![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTeqL9eDgEmXaiFcI28tBdGDpn5BfmFD7eyAjD6HOo9ofIS_7FqSmvJVHq3m10ecbAd4KKlHElvEvIudOxwp1VHf74tzgnVbfTM63Rb4jQ4XyFbGTn3GjedqAupE7HLo3MCZY5vPLZrDMr/s400/mysterysheep1.jpg)
I found this skull part in a wood called Tam Breck wood. It was in two pieces, broken down the roof of the mouth, but Dad glued it back together. I found it in about March.
When I found it, I thought it was a red deer skull because of the size of the eye socket. The teeth looked a bit different, but I thought maybe it was just an older skull and the teeth had worn down. Here is a picture of a female red deer skull:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE6DhIjP-czyDvVlw176D6LZcjW_qHUMzA_h2vkkNAFMHjELYhUTMH1BcIS0xmRrFX8CRj5h8I6G-uBuGlbCwny_mfCrcyu4J1u7sA9ClBVRlfnDdmaYy-ckrLdHW6A39DlJUrUvS8_WNR/s400/mysterysheep2.jpg)
But when I found my first sheep skull, I realised it was a sheep skull, not a deer skull. When I look at them now it seems obvious but I didn't know it at the time. Here's a picture of my favourite sheep skull which I found back in August:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKbYVH8ZUy3Ak_K-o_QrhdqlJ9ezqqs9KJe2DJhYO60HJGHB5zN04Nao2OOQ3K-k2WINfosShqEYBftXE3h1qqj2CxxLeBBY4tSLKXk6g6y8s9D_x_nMErMTJG33yIL46QC8b-039E7IqK/s400/mysterysheep3.jpg)
When you look at all three skulls together, it's obvious what the differences are:
- Deer and sheep have three pre-molars and three molars, but deer teeth have darker bits in, and have bigger spikes. Sheep pre-molars are almost flat.
- The red deer skull has a deep hollow in front of the eye socket and a cobwebby thing above on the side of the nose
- The red deer skull is much longer and slightly wider
This is what the teeth on the bone I found looked like:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIRXjWxOCY_mZ6sfg_IM_vccpBfZpOTMEBXEqbus09NAO4yQWtahbeXBJa4dvmFGFFIz9zo1hDaInb9-TrngXltZKG0UHbLw9q1MyaJgsOJiaAWzXcsYNAjPjI2cgYjwEF1XGJ3wLaD2Ug/s400/mysterysheep4.jpg)
And this is them in the middle with the sheep skull on the left and the red deer skull on the right.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqDK4l__1AVipOfvneQbwBCm8moVO500NkUb1gXDtufR9PayhoF0kVXiTLRxOKblCBsKN6BA8knE4zCSxvp_87TPN-LFxThHgTrL-qJtiHRBzMu6KGes2cwoRIgWGpx3W61Dt7KWZAVql6/s400/mysterysheep5.jpg)
I felt a bit silly about making the mistake, but sometimes its difficult for even grown ups to tell the difference between different skulls, and now I have four sheep skulls so I won't make the same mistake again.
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