Dem Bones, Dem Bones
Various bones found in Alaska. (Yes, I know, the trip was months ago…)
The first three shots were taken by a river in/near Chatanika. The last photo was taken in Pioneer Park.
Some might say it’s a morbid set of images, but I don’t think so. I’m fascinated. What’s the difference between bones found in the wild, left there after a natural bit of picnicking, and those bone replicas you see in museums? There was no flesh left on these. Even if there had been, I’d not have flinched. I might have worried that the eater of the game was still nearby, but I wouldn’t have been grossed out by it. Animals eat other animals. That’s how nature works. Despite all PETA’s efforts to convince us we should do otherwise, it’s the law of nature: omnivores and carnivores eat meat. It’s not always neat and pretty. But that’s how it is.
Bones themselves are like bits of a puzzle. Everything connects to something else. Except the hyoid bone. It articulates with no other bone in the body. Thyroid ligaments keep it in place, but that’s it.
Anyhow, finding bones doesn’t freak me out. Finding recent HUMAN bones would, but that’s entirely different.
The point is, I got excited when I found the first couple at the edge of the river. It mean something had made a good kill and ate well. And I took photos. Nothing new there. At least I didn’t pick them up and carry them around with me as I did with a desiccated lizard I found under my sofa years ago. I laid his brittle little corpse in an old jewelry box with a bit of cloth between his tiny toes and nails and the cotton bed. He made it through several moves. I liked him.
So, um…how about dem bones?
Pretty! Hey, I’m a country girl… bones are a fact o’ life.
…but now I’ve got an earworm…! :rofl:
Comment by Pam — 2009/09/24 @ 12:46
the hip bone’s connected to the…
Comment by rob sama — 2009/09/24 @ 13:34
I don’t know what that bottom one is from, but ti looks like an evil mastodon skull. Cool finds.
As I always say — Sure I like vegetarians, they’re very tasty!
Comment by Jan — 2009/09/24 @ 14:14
Jan, it’s the back side of a whale skull, I believe
Comment by DaGoddess — 2009/09/24 @ 16:44