Friday mystery object #16

I’ll keep it simple today and leave you free to ask questions about this week’s mystery object. Quite simply, can you work out what this is:

Comments and questions below – I will provide answers as I am able.

Good luck!

Friday mystery object #15 answer

On Friday I gave you a palaeontological mystery object and asked you to choose what you thought it was from a poll:

As it turns out, you did pretty well, with 60% of you selecting the correct category (with a couple of you making comments which went into greater detail). The object in indeed a piece of fossil 

Friday mystery object #15

It’s Friday again and I feel it may be time to introduce an object from the area of my original training (that’s palaeontology). Imagine that you’re me, searching through the drawers in a museum and you come across this:

What is it from? It looks scaly, but that’s about all you can tell from looking at it. Based on the scales, what do you think this is most likely to be?

Make your selection in the poll below – if you think you can give a more detailed description that those offered in the poll please add it in the comments section below.

Good luck everyone!

Friday mystery object #14 answer

On Friday I gave you a bit of a change from museum specimens and presented you with this:

Everyone managed to get the identification to at least within the Order level (it’s in the Orthoptera), which is good going when dealing with insects. The hard bit came down to whether it was a cricket or grasshopper. Now, the photo does not show the most important feature for distinguish between these two types of orthopteran: it’s the antennae length that gives it away (grasshoppers have short antennae, crickets have long antennae). Colour is not really important (sorry KateKatV).

That said, the vivid green colour, speckled appearance, lack of wings and characteristics shape of the ovipositor (curved bit at the back which means this is a female) are a give-away for those who are familiar with this particular beastie (and for those who use Google image to help with their identifications). It is in fact a

Friday mystery object #14

Last week I let Harrison pick an object that proved a bit too difficult (although perhaps I could have been more generous with the clues I gave…). This week I am giving you something that is actually alive and commonly found in gardens in the UK – so it should be a doddle to identify:

Simple questions – what species is it (binomial name gets you kudos) and what gender is it?

Answers in the comments section below – but I’m afraid I won’t be able to respond to comments this week. Good luck!

Friday mystery object #13 answer

Crumbs, it appears that last Friday’s object stumped everyone! Harrison certainly chose a difficult one…

SmallCasserole came closest, asking:

Is it antler or horn?

but my response:

Antler or horn that thick?

was perhaps too ambiguous – because there is a horn out there that is this thick, that of a

Friday mystery object #13

Today’s mystery object has been selected by a very helpful work experience volunteer who was assisting me in the collections yesterday, so my thanks to Harrison! He is rather more cruel than me, so there’s no multiple choice on this – we just want you to see if you can work out what it is. I will attempt to answer any questions (time permitting) since our broadband seems to have been sorted out at home.

So here it is:

Friday mystery object #12 answer

Still no internet, so this is drafted on my phone. Well done to those of you who worked out that Friday’s object was indeed a rattle-snake’s tail.

I will expand on this answer, once I can use a computer to type comfortably!

Right, internet is finally working again, so here’s a (slightly) fuller answer to what this is:

As was mentioned before, this is indeed a rattlesnake’s tail. Rattlesnakes have a bad reputation for being aggressive and dangerous, but it should be remembered that they have a rattle in their tail to warn off predators and large unwary animals that might trample them – so at least they give fair warning.

There are quite a few species of snakes that make use of a rattle on their tail and this one comes (apparently) from Crotalus durissus, a South American pitviper that is quite dangerous due to their powerful neurotoxic venom (unlike the cytotoxic venom of the North American diamondback rattlesnake).

The rattle is formed when the snake sheds its skin – a section of the old skin

Friday mystery object #12

I am still without internet at home, so apologies for slow responses to comments and the lower quality of my recent posts.

This Friday’s mystery object is pretty straight-forward, a simple case of ‘what is it?’

If you think you know what this is just leave a comment below – I will attempt to respond to any questions when (and if) I am able, but I can’t make any guarantees I’m afraid.

Good luck!

Friday mystery object #11 answer

Last week I gave you some detective work – I asked to work out what this was:

Unsurprisingly to me, most of you worked it out pretty quickly – it is indeed a