was largely intact (approx 4-in long) however, the end of the tail structure was missing making it impossible to determine overall length. The existing nails were close to 1-inch long, and would actually be shorter after factoring-in tissue shrinkage. The main body cavity gave the appearance of having been chewed, and the internal organ were largely or totally missing. There were (are) both empty larvae casings and intact (viable?) casings. The area around this opening had been toward the sand when the specimen was collected, so the moisture there was not noted until the next morning. Also, at the body cavity, there remained some hair. This was still a bit moist from ground contact, but where it had substantially dried it appeared to be of a light to medium brown with a reddish cast (hi-lights?). The hair was about ¾ to 1-inch in length. The mouth was open with all the remaining teeth visible. Only one of the four canines (incisors?) were in the skull. In general the teeth appeared to be cat-like. However, the face structure in general did not appear cat-like to me. There is a ‘cresting’ of skin at the top of the head, however examination shows that to be caused by a wound to the head that exposes a small section of the side of the skull.
The mummy is in a secure and dry location for storage. I will be able to access it in the next week or two if there is interest in better photos or details I can not provide from my initial notes. Any and all help would be appreciated in identifying this poor little creature. I can hope this is a Cryptid. Yeah, right! |
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