It's a dog!

A few days ago I blipped an old skull that I had discovered on the beach. It was clear that it was a dog of some kind. What was exciting was that it was found in an old shell midden that could date back to mediaeval times. That raised the interesting possibility that it could have be a wolf, a species that became extinct in Scotland in the 18th century.

It turns out that it is difficult to distinguish between the skulls of wolves and domestic dogs, hardly surprising given that domestic dogs are descended from wild wolves. However, I have managed to dig out an old Russian paper, by N. A. IIjin, which reports that the best single diagnostic feature is the orbital angle. In wolves this angle measures 44 to 45 degrees whereas in dogs it measures 53 to 60 degrees. The skull that I found has an orbital angle of 55 degrees, it is but a dog. Disappointment without limit!

For some reason Mrs Talpa is of the opinion that the kitchen work-top is not the place to fiddle with bits of dead dog. I can't begin to understand why. Strange creatures, women.